Equity

Alongside a better understanding of sectors and supported groups, we have made a concerted effort in the last year to collect better data on the diversity of applicants to new SIB funds and programmes. Every emergency fund that we have run since March has included the same metric on diverse leadership, which we collect at application stage. This has, at long last, enabled us to better understand the reach of SIB-administered funds into minority communities.

These pie charts show the diversity of applicants for the TISS, RRLF and CCLORS funds – CCLORS only asked a diversity question focused on whether or not organisations were BAME-Led or BAME-supporting.

Although there is a high proportion of BAME-Led applicants across these three funds, this does not mean that the same proportion were funded.

1 of these funds was specifically prioritising and promoting the fund to BAME organisations.

Across the emergency funds we have collected a data set of 942 (without YEF) self-identified BAME-led organisations.

Although this is a small sample, it is one collected across different funds, offering different finance from small grant all the way to large loan alongside a number of different partners. It does, therefore, provide a useful starting point to better understanding BAME-led or BAME-supporting applicants to social sector funding.

We see key differences that are important to highlight.

Compared to the pool of other applicants in our emergency funds, BAME applicants are more likely to be working in more deprived areas and concentrated in certain regions of the country.

49% of BAME applicants in those funds were based in London, compared to 38% of the wider application pool.

61% of BAME-led organisations are operating in the most deprived areas in terms of IMD (deciles 1-3): this is compared to 46% of the wider application pool.

As you’ll see from the significant map cluster, London accounted for 48.4% of BAME applicants.

For reference around 42% of the BAME population in the UK are living in London. The next biggest BAME applicant region is the North West with 11.3%.