Increasing Diversity & Inclusion in the Benevolent/Grant-Making Sector

This event will explore how charities can look to build their commitment to diversity & inclusion within their organisations, looking at some of the issues charities face in making their organisations more inclusive, and some of the practical solutions they can put in place to meet these challenges.

Our speakers for this event include:

Sufina Ahmad MBE (@SufinaAhmad on Twitter) - Director at the John Ellerman Foundation

Sufina's presentation will be an opportunity to reflect on how to build interest in and support for embedding diversity, equity and principles across all levels of your organisation.

Sufina will offer a short summary of her own reflections on the key diversity, equity and inclusion challenges and opportunities faced by grantmakers and wider civil society – using her own experience of leading the Chartered Institute of Fundraising’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion expert panel, which eventually became its #ChangeCollective movement, and the work that she has done within the organisations that she has worked in, as the basis for these reflections. This will be followed by a 20 minute question and answer session with attendees.

Sufina is Director of the John Ellerman Foundation, a grantmaker in the arts, environment and social action. She is currently completing an Executive MBA course at Warwick Business School. Before joining the Foundation, Sufina worked in corporate strategy and performance at the City of London Corporation. She has previously worked for the National Lottery Community Fund and City Bridge Trust, in strategy, policy and stakeholder relations roles. Sufina has also held service delivery and development roles working in charities supporting adults with learning disabilities and older people mainly.

Sufina holds trusteeships with Just for Kids Law, We Belong, The Charterhouse and the Association of Charitable Foundations. She previously volunteered with the Chartered Institute of Fundraising, as Chair of their Expert Panel on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, and is now an honorary Fellow of the Institute. She was awarded an MBE for charitable services in 2020.

D&I Workshop - Katie Donovan-Adekanmbi, Inclusion and Cohesion Specialist / Founder of BCohCo Ltd, The Diversity Trust

The Diversity Trust will cover the importance of diversity and inclusion in the charity and grant-making sector, and what charities can do to make their organisations more inclusive.

They will be exploring topics including:

• The importance and benefits of Diversity and Inclusion
• Brief reference to the effects of the pandemic
• Possible solutions

About Katie: I have over 10 years' experience in Building Sustainable Communities, delivered with a unique intersection of professional, personal, and academic knowledge in Diversity, Inclusion, Cohesion and Equality (DICE®).

I like people in all their magnificent difference. I thrive off of finding the solutions in the challenges these differences present, for both the individual and the system. A Woman of Dual Heritage, I am continually navigating my Black & White world. I have dedicated my academic journey to Social Psychology and my career to Building Cohesive Communities.

I deliver training, development, and consultation in DICE®; a continual, interconnected process designed to provide the skills, tools and ‘know how’ to embed DICE® in personal and professional practice.

Key Successes

1. Led and coordinated a multi-agency partnership which worked together to elevate an area qualifying as a Priority Neighbourhood (PN) with a population of 10,000, out of PN status.

2. Developed the Anti-Hate Crime Ambassador Programme, delivered to 60 young people, before attracting £90k in funding to roll out on a wider scale.