The state of diversity in the VCSE sector:
In the UK, in spite of there being 10,000 trustee vacancies a year nationally, only 8% of trustees are People of Colour (PoC). Equally, whilst Bristol’s growing ethnic population is 16%, only 4 out of 10 VCSE boards have a PoC trustee.
Furthermore, despite 100% of VCSE Boards in Bristol stating that Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (ED&I) is mission critical 83% of them have no ED&I Champion and 80% have not done any ED&I training for their boards or have an ED&I Action plan.
At BeOnBoard, we believe that this lack of inclusive governance is a major contributor to Bristol being crowned the UK’s most unequal city for ethnic communities.
The solution:
In support of the National Lottery’s ambition to reduce inequality by helping communities thrive, in 2021 BeOnBoard was funded by NTL to deliver Aspire. This was a pioneering pilot Boardroom development programme designed to break down barriers to diversifying trusteeship whilst nurturing inclusive governance. A key Aspire ambition was to co-create, test, learn, prove, share, and scale a new model for moving the dial on racial diversity amongst VCSE boards.
How We Made A Difference:
Launched on Martin Luther King Jnr’s birthday, due to the high demand expressed during the application process, BeOnBoard took the decision to expand the first cohort by 50%. This translated into recruiting 12 aspiring trustees (Aspirees) who had experienced barriers and matching them with 6 VCSEs keen to diversify their boards.
100% of the Aspirees had experienced barriers to becoming a trustee with a 60:40 ratio for those that had no boardroom experience vs those with boardroom experience. Demographically, there was a 60:40 ratio of women to men. The ethnic makeup was 68% Black African and 16% each for Black Caribbean and Asian. Also, 16% of the cohort was LGBTQ and 8% were disabled.
Each VCSE was matched with 2 Aspiree’s and through a programme of structured support they were all empowered to embrace and embed the principals of inclusive leadership and inclusive governance. This was achieved by delivering 5 themed capacity building workshops, augmented by 5 keynote speakers, peer-to-peer learning sets, toolkits, and mentoring.
Over a 6-month period in a shadow capacity the Aspirees attended various board meetings to put their learnings into action whilst adding value through their lived-experience, expertise and energy. As part of this, each VCSE assigned a boardroom buddy to support the Aspiree that they were matched with. Based on the project’s learnings and achievements, here are some of the individual and collective highlights:
Future Aspirations For Aspire:
Based on its ongoing positive impacts, it’s clear that Aspire has developed a model that has successfully moved the dial on the diversity of Bristol’s trustees. Our approach has demonstrated how to break down barriers to recruit from a talent pool of high-calibre professionals by matching, placing, and nurturing aspiring trustees of colour. At the same time, Aspire has highlighted the interconnected importance of nurturing an inclusive boardroom culture to allow diversity of thought and of lived experience to thrive. However, based on numerous sector reports, the impacts of the pandemic, and tackling the current cost-of-living crisis, it is clear that a scaled-up iteration of Aspire is required to address systemic inequality. Therefore, BeOnBoard is in active negotiations with potential partners and funders with the ambition to deliver a well-funded 3-year programme for a cohort of 150 Aspirees and 75 VCSEs across the Southwest.
If you’d like to express an interest in Aspire or have any questions email aspire@beonboard.co.uk
Aspire Thanks
Aspirees: Annette Hughes, Emmanuel Kamuhanda, Jacqueline Braithwaite, Karen Michael-Cox, Mohammed Rashid, Mutale Malambo Katyoka, Olubodunrin Tokosi, Pooja Poddar, Rushwet Motsi, Saida Bello, Sara Telahoun, Sheika Johnston
VCSE hosts: Quartet, Knowle West Media Centre, Wildscreen, St Werburghs City Farm, Alliance of Sport & Criminal Justice, Somerset & Avon Rape & Sexual Abuse Support
Team Aspire: Julz Davis, Kalpna Woolf, Ruth Pitter, Kamaljit Poonia, Bill Sherwood, Laura Morin-Quintal, Leila Modirzadeh, Bethany Stephenson
Supporters: The Bristol Initiative Charitable Trust, Black South West Network, Stepping Up, Business West
Workshop speakers: Poku Osei, Roger Griffith, Jaya Chakrabarti, Sado Jirde
