A fund for organisations supporting people of colour during the Covid-19 crisis has received applications from far more organisations than it can support.
The Resourcing Racial Justice fund was set up in May with the aim to “provide financial support to organisations, community and grassroots groups that are working to redress the impact of Covid-19 and beyond on those who identify as people of colour”.
Its first funding round of £500,000 opened on 18 May. The application window closed on Monday and generated more than 2,000 applications, the founders of the fund have said.
The organisation is yet to fully review the applications and calculate how much applicants bid for in total. But with minimum grant amounts at £5,000, funding requests totalled at least £10m, and potentially much more.
Individuals, and organisations in need of emergency funding could apply for grants between £5,000 and £30,000, while organisations looking to fund long-term work could ask for between £30,000 and £50,000.
Resourcing Racial Justice will be assessing applications at the end of this month and hopes to distribute funds to grantees throughout July. It is also planning further funding rounds.
There is mounting evidence that the coronavirus crisis is having a disproportionate impact on people and organisations from minority backgrounds. People in the charity sector have asked that this is taken into account when emergency funds are distributed, with campaign group #CharitySoWhite calling for 20% of funds to be ring-fenced for BAME-led organisations. Resourcing Racial Justice was set up with the intention of tackling this.
Kennedy Walker, co-founder of Resourcing Racial Justice, said: “Social inequality in the UK is racialised; that is to say that people of colour are more likely to have insecure housing, difficulty accessing health care, precarious and unsafe working conditions and more.
“This has only been highlighted further by Covid-19's impact on communities of colour. We're hoping this fund will provide much-needed support to frontline organisations and groups who are working to support those more at risk and vulnerable to Covid-19 and challenging systemic racial inequalities.”
The July issue of Fundraising Magazine, out on 6 July, will feature an in-depth article on Resourcing Racial Justice written by founding member Guppi Bola.
