Key findings
This project draws on a number of important data sources, including a background literature review; an online survey with almost 500 responses from BAME people in the charity sector; 24 in-depth interviews, 13 with charity leaders (including two BAME) and 11 with BAME charity staff. Two roundtable discussions also took place. One was with ‘system-shapers’, including representatives of funders and infrastructure/membership bodies with influence on diversity priorities within the sector. The second was with racial justice advocates and activists, to explore connections between diversity, anti-racism and race equity.
The participants sharing their experiences in this project were largely self-selecting rather than drawn up as a ‘representative sample’. We therefore cannot say that their experiences, perspectives and insights reflect those of wider BAME populations in charities. That said, the accounts of life in the charity sector provided by BAME project participants are rich, textured and troubling.
In particular, our online survey of BAME people showed that racism was a significant feature of their charity life:
68% of respondents
(335 out of 489 people) said that they had experienced, witnessed or heard stories about racism in their time in the charity sector
50% of respondents
(246 people out of 490) felt that they needed to ‘tone down’ behaviour or to be on their ‘best behaviour’ in order to fit in in the charity sector
In terms of direct experiences of racism:
222 people
had been subject to ignorant or insensitive questioning about their culture or religion
147 people
had been treated as an intellectual inferior
114 respondents
had been subject to excessive surveillance and scrutiny by colleagues, managers or supervisors
These experiences cause harm. One-hundred and sixteen people stated that direct experiences of racism had had a negative or very negative impact on their health and emotional wellbeing. And a further 94 respondents who had experienced racism said that it had had a negative or very negative impact on their ‘desired career path’.
Our findings demonstrate that the problem in the charity sector is not simply an absence of BAME people. Once inside the sector, significant numbers of BAME people experience discrimination and harm. Our research suggests that this situation is linked to the prevailing culture of the sector. By this we mean that long-standing habits, practices and norms will have to change in order to improve how the charity sector works with and serves BAME people.
However, our research also shows that while charity leaders who are white see the problem of a lack of ethnic diversity in the sector, they are concerned about saying or doing the wrong thing on ‘race’. This fear seems to be underpinned by a lack of understanding about and engagement with the realities of racism. For example, in our project, racism was discussed in the main by charity leaders and system-shapers in abstract terms, rather than as a set of arrangements that they can challenge and undo. There was little or no focus on institutional racism, or on how paternalism or colonial thinking can disadvantage BAME people in the charity sector.
Diversity, equity and inclusion
While there may be a focus in the charity sector on attaining more racial and ethnic diversity, our evidence suggests that a lack of diversity cannot be overcome without a commitment to engaging with racism. It also requires practical action to create conditions inside the charity sector for BAME people to enter, to stay and to thrive. This is why inclusion and equity are important.
Inclusion refers to actions that invite and support ‘difference’ in a setting. An inclusive organisation enables all of its people to fully participate in and shape the collective, e.g. by supporting people to be themselves and to speak out about concerns and to be heard.
Equity-based approaches emphasise that different populations are differently situated in society. For example, the lives of BAME people may be shaped by various factors – including racism. As a result, to even out racial disparities – for example in a recruitment process – it may be necessary to treat people differently based on how they are positioned in society, rather than treating and judging everyone as the same. This may mean supporting BAME charity people and prospective charity people differently from white counterparts so that a workplace can be made more diverse and inclusive.
