In light of ongoing Black Lives Matter protests and campaigning, and considering the work needed to be done by the charity sector in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, we at The Austin and Hope Pilkington Trust would like to outline some principles and objectives that aim to help address racism, both in the charity sector and beyond.
We are inspired by the work of Charity So White, a grassroots campaign that aims to tackle the issue of institutional racism in the charity sector. They pose a variety of questions to leaders in the charity sector; those of particular interest to us include:
- How might external structures of inequality be manifesting themselves inside our organisation?
- How would tackling institutional racism mean we were better able to serve our users?
As a charitable trust, we acknowledge the role and the potential influence we have within the sector. We endeavour to support a diverse range of charities – that is, charities who work with diverse sectors of the population, as well as those run by diverse communities. We aim to consider the diversity of the charities that we support – although we acknowledge that smaller charities, or those with specific aims, might struggle to be proportionately representative.
Moreover, we acknowledge that the charitable sector’s response to the Covid-19 crisis must consider the racial injustice at play, with BAME communities being disproportionately affected.
In the coming months, as we aim to help charities deal with the impact and implications of the Covid crisis, taking into consideration those communities who have been worst affected in recent months. As suggested by Charity So White, we will try to support, where possible, the BAME voluntary sector, supporting those organisations who work closest with those most impacted by the crisis.
For more information, see Charity So White.