Our COVID-19 Response

A quantitative analysis of the emergency funding to the UK Black and Minority Ethnic Voluntary Sector During Covid-19.

Covid-19 and the Black Lives Matter led to an unprecedented shift in how we think about and fund race equality issues in the UK. The Funders for Race Equality Alliance, the Ubele Initiative and Future Foundations UK, has been reflecting on the changing funding landscape. As well as discussing the unprecedented increase in emergency funding targeted at the Black and Minority Ethnic VCS in the early stages of the pandemic.

The April 2021 report captures a snapshot of 2020 and analyses the amount and purpose of 34 emergency funds awarded to Black and Minority Ethnic organisations through different types of funding pots between March 2020 and November 2020. The analysis sought views from funders and stakeholders which helped to inform the analysis, identify learning and reflections and shape the recommendations.

Read the report (pdf).

Recommendations

• Funders need to look at renewing their funding with a longer-term lens, to extend across both the recovery phase of the pandemic and beyond. Funders also have a responsibility to redress the historic underinvestment in the Black and Minority Ethnic VCS and create generational funding opportunities to advance greater racial justice in the UK.

• Funders need to continue to adapt funding approaches to be more accessible, flexible and enable more of a long-term focus on racial equality and justice within existing and new priorities. This can be done by: ring-fencing funds, providing additional pre-application support, pooled funds and re-granting through Black and Minority Ethnic intermediary organisations.

• Collaboration and the use of participatory grantmaking has been highlighted in the analysis as an efficient way for larger funders to distribute funds quickly and efficiently. Funders must actively raise their own awareness of existing and emerging groups that are already doing valuable work.

• Funders should complete the Alliance’s racial justice funding audit in order to identify if, and how much, of their UK funding is targeted at addressing the root causes of inequality or at alleviating the consequences. This will enable funders to analyse their portfolios and develop targets and strategies to ensure they are properly supporting racial justice work.