During a webinar last autumn called Beyond Empty Statements, one of a series of online events about structural racism and race equity in the charity sector as part of the Uncharitable Festival, Mind CEO Sarah Hughes explained her definition of what she calls the “third eye”. This is when we first become aware of a particular issue or object, and once this awakening has taken place, we can never again be blind to it or ignore it. In fact, we tend to notice it everywhere.
In this instance, Hughes was talking about racism. And her searingly honest appraisal of how difficult it can be to effect change in an organisation even when the chief executive is utterly invested in the agenda, was a real eye-opener.
Hughes’s story is one of several in our cover feature this edition about charity leaders who have been working hard on strategies and programmes aimed at fighting the sector’s institutional racism. Their experiences and insights are illuminating, and provide a unique window on some of the progress being made on the ground, as well as many of the challenges they continue to encounter.
Regarding our cover image, we went back and forth on the idea of using a chess match to represent the issue. We absolutely don’t want to suggest that striving for anti-racism is simply a game, or that organisations are split into two opposing sides. But it is a battle of ideology, and while in an ideal world work on race equity would be a collaborative endeavour in organisations, it was clear from the participants who spoke so eloquently at the events we reported on that many of those doing the work still feel as if they are in a fight for their rights. Mandeep Rupra from Citizens Advice, for example, referenced her own “racial battle fatigue”, while Hughes said those striving for change need to arm themselves with “more than resilience – we need to be ruthless and relentless”.
That said, several charities are investing energy and resource to achieve change for their staff and their beneficiary communities, and organisations including ACEVO and Voice4Change England are building up a library of practical resources to assist charities on their anti-racism journey. You can see one example of this on p12 – a useful guide to help charities to measure and improve their ethnicity pay gaps.
Regular readers will know that we routinely feature equity and diversity issues as the cover theme in our January edition. This is because we think it is important to keep these subjects on charities’ radars as their boards and leaders scope out their priorities for the year ahead. Events such as the UK riots last summer serve as a stark reminder of how essential this work is.
And with more charities now taking anti-racism seriously, we plan to increase our coverage over 2025. So if your charity has any positive progress to share, or lessons for others, we’d love to hear from you. Our third eye is wide open.
Related Articles
