A big step in the right direction: Comic Relief funding for BAME-led organisations
In early April we released an open letter on relief packages for the charity sector, now signed by over 180 organisations and individuals calling to:
Ensure that there are at least two individuals on steering or oversight groups for funding set up who have a significant track record of championing race equality in funding.
Ensure 20% of funding is ring fenced for BAME VCS Groups, managed directly by BAME Infrastructure organisations.
We made this call due the nature of the crisis and urgency needed to get funding to BAME-led Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) groups which had entered the crisis already disadvantaged due to years of chronic underfunding and precarious contracts. Charitable funding practices, including within the context of emergencies, have been historically entrenched in structurally racist policies and approaches. These have led to a sector with 99% white boards that have overseen disproportionate funding cuts for BAME groups during the last decade. Already hamstrung, BAME-led VCS groups saw a surge in demand for support from BAME communities who have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19.The Ubele Initiative’s research found that 9/10 BAME VCS organisations were set to close within the first three months of the pandemic. There was an urgent need to prioritise the BAME VCS sector and ensure racial justice at the heart of the response.
Comic Relief approached CharitySoWhite to discuss our open letter and recommendations in April, just prior to the ‘Big Night In’ national emergency fundraiser for Comic Relief and BBC Children in Need. We discussed the influence and power they hold in our sector and the historically low allocation of funds to BAME VCS organisations. In combination these facts meant they would not be best placed on their own to recognise the challenges faced by BAME communities in the UK, and did not have the infrastructure to build relationships and trust quickly enough with the small grassroot organisations most vulnerable and most needed at this time.
On 1st June Comic Relief issued its call for BAME-led intermediaries. Their original funding pot was boosted later that month from their partnership with National Emergencies Trust (NET) who contributed £2.5m to this initiative.
On the 1st of July, Comic Relief announced £3.4 million of funding for 10 BAME-led intermediary distribution partners to allocate funding to micro and small BAME organisation. As part this, they have also launched a new Change Makers programme to provide sustainable funding to charities and have ring-fenced 20% of this pot for BAME-led organisations, which totals £1.8m.
This is a welcome first step from Comic Relief and their openness and honesty in addressing the effects of structural racism within the organisation is noteworthy.
Looking ahead, the distribution of these funds is now mission critical and Comic Relief must work closely to support these selected intermediaries to prevent further delay. It has been nearly two months since the Big Night In and emergency funding for organisations who fall outside of their current grant programmes have yet to be allocated monies. This delay has been observed across the major national emergency funding programmes, including those run by The National Lottery Community Fund. We are saddened by the limited collaboration between funders from the onset to avoid delays in equitable distribution and make effective use of publicly generated funds.
We will work to continue to hold Comic Relief and other funders accountable, pushing to shift power dynamics and racist practices in which they operate. We are hopeful this is part of a longer term systemic change that the funding sector needs to see. We invite other funders to join.
