Last summer was the strangest of summers for most people from a personal and professional perspective. For many Black people, it seemed as if everybody was looking up at the same time and witnessing longstanding, well-documented inequities. One of the learnings is that, fundamentally, how we treat others tells people who we are. It’s not just what we write or what we have promised or what we apologise for, but what we do that signals intent.

From an organisational perspective, it has made people question empty organisational statements and policies around inclusion that never lead to decisive action. The truth is that living your values from an organisational perspective can be very difficult in practice, and we are already seeing some charities entering reverse gear in relation to the proposals and statements made last year. Or, they have decided to take a short-term view of what has been happening and are already moving on to other nascent trends and ideas and issues without exploring how they might make a truly long-term commitment to change.