Together with our allies, (Charity So White, Runnymede, Race on The Agenda, Patrick Vernon, Kanlungan Filipino Consortium, Imkaan) we urge funders and policy makers to transition to anti-racism by confronting entrenched inequalities and systemic racism exposed in the #BooskaPaper & implementing the 9 Calls to Action.  Address racism with sustained, long-term investment.  Acknowledge representation is not enough  Implement an intersectional analysis  Check that research informing their decisions is from a decolonised perspective  Change transactional relationships with the community, to relational  Demonstrate accountability and transparency in post-application process  Substantively challenge your failures  Foster collaboration over competition  Publish the sources of your fund We encourage all Black and minoritised community organisations to sign the Calls To Action. http://www.ubele.org/booska-paper #FundingSoWhite

1. Addressing racism
requires sustained, long-
term investment.
# B O O S K A P A P E R
# F U N D I N G S O W H I T E
CALLS TO
ACTION.
BOOSKA PAPER.
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2. Funders should
demonstrate commitment
to Black and minoritised
communities in the
following ways:

3. Funding structures and systems should be set up to ensure
funders are moving from the performative short-term
allocation of funds, to long-term sustainable investment in
recognised Black and minoritised-led community
organisations, that also represent community assets for
Black and minoritised people developed under a social
justice approach.
Consider establishing fund intermediaries with recognised
Black and minoritised infrastructure bodies to support
them through formal partnership arrangements in the
allocation of funds. This will help to shift funding
structures to more participatory systems that work closely
with communities that funding is designed to benefit. In
this way, direct beneficiaries through their representative
bodies, are involved in the allocation of funds.
Publicly commit to protecting the social value of grassroots
community organisations within this overall commitment,
ensuring that all voluntary work responding to basic needs
failed by government, is classified as paid salaried work.

4. In light of the recent report by the Commission on
Race and Ethnic Disparities it is hopefully
demonstrated clearer to funders now, that putting
Black and minoritised people in positions doesn’t
automatically equate to being anti-racist.
Despite the higher likelihood of a shared lived
experience; that alone is not assurance individuals
(including those in leadership) will act in the interest
of Black and minoritised communities.
In fact, the strength of institutional racism is such,
they may knowingly go against the interests of their
community, in an effort to sustain their own
livelihood as an individual by a system that actively
supports and rewards them for doing so.
# B O O S K A P A P E R
# F U N D I N G S O W H I T E
CALLS TO
ACTION.
BOOSKA PAPER.
2

5. Funders should
demonstrate anti-racist
practice through
considering the following
questions:

6. How much money, time and energy are you focussing on
Diversity and Inclusion? This measure should not outweigh
the proportionality of funding that goes into Black and
minoritised community led infrastructure organisations to
reach communities on the ground.
Are you committed to resourcing Black and minority-led
community organisations to deliver vital services to the
communities they serve, long-term?
Are resources for this work being facilitated in a consistent
and sustainable manner?
Are you hiring Black and minoritised group leaders to talk
about their trauma, sit on panels, come and talk, deliver
seminars or provide education about diversity and anti-
racism; before you are ensuring their organisations are
being funded sustainably as a priority?
Does your board look like, represent, and reflect the
communities they serve?
Would you be happy to publicly publish the proportion of
Black and minoritised organisations you fund, or would
you be fearful of that information being released?

7. Intersectionality has to be taken into
account if you want to reach black and
minoritised women, LGBTIQ people,
disabled people and those who face
additional structural oppression including
institutional racism.
Ring-fenced funding for Black and
minoritised people led organisations is a
positive start, however it heightens
competition within that group without the
criteria being made any lower for the
hardest to reach.
# B O O S K A P A P E R
# F U N D I N G S O W H I T E
CALLS TO
ACTION.
BOOSKA PAPER.
3

8. Funders considering ring-
fencing funding for those
facing structural
oppression should also
include grant programmes
which:

9. Ring-fenced funding for black and
minoritised women and girls that is
centred and inclusive of black and
minoritised led organisations.
Ring fenced funding for organisations
with protected characteristics that is
centred and inclusive of black and
minoritised people (e.g disability-led
or LGBTIQ-led).

10. Whilst academic research has a
place in knowledge generation, such
research should consider
decolonising methodologies and
approaches.
Building sustainable research
capacity in the sector in this way,
builds capacity for funding decisions
to be made with appropriate
knowledge and context.
# B O O S K A P A P E R
# F U N D I N G S O W H I T E
CALLS TO
ACTION.
BOOSKA PAPER.
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11. Funders should check
that research to inform
their funding decisions is
from a decolonised
perspective through:

12. Use of Black feminist / critical race theory analysis in
understanding the lived experience.
Inclusion of the lived experience in understanding how
strategies should be formed and resourcing decisions
made.
Placing appropriate weighting on qualitative research to
inform the knowledge base.
Diversify the knowledge base by identifying the role of
infrastructure bodies in producing meaningful knowledge
about the communities they serve, call upon existing
research they have done to be used as evidence.

13. Exclusion takes many forms, and a
harmful experience for Black and
minoritised people to go through in
social and professional networks that
eventually erodes their health, wellbeing
and eventually life expectancy.
Funders building their own networks and
relationships with more people in the
sector to build and nurture trusting
relationships, fosters a much more open
dialogue.
# B O O S K A P A P E R
# F U N D I N G S O W H I T E
CALLS TO
ACTION.
BOOSKA PAPER.
5

14. Funders should change
transactional relationships
with the community, to
relational:

15. Take steps to reach out, nurture and foster authentic
relationships with Black and minoritised people in a
community that takes into account the power dynamics at
play from the offset. Listen to them, learn from them.
Understand that the structures of oppression we exist in
has lowered confidence in Black and minoritised people to
apply for large amounts of funding as it is. Especially when
they have been repeatedly told they are not good enough
by Funders, even if funding is available.
Share your networks and your contacts, with community
groups. Give your recommendations of Black and
minoritised people led organisations you have come into
contact with to others you know, who wouldn’t come into
contact with them otherwise.
Participate and resource roundtables with and for Black
and minoritised people, organisations and recognised
infrastructure bodies- reflecting the principle that nothing
about us is without us, ensuring that we have space to
speak and represent ourselves.

16. We hear of rejections more than we do
of successes with achieving funding,
from our community. This has a
devastating effect on confidence for
community groups to go back and re-
apply.
Publishing data about the application
processes is just one aspect, we need to
understand who is being turned down
and for what reasons; for Funders to
demonstrate accountability.
# B O O S K A P A P E R
# F U N D I N G S O W H I T E
CALLS TO
ACTION.
BOOSKA PAPER.
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17. Once funding has been
allocated, Funders should
publish their outcomes in
an accountable way that
includes the following
information:

18. Number of applications received with clear information on
how many applications came from Black and minoritised-
led organisations.
Number of applications that passed the assessment stage
with clear information on how many applications came
from Black and minoritised-led organisations.
Number of applications that received a positive outcome
with clear information on how many applications came
from Black and minoritised-led organisations. In relation
to successful outcomes, clear information on amounts
requested and awarded.
Number of applications that were not successful at each
stage with clear information on how many applications
came from Black and minorities-led organisations and the
reason why they were refused.

19. Gaslighting of Black and minoritised
people has been intensified to an even
stronger degree by the recent
Commission on Race and Ethnic
Disparities by the UK Government.
Too many Black and minoritised people
led organisations are receiving feedback
that the reason they are not getting
funding they need is because their
applications are just not good enough.
# B O O S K A P A P E R
# F U N D I N G S O W H I T E
CALLS TO
ACTION.
BOOSKA PAPER.
7

20. Funders must shift the narrative,
culture and view of their role to
play- to more substantively
challenge the failures to recognise
institutional racism that affects
Black and minoritised people and
organisations. They can address
structural inequality with these
actions:

21. Apart from some smaller organisations with less
infrastructure support; we know that applications not
being good enough is not true, to the degree it is being
used to justify the inequality.
Racial gaslighting across all institutions in society means
Black and minoritised people are already suffering a crisis
of confidence from being made to feel that they do not
deserve funding, even when they need it. Validate their
needs and respond to the value of social good they
address that have fallen through structures that should
have been there for them in the first place.
Create a framework for resubmission where Black and
minoritised organisations do not receive a successful
outcome.
Commit to a genuine outcome-based approach to support
unsuccessful organisations with concrete guidance in
preparation for re-submission.
Use Black and minoritised people led infrastructure bodies
more effectively in building such capacity.
Challenge your own perception of what is ‘good enough’
taking into account your unconscious bias that takes
regular practice to unlearn.

22. Despite the common experience of
racism of all Black and minoritised
communities; the same mindset that
regards everyone as “BAME” means
people are often pitted against one
another in competition for the limited
ring-fenced resources available.
London-centric narratives mean even
fewer resources are available for
communities outside of London to share
between them. This fuels toxic
competition.
# B O O S K A P A P E R
# F U N D I N G S O W H I T E
CALLS TO
ACTION.
BOOSKA PAPER.
8

23. Funders should engage with
strategic mechanisms that are
growing between Black and
minoritised infrastructure groups
to ensure funds are distributed
across ethnicities and geographies,
taking the following as examples:

24. Mechanisms like The National Strategic Alliance convened
by The Ubele Initiative, are key to building capacity and
relationships between groups who are making a conscious
effort to unlearn competition and relearn trust.
The Phoenix Way, working in a way that convenes an
intergenerational group of Black and Minoritised national
and regional leaders of organisations at every stage; from
initial strategy through to co-design and funding decision
making in the allocation of funding process.
It is not helpful to make assumptions about the
relationships between Black and minoritised people led
groups, without understanding the context in which they
are expected to relate to each other.
It is not helpful to compare Black and minoritised people
led groups to one another when they exist for different
purposes with different missions.
Refrain from ‘cherry-picking’ organisations that are the
least risk, the most popular brand or the ones that are the
most comfortable. In order to reach those who need
funding the most, you must tackle assumptions or
perceptions about types of organisations which are viewed
as high risk and bring up feelings of discomfort.

25. Prove your legitimacy by
publishing and
demonstrating how you
are taking accountability
for where your money
comes from.
# B O O S K A P A P E R
# F U N D I N G S O W H I T E
CALLS TO
ACTION.
BOOSKA PAPER.
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26. Funders should clearly publish the
sources of their funds
demonstrating commitment to
ethical practices which require full
transparency of the source of
finances. These practices will instill
confidence in funders and their
code of ethics as consistent with
building a fair, just and equal
society.

27. Funders should provide clear
information on board of
governance and their interests
including any conflict of interest,
staffing, donors, sources of
revenue and any other governance
and income-related information.

28. Funders should publish a list of all
donors as public acknowledgement
on the receipt of funds.