News

Diversity, inclusion and social justice have never been more important for the UK social sector. The Black Lives Matter protests of last year sparked an increased awareness of these vital issues. However, inequality and discrimination are not new problems in the UK charity sector. Charities run by black and ethnic minority leaders are systematically underfunded, and promotion into charity leadership positions is often just as challenging for those without networks or privilege as it is in the private sector. 

In response to these injustices, The Fore initiated a thorough review of the diversity of its grantee portfolio and the fairness of its processes. In our most recent funding round (The Fore RAFT Transition Fund) we ran an anonymous equality and diversity survey for all applicants and all grantees.¹ By comparing the results of each survey we can estimate bias in our decision-making, and, by comparing survey results to UK demographics and charity sector averages, we can judge the diversity of our portfolio and how well we are reaching different communities.

The results of this analysis are presented below, in full transparency. While there are some results we are proud of, we know there are also areas we need to work on. We are proud that there is no evidence of bias in terms of ethnicity, religion or sexuality, and that grantees are a diverse group in this regard. However, it has become clear that socio-economic indicators should be an area for us to focus on. We hope that gathering and sharing this data will help other funders to do the same, and encourage further discussions of equality and social justice in the sector.

To see the full report, click here.