Joint statement published by acevo on 21 April 2021, available here.
In a debate in parliament yesterday Sir John Hayes (Conservative) said that he and 20 other members of the House had written to the Charity Commission to complain about the Runnymede Trust’s response to the report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities. A report that has now been widely discredited including by academics referenced in the report and the UN. Further to this Sir John asked for assurance from minister Kemi Badenoch that she make representations across government to “stop the worthless work—often publicly funded—of organisations that are promulgating weird, woke ideas…”
Many charities exist because the state has failed and a clear example of the failure of the state is a failure to dismantle race inequality in Britain. This is not the first time that MPs have complained to the Charity Commission when charities have sought to raise awareness about or tackle the issues that are harming people that MPs are elected to serve. The changes that charities are asking for are not “worthless” or “weird” but focused on solving some of this country’s most enduring challenges.
In 2014 Conservative MP Connor Burns complained to the Charity Commission about an Oxfam campaign which linked cuts in benefits to poverty. Last year Conservative MPs who have come together as the ‘Common Sense Group’ called for a Charity Commission investigation into Barnardo’s after it published an article explaining white privilege. The Charity Commission CEO has already made it clear, in a blog written in response to complaints made about the National Trust’s work on colonialism, that “Charities are allowed to campaign and to take controversial opinions in support of their purpose…”
Yesterday’s debate in parliament comes in the same week that the Greensill lobbying scandal has shown that those with power and connections have access to the heart of the government while those campaigning on social justice issues are frequently denied an audience, in the same year that the government has introduced a bill that closes down the space to protest, and in the same decade in which we have seen a Lobbying Act that created a chilling effect on civil society campaigning, party political appointments to senior roles in non-ministerial departments (including the Charity Commission) and in public bodies. While party political appointments to important public offices have occurred under successive governments of different parties, the Good Law Project is currently seeking to end that practice by bringing a judicial review. This judicial review has been joined by the Runnymede Trust who are challenging the equality of the hiring practices.
Many of the issues that charities deal with are political, not party political (which is against charity law) but political in the sense that they are issues of the people. Civicus, a global alliance dedicated to strengthening citizen action, defines the civil space in the UK as ‘narrowed’. Civic space means the space in which citizens and civil society organisations are able to organise, participate and communicate without hindrance. This means that civic action is more constrained in the UK than it is in neighbouring countries like the Republic of Ireland and fellow G7 countries like Germany and Canada.
We stand in solidarity with all those working to end racism and recognise that organisations run by racialised people and organisations seeking to tackle inequality are disproportionately targeted by attempts to discredit and quieten them. We also stand with all charities and civil society organisations working for the public good to create the kind of safe, just and free society that benefits us all.
Signed by:
Adeela Warley OBE, CEO, CharityComms
Akiko Hart, CEO, National Survivor User Network
Alex Jacobs, director, Joffe Charitable Trust
Ali Harris, chief executive, Equally Ours
Alison Garnham, chief executive, Child Poverty Action Group
Alison Page, chief executive, Salford CVS
Amy Gibbs, chief executive, Birthrights
Anela Anwar, chief executive, Z2K
Angela McConville, chief executive, NCT
Anne Fox, chief executive officer, Clinks
Andrew Brown, chief executive, Croydon BME Forum
Asad Rehman, executive director, War on Want
Ben Gilchrist, chief executive, Caritas Shrewsbury
Caron Bradshaw OBE, CEO, Charity Finance Group
Cathy Ashley, chief executive, Family Rights Group
Charles Kwaku Odoi, chief officer, Caribbean and African Health Network
Daniel Gorman, director, English PEN
Debra Allcock Tyler, chief executive, Directory of Social Change
Deniz Uğur, deputy director, End Violence Against Women Coalition
Dhivya O’Connor, founder and executive producer, The Charity CEO Podcast
Donal Watkin, chief executive, Association of Charitable Organisations (ACO)
Donna Covey CBE, chief executive, Against Violence and Abuse (AVA)
Emma Thomas, chief executive, YoungMinds
Estelle du Boulay, director, Rights of Women
Farah Nazeer, chief executive, Women’s Aid
Faeeza Vaid MBE, executive director, Muslim Women’s Network UK
Felicia Willow, interim chief executive, Fawcett Society
Fiona Dwyer, chief executive, Solace Women’s Aid
Gisela Valle, director, Latin American Women’s Rights Service
Girish Menon, chief executive officer, STiR Education
Gracie Bradley, interim director, Liberty
Ioana Harris and Ruth Bashall, co-chief executives, Stay Safe East
Jabeer Butt OBE, chief executive, Race Equality Foundation
James Watson-O’Neill, chief executive, SignHealth
Janet Thorne, chief executive, Reach Volunteering
Jess Southgate, chief executive, Agenda
Jo Hobbs MBE, chief executive, The British Youth Council
Jo Todd, chief executive officer, Respect
Joseph Howes, chief executive, Buttle UK
Jules Hillier, chief executive, Pause
Julie Bentley, chief executive, Samaritans
Kate Collins, CEO, Teenage Cancer Trust
Kate Paradine, chief executive, Women in Prison
Kathy Evans, CEO, Children England
Kathryn Dowlath, chief executive, Harrison Housing
Kirit Mistry, chair, South Asian Health Action
Kudsia Batool, head of equality and strategy, Trade Union Congress (TUC)
Laurie Lee, chief executive, CARE International
Maurice Mcleod, chief executive, Race on the Agenda
Mike Wild, chief executive, Macc
Dr. Melvin Bradley, chief executive, Mental Health Independent Support Team
Miriam Turner and Hugh Knowles, co-executive director, Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Moira Sinclair, chief executive, Paul Hamlyn Foundation
Mushtaq Khan, chief executive officer, BME National
Niamh Eastwood, executive director, Release
Nicola Sharp, chief executive officer, Surviving Economic Abuse
Paul Farmer, chief executive, Mind
Paul Parker, recording clerk, Quakers in Britain
Patricia Durr, chief executive, ECPAT UK
Peter Lewis, CEO, Chartered Institute of Fundraising
Penelope Ryan, national chair, Townswomen’s Guilds
Penny Wilson, CEO, Getting on Board
Philippa Carrick, chief executive, Tibet Relief Fund
Polly Neate, chief executive, Shelter
Poppy Jaman, CEO, City Mental Health Alliance
Quinn McKew, executive director, ARTICLE 19
Rashid Iqbal, chief executive, The Winch
Rick Henderson, chief executive, Homeless Link
Rita Chadha, chief executive, Small Charities Coalition
Robin Osterley, chief executive, Charity Retail Association
Robina Qureshi, director, Positive Action in Housing
Rosie Tressler OBE, CEO, Student Minds
Ruth Davison, chief executive, Refuge
Sara Kirkpatrick, chief executive officer, Welsh Women’s Aid
Sara Llewellin, chief executive, Barrow Cadbury Trust
Sarah Hughes, CEO, Centre for Mental Health
Sarah Mann, director, Friends, Families and Travellers
Sarah Vibert, interim chief executive, NCVO
Shana Begum, founder, The Best Me CIC
Simon Blake OBE, CEO, Mental Health First Aid England
Simon Wooley, chief executive officer, Operation Black Vote
Sophie Neuburg, executive director, Medact
Suzanne Jacob, chief executive, SafeLives
Stephanie Draper, chief executive, Bond
Sue Pearson, chief executive, Heeley City Farm
Sue Tibballs, chief executive, Sheila McKechnie Foundation
Tom Brake, director, Unlock Democracy
Tony Armstrong, CEO, Locality
Vanessa Morris, chief executive, Mind in the City, Hackney and Waltham Forest
Vicky Browning, chief executive, ACEVO
Vivienne Hayes MBE, chief executive, Women’s Resource Centre
Viv Ahmun, founder, Blaksox
Wanda Wyporska, executive director, The Equality Trust
Warren Escadale, chief executive, VSNW
Yasmin Rehman, chief executive officer, Juno Women’s Aid
Yvonne McNamara, CEO, The Traveller Movement