Broken promises: the impact of a murder and a movement 4 years on
In June 2020, Bayo Adelaja MBE wrote an article titled This is why we centre Black people - a heartfelt, heartbreaking, inspiring, and passionate read to say the least - on the murder of George Floyd and the essential need for the existence of organisations like Do it Now Now (DiNN). The piece grappled with the many complex and external horrors that we face in our personal lives as well as leaders trying to survive the many, many pushbacks as we strive to build impactful organisations.
The time since, has been a series of highs and lows for Black-led charities and social enterprises (CSEs), who were flooded with financial support and promises in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests spreading across the globe. Now that 4 years have passed since George Floyd’s murder, it is hard not to feel demoralised by how few of the same organisations are still standing.
The pandemic led to a cost of living crisis, which was incredibly destructive to all sizes of Black-led CSEs (especially the newly mid-size, but more on that in later reports) who had recently been pumped full of resources and assurances, all of which dried up virtually overnight, leaving behind too-big teams, overworked leaders, and communities in dire need of the support they were receiving from these organisations.
Do it Now Now is in a strange position, we felt so many of the same blows and had to pivot and rely on the incredible leadership of our senior team and key stakeholders who offered generous levels of support and guidance. Despite all of that, our ultimate vision as part of our Theory of Change (see p. 11 of our 2021-2022 Impact Report) has remained the same; To be the Black community's foremost champion enabling the systemic development and co-production of equitable opportunities and outcomes for Black people.
DiNN's main focus is to empower Black people to possess increased opportunities for social mobility through access to entrepreneurship and financial inclusion. Our work is designed to contribute to the long-term impact and vision through five (5) key strategic priorities:
Training and development
Grantmaking and social investment
Research and consulting
Networking and communities
Service design and development
Over the past 4 years we have engaged within the sector as a Black community-focused infrastructure organisation, working intersectionally across the demographics and causes our community is active in. Over the past couple of years, we have been particularly active in supporting the sustainability of Black-led climate action, youth-led, lived experience-led, and strengths-based organisations. Our recent funding and capacity building programmes such as Make it Big with Pathway Fund and Innovate Now with City Bridge Foundation have focused on empowering organisations to adopt practices that will lead to long term financial sustainability and social investment opportunities in the near future.
We want to ensure that as many Black-led CSEs as possible are able to thrive; seeing leaders building wonderful communities, existing in the grace and brilliance of their dreams to nurture communities in need. We want to see these organisations in a state of calm and stability, sharing learnings and building for each other a space where conventional wisdom means a community of diverse leaders and groups enjoying the support of an equitable ecosystem.
It is beyond the time now for Trusts and Foundation, Social Investors and others to investigate the complicit role they have played in undermining their stated agenda by shirking their responsibility to deliver true equity, real impact and actual systemic change.
We hear so many accounts of these CSEs suddenly being dropped by funders, requirements for funding become ludicrously hard by target Black organisations specifically, and agreed payment dates suddenly get shifted leaving leaders in the lurch. If we want to contribute to society in a way that uplifts, that impacts, then we need to be brave enough to look beyond today, go beyond what is easy to do what is needed to change the system.
If you want to be the change in the sector and collaborate with us as we build a true movement for equity for CSEs, get in contact with us. We have new initiatives coming up that address this challenge head on and systemically but we cannot do it alone. We will need your help.
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