Updated: Tuesday 10:54am, September 24th 2024
UnLtd Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging commitments: Progress, and learning so far
We're 12 months on from publishing our Equity Audit and Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (EDIB) action plan.
We commissioned an independent Equity Audit (undertaken by Inclusive Recruiting) because we knew that our actions, systems, and behaviours had contributed to racial inequity and other unfairness. These actions, systems, and behaviours have impacted on the experiences and progression of our employees, and the way we work with social entrepreneurs. We needed clarity on the changes we all had to make to ensure everyone at UnLtd feels included and that they belong, with clear analysis of where we are now, and where we want to be. The overarching focus of the audit was to identify areas of concern, and build UnLtd's understanding of these areas, so they could be addressed. Qualitative and quantitative data were used, including demographic data, surveys and facilitated listening sessions with current staff and leavers from the past five years.
Our Equity Audit showed that people of colour, particularly Black colleagues and disabled colleagues have been experiencing bias and discrimination. That is why we have focused our work in these areas.
We could also see we needed to get better at collecting data to help us understand other areas of oppression and intersectionality. Data will continue to inform our approach and focus.
We developed an action plan which we shared publicly in September 2021, focusing on four areas that required deep change at UnLtd:
In February 2022 we became a signatory and committed to the Diversity Forum's updated and strengthened manifesto 2.0. The manifesto is an opportunity for social investors and social entrepreneur support organisations to chart a more inclusive path forward together.
We aligned our action plan to Diversity Forum's seven priority areas: commitment, collaboration, culture, open and transparent learning, equitable representation, sustainable inclusion, and advocacy (see detailed table in Appendix Two). This report is structured according to those priority areas.
This report brings together collective knowledge and insight of colleagues from across UnLtd to report transparently, with a commitment to curiosity, learning, and improvement. This approach has enabled us to be clear on where we have moved the dial, where we have stalled and why, and what we are going to do differently in the year ahead. It also reflects the spirit in which this work continues.
Colleagues from across UnLtd have had the opportunity to feedback on this report. Improvements to accuracy and tone have been made as a result. We also heard several improvements we could make in the gathering of data, structure and accessibility of the report, which we will act on in the next annual update. The feedback went further, to highlight areas where staff want to see more progress in our EDIB work, specifically clearer accountability for ownership of specific priorities, better communication between the EDIB steering group and staff team, and more information on specific areas - for example around the pay gap, implications of individuals and improving our internal communication regarding this work.
We hope you will find it thoughtful and reflective, taking a celebratory and challenging eye to the work the organisation has done. This work is ongoing. We will keep on learning and trying to do better, being more specific in our activities, and engaging better with our stakeholders and allies.
A summary of what we have learnt
This sets out where we've made most progress over the last 12 months, what we can do better, and what we would like to learn from others
Progress and learning so far
We have aligned our work to Diversity Forum's seven priority areas: commitment, collaboration, culture, open and transparent learning, equitable representation, sustainable inclusion, and advocacy (see detailed table in Appendix Two). This report is structured according to those priority areas.
What we will be focusing on in the next 12 months
This sets out where we will be focusing in the next 12 months. We will report against
these commitments in 12 months' time
Appendix
If you would like to see the providers that we have worked with, or find out more about the Diversity Forum we've provided some information at the end of this document.
If you have any questions, comments or reflections, or would like to find out more, please get in touch hello@unltd.org.uk
We have made the biggest strides in collaborating and sharing power with social entrepreneurs from marginalised communities. We have transformed our outreach, assessment, award-making, governance, and the design of our support. For example, social entrepreneurs now have the majority vote on decision panels for award-making, prioritising those from marginalised communities, and our Trustee Board and sub-committees all include social entrepreneurs, with 45% of UnLtd's Trustee Board being Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and/ or are disabled. These categories reflect the groups that are currently least-well served within UnLtd. These, and other steps have enabled us to reach and support a much more diverse range of social entrepreneurs while at the same time setting-up for ongoing change through building systems and processes that put equity and inclusion at the core of our organisation.
We launched into this work with great energy and commitment but underestimated the toll it would have on marginalised colleagues. It can be emotionally draining to share lived experiences of racism, discrimination, and prejudice, particularly in a workplace context. Combined with the wider societal pressures marginalised communities experience, we misjudged how this would feel for more marginalised colleagues. The work of holding partners to account has been a particular challenge.
Looking ahead, we will use a more targeted approach to supporting colleagues, creating space for people to talk through discrimination, micro-aggressions and non-disclosure. We will adequately resource affinity networks and ensure that targeted training and development programmes are co-produced with relevant colleagues. We will do more to embed our inclusive ways of working into all partnerships and reinforce the importance of allyship in this work.
Finally, we haven't given equal weight to the 'B' - belonging - in EDIB. This is creating an emerging tension within UnLtd. We need to take a more holistic view of our approach to fostering belonging, weaving together EDIB commitments with a review of our ways of working, including how we connect with each other and build relationships in a hybrid environment.
We're proud of the work that we have done over the last 12 months, but it hasn't been linear. As we've moved one thing forwards, something else has emerged or moved backwards. As a result, it's not always been easy to maintain focus and momentum behind the work but helped by trying to foster a commitment to continuous improvement, aiming for substantial progress. We are aware that with a plurality of experiences and approaches, there is no perfect or complete work here.
The Equity Audit enabled us to get a clear picture of how far we had to go to build an anti-racist, anti-oppressive organisation and where to focus our attention. It was critical in enabling us to act, and a powerful way to understand our journey. Let us know if you'd like to find out more.
We underestimated the toll this work would take on marginalised colleagues and are still exploring how best to create spaces to learn and explore oppression and anti-racism, without causing or retriggering trauma. We'd love to hear ideas and approaches from others.
We have invested significant resource in this work over the last 12 months, including staff training (£24k), infrastructure development (£8k), and staff time (at least 1000 hours). That's what it's taken us to move the dial. We'd like to hear how this compares to other organisations and how we could share resources to reduce the burden on smaller organisations.
Bold, ambitious, and public targets are effective at maintaining momentum and building up energy, excitement, and pride in this work. How have you found positive energy and joy in your EDIB journey?
To see a summary of what we will be focusing on in the next 12 months, see page 15 of this document.
What we are doing one year on?
In September 2021 we shared UnLtd's Equity Audit report and action plan publicly, setting out our commitment to change. We also published inclusion and equity commitments on our website, and in March 2022 we launched our new strategy, Breaking Down Barriers, which reinforces publicly that taking a conscious, proactive, anti- racist approach isn't about a programme or intervention, it is the core business of our organisation.
We made a commitment to report publicly (on our website and through social media) on progress towards our EDIB commitments every six months with the first report expected April 2022. This is the first report we have published, six months late. We are one reporting cycle behind our pledge. This has been because of the weight of the work in both the capacity required to undertake it properly, as well as its emotional load.
We have made the biggest strides in this area, transforming our outreach, assessment, award-making, and the design of our support. We have shared power with social entrepreneurs, paying them for their time, and prioritising those from marginalised communities. We quickly established an EDIB steering group with oversight from colleagues who work directly with social entrepreneurs, UnLtd's Trustee Board, and participation of all corporate directors. This work with social entrepreneurs is at a more advanced stage than our work for staff, deepening collaboration and coproduction to help foster a more inclusive working environment.
Over the last 12 months, all grant decisions have involved social entrepreneurs. They have the majority vote on decision panels. We have proactively sought to ensure every panel has a majority of participants who identify as Black, Asian, from a Minority Ethnic background, disabled, someone over 50 years old and/ or a Leader with Lived Experience, reflecting both our inclusion commitments and impact areas. You can find out more here about our focus areas, Healthy Ageing and Access to Employment. We will clarify the terms of engagement for Leaders with Lived Experience (who make enhanced contributions based on professional or personal experience, or some combination of the two), support them, and ensure their diversity and engagement tangibly aids our inclusion work.
We have worked with paid partner organisations led by individuals from communities that UnLtd has historically underserved. These 'development partners' have played a critical role, through their knowledge, experience, and networks, in enabling us to diversify the social entrepreneurs who are applying to UnLtd for awards and investment. We are evaluating our work with these development partners so as to be able to learn and improve on engagement with them, and linked outcomes across our work and organisation. We have diversified our Trustee Board membership and as a result the Board and all sub-committees include social entrepreneurs, and 45% of UnLtd's Board are Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic, and/ or are disabled (reflecting the groups that are currently less-well represented within UnLtd).
We need to keep stretching our thinking and commitments. We will discuss with the Board by March 2023 how we look and lead with racial and disability justice lenses, recognising we have historically underserved racialised and disabled individuals. We need to do more work to be inclusive of diverse staff and stakeholders as members of our community in addition to social entrepreneurs.
We are continuing to test and establish more equitable, inclusive, and transparent data collection and reporting approaches. This is ongoing work.
We have sought to support all staff teams to buy products and services from social entrepreneurs where possible, prioritising our inclusion groups. However, we are yet to formalise a policy to reinforce and support that emerging practice. This remains an area for action in the next six months.
Collaboration and partnership working is critical to progressing our EDIB work, and that requires dedicated resource in staff time, and paying for external services.
We have focused our work in two areas, establishing a structured programme of learning and training and improving our data collection and reporting.
As a result, we have seen an increase in the number of colleagues disclosing their personal data, and so have a better understanding of the diversity of our staff. We have seen a significant increase in colleagues identifying their religion ('prefer not to say' has moved from 55% to 36%). However, 41% of our workforce prefer not to say if they are disabled. We are, as yet, unable to say definitively why this is. However, we are aware that common reasons include negative stereotypes around disability, and fear of losing trust once a disability has been disclosed. You can find out more about the issue of non-disclosure of disabilities, particularly hidden ones, you can read here and listen here. We want to combat stigma and show employees that disclosure is safe and welcome at UnLtd. This will be a priority for us in the next six months (and beyond).
We are keeping track of key metrics which are helping us to better understand colleagues' experiences of inclusion and belonging. For example, 78% of staff who do not identify with the majority profile at UnLtd now feel that they can be themselves at work and a higher proportion of Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic, and disabled colleagues (74% and 78% respectively) report they think people at UnLtd are treated equally irrespective of protected characteristics, compared with the total response of 68%.
Data collected and analysed in March 2020 showed that UnLtd's highest profile of employees is female (60%), heterosexual (79%) aged 30-39 (44%), from any white background (71%) and with no disability (83%). The second highest ethnicity profile is Asian (17%) and the next highest age profile is 40 - 49 (32%).
This tells us that while we still have work to do, colleagues from marginalised communities are no longer out of sync with colleagues from the majority profile, as we saw in 2020. Alongside numerical data, we've also collected insight through exit interviews, staff surveys, and learning evaluations. This shows us overall that:
This positive feedback energises us as we are seeing the real impact on individual experiences at work.
We have seen a positive shift in colleagues saying they have not experienced discrimination or micro-aggressions (up from 65% in 2021 to 71% in 2022). Insight from staff suggests that reporting remains unacceptably high in part due to an increase in understanding and confidence in reporting micro-aggressions. One colleague has said:
“It feels like UnLtd is a safer environment to challenge each other and to speak up about discrimination or inequality. In the past I've brushed off micro-aggressions towards me and felt like it wasn't worth bringing them up, but now I feel more able to speak up for myself - that other people would listen.”
There is nothing 'micro' about micro-aggressions. Their impact can be devastating. Any incidence is too high, and disclosure is too low. The situation is still not good enough. We want to see a much greater shift, particularly as once the data is broken down it shows that Black and Disabled colleagues are still disproportionately likely to report experiencing discrimination and/or micro-aggressions. This will be a priority over the next six months (and beyond).
We also committed to annually analyse and report on workforce diversity and gender and ethnicity pay gap. We analysed this data in July 2021. We have chosen to use the term 'BAME' despite its limitations as it allows us to make best use of our data. We expect our approach to evolve to report on differences within ethnicities. All analysis was conducted without the salary of the Chief Executive who is the highest paid employee, to avoid skewing the figures. Our findings were:
We committed to regular listening sessions for colleagues in identity groups but realised this approach was contributing to fatigue across the organisation. Instead, we will focus listening sessions on particular issues and put resources into creating safe and welcoming spaces for colleagues who have experienced marginalisation and want to contribute and commit their time. We will ensure line managers create space for colleagues to participate in a meaningful way.
Another commitment we made was to establish a continuous learning and affinity group for Black colleagues. The intention was to create a safe space for colleagues to connect, share and feel supported, but after a positive start the group decided that the set-up was not working. The reality of being a minority group within an organisation which has pockets of fragility, and the exhaustion of being part of an organisation that is aiming to be anti-racist while those in power across the UK deny systemic racism exists, was too great a burden. Instead, our Black colleagues are planning to build a Black network alongside Black social entrepreneurs, which has adequate resources for learning and trauma-informed support. Our Director of Social Entrepreneur Support and Chair of EDIB steering group is leading on this and expects the refreshed group to be in place by October 2022.
Launched a three-year inclusive learning curriculum covering micro-aggressions, unconscious bias, allyship, power and privilege. We have established an online learning centre with mandatory training including anti-racism and 'know your bias', and a range of voluntary training on allyship and micro-aggressions to enable all staff to better understand all protected characteristics. The take-up and engagement from across the organisation has been impressive, with 97 % of staff reporting that they are satisfied with the progress they are making in their personal learning on equity, diversity, and inclusion. We have shared learning publicly about embedding equity in our award-making, through a series of blogs and articles:
We have heard from social entrepreneurs and staff applying for roles that this has been an important part of showing we are taking equity seriously and has encouraged them to apply to UnLtd.
We anticipated using our monthly All-Staff Huddles to create regular opportunities for colleagues to engage with monitoring and delivering the EDIB strategy, planning and learning. We have found that working in smaller groups is more effective. We still have work to do to find effective ways to keep all staff engaged in an ongoing way. We had also planned to share regular learning externally about UnLtd's EDIB work. We have done this effectively through senior staff undertaking speaking engagements but haven't consolidated and shared our learning more broadly. This report is an important step in addressing that gap.
We have taken a holistic approach to improving the inclusiveness of our staff recruitment. We have introduced new e-Recruitment technology that facilitates inclusive practice. We have built the inclusion competence and capabilities of hiring managers, including mandatory inclusive recruitment training and an inclusive recruitment go-to-guide. We have worked with a job platform, recruitment agencies and networks which have a commitments to diversity and inclusion. These have helped us to intentionally reach a wider pool of applicants. We have been explicit about our commitment to diversity and inclusion in our job descriptions and adverts.
Between April 2021 and March 2022:
This is good progress on the basis of these two criteria - ethnicity and sexuality - towards our long-term commitment to increase candidate conversion rates in recruitment so that our staff profile aligns with London population benchmarks. But we need to maintain particular focus around disability where we are falling short.
We committed to awarding 50% of our grants to social entrepreneurs from those groups we (and others) have historically underserved - those who identify as being Black, Asian, from a Minority Ethnic background and/or as disabled. Between April 2021 and March 2022, we exceeded this benchmark, awarding 60% of our grants and 57% of the total grant funding available to these groups. This was a leap from where we were in 2018 - 2019 when UnLtd began its inclusion journey and around 28 % of grants were awarded to this group.
The practical steps that enabled this included:
We launched the Growth Impact Fund, in partnership with Big Issue Invest and Shift to disrupt the flow of capital in the sector and drive it towards marginalised and minoritised social entrepreneurs and provide them with the flexible, patient capital and the support they need. This is an action-led and long-term intentional effort to change the funding and support system. All social entrepreneurs involved in this fund will use our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion toolkit to measure and improve the inclusiveness of their own organisation. We will make this toolkit available free of charge later this year to any organisation wishing to use it. We will work to learn from its implementation, and improve it, for use by, and the benefit of, social purpose organisations.
We've focused our communications and influencing work on promoting the need for equitable access to finance/ capital. For example our public response to the Adebowale Commission on Social Investment and gathering insights for the Government's £ 744 M of dormant assets and how this should be used for social investment. Our leadership team and other colleagues have continued to participate in sector-wide diversity initiatives, sharing our learning, learning from others, and championing wider action. Recent examples of this have been speaking at Association of Charitable Foundations events and conferences, leading a National Lottery Community Fund consultation to support their strategy renewal, and working alongside Comic Relief to influence the sector around equitable grant giving, specifically the development of a Black Leaders support network.
We are also increasing the diversity of our Connect community (mentors and supporters) so that it better represents our entrepreneurs. In the 202 1 - 22 financial year we recruited 10 new volunteers who identify as Black, Asian and/or Minority Ethnic (into a total pool of 90 mentors). We also recruited nine social entrepreneur volunteer mentors. We are updating data collection to enable us to better capture diversity data across our whole community, with the goal of using this data to further drive improvements in representation.
We had anticipated that the Growth Impact Fund would have launched sooner, but the delay in the launch has not limited our ambitions for this work.
One of our organisational values is to be brave. We committed to proactively and publicly taking a clear anti-racist and anti-oppression stance, seeking to shift sector practice, with a specific focus around investment. We have embedded this commitment in our new Breaking Down Barriers strategy, identifying equitable access to finance as a key priority. We have committed to being provocative in the way in which we campaign for a just world, and have entered into debates in the name of equity, for example criticising the Sewell report's downplaying of structural racism and as we are seeing commitment to trans rights rolling back across the sector, making clear our commitment to supporting LGBTQ+ social entrepreneurs.
We used the launch of our strategy and the Growth Impact Fund to amplify marginalised voices. This was, and will increasingly be, done by ensuring those speaking for us and with us at events and in our online communications are from marginalised and minoritised backgrounds, such as in this blog: _Name it. Claim it. Why Black female entrepreneurs should step into their CEO title link
We have continued to carry through our inclusion commitments to sector partnerships and collaborations, enabled by active participation and accountability of our staff team. This work is intensive. Holding ourselves and others to account can be onerous, particularly for colleagues who have experienced marginalisation and/ or discrimination themselves.
We committed to a social-media takeover by DEI-led and/ or focused social enterprises. We are currently working to develop processes that support staff and social entrepreneurs to have powerful conversations on social media. We will also be working with social entrepreneurs over the next three to six months to explore the appetite for a social-media takeover with a clear focus on EDIB, and other ways of sharing our platform and advocating with DEI-led social enterprises. We wanted to work with partners to acknowledge structural barriers and sign up to an Inclusion Charter. We did not form a charter. Instead, we expect partners we work with or who support us to align with our EDIB commitments.
Looking ahead: UnLtd EDIB commitments October 2022 - September 2023
| 1. Take ownership of our commitment to equity, equality, diversity, and inclusion |
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| 2. Build accountability through meaningful collaborations & coproduction with networks and marginalised communities |
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| 3. Move beyond representation to work towards an inclusive culture |
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| 4. Accept the longevity and risk involved in meaningful pursuit of diversity and inclusion through open and transparent sharing |
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| 5. Act with integrity through the investment of time, energy, and resources in equitable representation |
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| 6. Engage in intentional systems change and sustainable inclusion |
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| 7. Advocate for diversity and inclusion & amplify marginalised voices |
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We have worked with an inspiring and committed range of trainers to deliver our inclusive learning curriculum. The content spans micro-aggressions, unconscious bias, allyship, power and privilege alongside focused sessions to enable all staff to better understand protected characteristics.
| # | Diversity Forum Manifesto Commitments | UnLtd Commitments 2021 - 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Take ownership of our commitment to equity, equality, diversity, and inclusion. Write your own statement acknowledging the need for inclusion and your commitment to change internally and externally. Sign and share this manifesto on your website online. |
Share independent equity-audit process, findings, and commitment to change internally and externally. Share plan to respond to it publicly, and report regularly on progress. Sign and share Diversity Forum manifesto, and integrate any additional commitments into existing EDIB action plan, accountability, and reporting. |
| 2. | Build accountability through meaningful collaborations & coproduction with networks and marginalised communities. Identify, engage, and collaborate with networks and communities. Centre the needs & experiences of diverse communities in decision-making, processes, and design. |
Establish an EDIB steering group, which includes UnLtd trustees. EDIB plans and priorities to have oversight from the UnLtd Board, with quarterly reviews of progress. Our Board and all Board Committees will have social entrepreneurs appointed to them. All decision-making forums will include a diverse and representative range of individuals. We will actively engage social entrepreneurs from marginalised groups in outreach, assessment, award-making panels, and design of UnLtd's support offer, paying appropriately for expertise. We will proactively work in paid partnerships with Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and/or disabled members of the social enterprise community to identify people who need funding and support the most and are the least likely to engage with us. Test and establish more equitable and inclusive data collection methods with social entrepreneurs. |
| 3. | Move beyond representation to work towards an inclusive culture. Empower and centre diverse employees and beneficiaries through policies and practice. Progress from transactional -> relational -> transformational relationships. |
We have committed to ongoing listening and understanding with annual listening sessions for colleagues, in identity groups. We will actively encourage colleagues who do not identify with our majority-staff profile, to establish affinity groups. Annually analyse and report on workforce diversity and gender and ethnicity pay gap. Integrate EDI into all management practices and strengthen breadth and depth of workforce data. |
| 4. | Accept the longevity and risk involved in meaningful pursuit of diversity and inclusion through open and transparent sharing. Be transparent in sharing mistakes and accountable in apologising when they are made. Make long term internal & external EDI plans and allocate time to continue this conversation. |
We will establish an inclusive learning curriculum with mandatory and voluntary training. Our all-staff Huddles have regular inclusion sessions for all staff to engage in EDIB strategy, planning and learning. We will share organisational learning with partners, funders, and social entrepreneurs in a timely and transparent way. |
| 5. | Act with integrity through the investment of time, energy, and resources in equitable representation. Review and address gaps in your knowledge, systems, and processes. Invest in equity for marginalised communities through training, access, recognition, resources, and time. |
We will improve our recruitment to be consciously more inclusive. This includes investing more in attracting diverse candidates to UnLtd, with a particular focus on individuals who identify as Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic, disabled and LGBTQIA+. All interview panels will be intentionally diverse in experience, perspective, and demographic profiles. We will scope out requirements for new e-Recruitment technology, which we will customise, test, implement and roll out to HR as well as organisation-wide training. We will build inclusion competence and capabilities of hiring managers to view the process through an inclusive lens, including mandatory inclusive recruitment training. |
| 6. | Engage in intentional systems change and sustainable inclusion. Equity, equality, diversity, and inclusion is about redistributing power, finances, and resources. Acknowledge systemic inequality, your intention to change this and commit to annual reporting on the 7 components of the Diversity Forum Manifesto toolkit. |
We have committed 50% of our grants to social entrepreneurs who identify as being Black, Asian, or from a Minority Ethnic background and/or disabled across all of our grant giving. Underscoring this is a particular focus on supporting social entrepreneurs with personal experience of the issue they are working to solve. We will ensure that our non-financial support works for social entrepreneurs from all backgrounds and that our volunteer and partner community is diverse and representative of the social entrepreneurs and society we serve We will require all social entrepreneurs in our new investment fund to collect and report on equity and inclusion data |
| 7. | Advocate for diversity and inclusion & amplify marginalised voices After you've started your own EDI journey, encourage others to do the same in your personal and organisational networks. Be a great ally by advocating for others and stepping back to amplify the voices of marginalised communities where possible. | We will proactively and publicly take a clear anti-racist and anti- discrimination stance, seeking to shift sector practice, with a specific focus around investment. Our communications, publications, and events will actively highlight social entrepreneurs from minoritized communities in an authentic and inclusive way. Inclusion and accessibility will be the standard across our events and in all future digital content. We will work with partners to acknowledge structural batters and encourage more partners to align with our EDIB commitments and the manifesto. |