An organisation set up five years ago to increase the racial diversity of trustee boards has now gained registered charity status.
The Action for Trustee Racial Diversity (ATRD) campaign volunteer group was set up by experienced charity board member Malcolm John in 2019.
John announced last week that he has now registered ATRD as a charity under the name Board Racial Diversity UK.
The new charity’s mission will follow a similar path to that of ATRD and will aim to increase the representation of Black and Asian people on the trustee boards of charities and not-for-profits boards, promoting practical steps to address their under-representation.
The announcement comes at a time when the lack of diversity on trustee boards has become increasingly apparent, with recent research highlighting that the majority of trustees feel that equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) is the governance area in which their boards are most struggling to achieve positive outcomes.
40,000 more trustees needed
ATRD started out in 2019 by conducting surveys which assessed actions being taken by key charity umbrella and member organisations to promote diversity.
In the last five years, it has gained supporters from across the sector, including ACEVO, NCVO, Reach Volunteers, the Co-Op Foundation, Young Trustees Movement, and the recently closed Getting On Board.
As a charity, Board Racial Diversity UK intends to continue the work of its predecessor organisation, and work in partnership with other charities and not-for-profits to galvanise, support, advise, encourage and raise awareness among them of the benefits of more diverse trustee boards.
Writing in a social media post, John said 40,000 more Black and Asian trustees need to be recruited to the charity sector to achieve proportionate representation.
Charity founder: ‘There is still a big problem’
Speaking to Civil Society, John said: “Action for Trustee Racial Diversity’s own experience responding to weekly requests over the last five years from a wide range of charities for its support to help them recruit Black and Asian trustees strongly suggests that there is still a big problem.
“This is reinforced by NCVO’s latest report, Understanding Trustee Recruitment and Retention Challenges, which highlights that four out of five charities it surveyed have at least one board vacancy, and that recruiting young people and people from ethnic minority backgrounds are of most concern.
“I feel that there’s still a very long way to go before we get proportionate representation on boards – from 8% to 14% – on our focus area of racial diversity.
“I believe strongly that significant and sustainable change won't happen until the vast majority of charities take up more formal and open recruitment of board members, reaching out to more diverse networks, and until the culture, policies and practices within boards are more inclusive and more adapted to the needs and circumstances of more diverse candidates.”
