Investing in Personalised Capacity Building for Black-led Charities

Our ultimate vision is to be the Black community's foremost champion, enabling the systemic development and co-production of equitable opportunities and outcomes for Black people. In line with this vision, we believe the most effective way to achieve equity in the charity sector is to invest in personalised capacity-building programmes for Black-led charities and social enterprises.

The Journey from Marginalisation to Mainstream

In 2021, we recognised the necessity for an organisation such as ours, with our vision and mission, to commit to working steadily within the sector. Our goal was to guide organisations in our community away from the “hard to reach” spaces and secure their seat at the table alongside other organisations with deep-rooted connections in the funding sector’s mainstream.

Our research and experience highlighted a critical insight: the need to ensure that the organisations in our community are never relegated to the “hard to reach” spaces at all. This marginalisation severely limits a leader’s ability to develop their skills, tools, awareness, and opportunities for growth. Mainstream organisations often access high-quality, pro-bono support easily, while marginalised groups must pay premium prices for lower-quality services.

The Ecosystem Movement: Continuum Thinking

The equity movement is an ecosystem movement. For our sector’s least likely to succeed, the entire ecosystem needs redevelopment for their benefit. This is where continuum thinking comes into play. We must identify Black leaders before their organisations become historically marginalised and set them on a path to awareness of future opportunities, building in the best possible way from the outset. Simultaneously, we must support existing organisations to re-route their path and access mainstream opportunities.

From Grant Funding to Capacity Building

Initially, when we became a grant funder in 2020, our approach to grant funding was aligned with the prevalent sentiment: get the money out. While we have always provided capacity building, the depth of our support has significantly increased over time in response to the increased need for sustainability among the organisations in our community. These organisations were often pumped with money but received little to no support to manage it effectively.

Now, we are reckoning with the impact of this approach on our wider community. We recognise our responsibility to build the core foundation of organisations that many people depend on in their local communities.

Redefining Capacity Building

Capacity building is more than occasional virtual training sessions. It is a mandate to rigorously develop the capacity of organisations from the ground up in every shape or form. The continued viability of the organisations we support must be independent of their ability to deliver contracted impact projects. Without this focus, our sector risks perpetual instability and potential collapse.

To address this, we are significantly expanding our capacity-building offerings. Over the next year, we aim to provide a learning and development framework accessible to all staff members and key volunteers of every organisation we support, whether we fund them or not. This approach will integrate our training and support into their wider team-building efforts, allowing them to track attendance, incorporate it into personal development plans, and ensure that their teams can adapt to sector changes.

A Holistic Approach to Capacity Building

We will independently create learning development plans for entire organisations, reducing the administrative burden on leaders and acknowledging that lived experience leaders may lack certain skill sets. To our mind, the funding sector's role is to ensure these organisations can sustainably address the problems they aim to solve while safeguarding their mental health, well-being, people and culture, and HR practices.

Our commitment extends to working with organisational leadership to ensure their governance, practices, management, finances, standards, and policies are exemplary. The expansion of our services will allow us to support our portfolio organisations, other supported organisations, and their service users more effectively, reducing the risk of high staff turnover and instability in the impact organisations that communities rely on.

Conclusion

Investing in personalised capacity-building programmes for Black-led charities and social enterprises is the most effective way to achieve equity in the charity sector. By developing a robust ecosystem that supports these organisations from inception through growth, we can ensure they thrive alongside mainstream entities. This holistic approach not only empowers individual organisations but also strengthens the entire sector, fostering sustainable development and equitable opportunities for all.