A second report in the space of a week has found that more funding is needed for black and ethnic minority-led organisations in the UK.
The report, A quantitative analysis of the emergency funding to the UK black and minority ethnic voluntary sector during Covid-19, was commissioned by The Funders For Race Equality Alliance.
The review covered 34 emergency funds and analysed the type, amount and purpose of funding awarded to black and minority ethnic organisations through different types of funding pots between March and November last year.
It found that funders have a responsibility to redress historic underinvestment in black and minority ethnic-led organisations and create generational funding opportunities to advance greater racial justice in the UK.
Researchers found regional inequalities in funding, most notably in the Midlands and South East.
These regions received a disproportionately small amount of funding when compared to their black and minority ethnic population size.
The report recommends further research in this area that would enable funders to understand whether the allocation of emergency funding was proportionate to the number of organisations and size of communities in each region.
Funders should adapt their approaches to be more accessible and flexible, the report said, through ringfencing, providing additional pre-application support, pooled funds and regranting through black and minority ethnic intermediary organisations.
In addition, it said, collaborative and participatory grant-making could help ensure funds were accessible to hard-hit and previously under-served communities.
The report said: “The analysis showed that only nine of the 34 funds supported work on human rights and justice. This lack of funder focus on tackling racism, discrimination and structural inequalities and injustice needs to be addressed.
“Funders must continue to diversify their funds to support organisations and initiatives, which focus on tackling structural inequalities.”
Last week, the Baobab Foundation published similar findings that much more needs to be done to address institutional racism and structural inequalities within funding systems.
The two reports follow the publication of the government’s independent Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities last month, which found that Britain was not an institutionally racist country.
These findings have been criticised by many in the sector, including the charity Voice 4 Change England, which is led by a a co-opted member of the commission.