Funding Black and Marginalized Communities in the West Midlands
Black and marginalized communities in the West Midlands significantly contribute to the region's social, cultural, and economic landscape. Not only are these organisations vital for supporting the most vulnerable and disenfranchised, but they also contribute billions to the regional economy; providing skills, jobs and opportunities that change lives. They also play a pivotal role in promoting pride, empowerment, and lasting change.
As an everyday feminist, I must add a word about the Women’s sector. We – Shakti included - play a vital role in advocating for gender equality and empowering women through our support services, through education, and through community building. We fight for gender equality, advocate for policies that address issues like domestic violence and reproductive rights, and we ensure that women’s voices are amplified.
Many focus on health issues providing education and support around key issues such as maternal health, mental health, screenings, and wellness programs to improve health outcomes of us all. Others offer crucial services like counselling, confidence building, legal assistance, and provide women facing crises with the support they need to improve their lives. And through delivering skills training, entrepreneurship programs, and job placement services, we help women gain financial independence and provide for their families. All of which is key to breaking the cycle of poverty.
Finally, women’s groups provide vulnerable women with safe spaces where women can connect, share experiences, and support each other, thus fostering a sense of solidarity, agency and resilience.
Pull & Push Challenges in Funding Marginalised Communities
Despite the immense value these organisations provide, funding for them often faces numerous challenges and despite the abundance of research/evidence, these funding challenges persist, hindering the potential of these vital organisations to deliver lasting change.
On the push side, already underfunded Black & Marginalised communities often lack the resources, access to information, networks, skills and support, need to help themselves and to grow. In addition, complex funding application processes - requiring extensive documentation and technical expertise – can discourage these already most under-resourced organisations from applying for funds, despite the fact they are delivering vital, often essential services.
On the pull side, funders themselves play a role in perpetuating this inequity. By ignoring their own cultural and racial biases, grant officers can reject projects and issues through lack of understanding of the historical complexity of the way racism/sexism (and indeed other isms) work.
In my experience, funding bodies can be blind, often unconsciously, to the specific needs of marginalised communities, resulting in mismatched funding priorities that fail to address these complex cultural, economic and social challenges effectively. And short-term funding models do not provide the long-term stability required for addressing deep-rooted issues, leaving organisations to struggle with recurring & cyclical dependency.
Conclusion
To create a more equitable funding landscape, there needs to be a clearer understanding within the funding community of the historical reasons these inequalities persist. All funders need to appreciate and understand the vital role of these communities, not just in delivering projects, but in alleviating poverty and further in-equalities in our society.
In my personal experience, the higher up we go in a funding body, the more aware and educated grant officers are in the issues raised, but trust me, at the front-line, where most funders meet most Black and marginalised, the expertise of personnel, is somewhat limited to checking tick-boxes and rarely in my experience have front-line staff had a significant training around everyday racism, sexism and societal injustice.
In my 30 years as gamekeeper, turned poacher, I have seen significant change on the quality of understanding and delivery of the biggest and best funders. I have had the privilege to meet some of the most impactful, outspoken and determined campaigners for change. And I salute you all!
Sadly, I still encounter grant staff who have neither knowledge nor awareness of their own cultural bias. And given many - not all – of these organisations are starting well behind the line, we absolutely need to focus on simplifying our application processes, improving access to information, ensuring cultural sensitivity, and offering long-term support. In addition, involving marginalized communities in funding decisions is essential to align resources with their actual needs, fostering sustainable change and a more inclusive society.
I firmly believe if we do nothing about the injustice of our society, we are colluding. Ergo, we will never truly address in-justice in the funding community, until we all understand how it came about, our personal and organisational role in perpetuating it and by making conscious and actionable decisions to kick it out.
Siobhan Harper-Nunes BSocSi Social Policy, MSc Urban Regeneration
Siobhan has worked in the third sector for more than 30 years. She has been a funder (SRB4), a bid assessor (for local, regional and international funders) and she has vast experience as a charity consultant of supporting the Black, youth and women’s sectors to raise funds, design projects and deliver impact.