We continue our journey on diversity, equity, inclusion, social and racial justice at Barnwood Trust – as a crucial and central part of making positive lasting changes in and through our work.  

We still have a way to go but, with expertise and support from The Better Org, the work is moving forward.

What has happened so far? 

In 2022, Barnwood trustees released a statement on the history of the Trust’s original founding funds. The origins of Barnwood are more complex than many national Trusts and Foundations. We were set up as ‘a service provider and social enterprise¹ focused on mental health’ (using today’s language) – serving those most in need, both rich and poor.  

Barnwood was not explicitly set up as a charitable wealth fund. However, some of the organisation’s initial subscribers did have direct links to African chattel enslavement² and that part enabled the purchase of land, capital and services – with this value then growing over the years.  

The trustee statement acknowledged the systemic racial injustice and harm experienced by people today which is rooted in African chattel enslavement and our wider colonial history. Barnwood stated its anti-racist aspiration and commitment, linked to our desire to become a more proactive ‘agent of social change’. 

Dedicated diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) work followed. This was mainly focused on team training, updating our organisational values, and improving internal policies. You can read about our learning last year here. 

But there were stumbling blocks. Since 2020, significant organisational changes have happened in response to changing needs in the world around us. This includes two restructures and big shifts to the work we deliver. This has had an unsettling effect and made DEI work harder to sustain. Overall trust, work culture and our sense of belonging have been impacted and previous good work to that point was lost. We got stuck on the language of DEI and often confused ourselves. So, it hasn’t been straightforward, but it has remained important work for us. 

How did The Better Org support us in this work?

We needed a fresh approach, so we brought in The Better Org (TBO), an organisational development consultant specialising in equity, anti-racism and social justice practice, to help us get to the bottom of our DEI challenges. The team at TBO engaged with key Barnwood stakeholders – Funded Partners, community partners and Barnwood Circle members, plus staff and trustees – to get a rounded view of how people have experienced Barnwood Trust from a DEI point of view. They also reviewed internal documents to try and build an overall picture.  

TBO provided us with a report which outlined their findings and made a series of recommendations for us to move our DEI strategy forward. 

What did The Better Org find out? 

There were a range of challenges that TBO observed and wanted to reflect back to us. They noted that Barnwood Trust has made good progress in DEI with a focus on inclusion and forming strong relationships, particularly around disability and mental health. But more emphasis on race equity and intersectionality³ is needed for wider change.  

In the past, DEI has not been ‘owned’ by everyone at the Trust. There has been low staff confidence to talk about inclusion and anti-racism and a fear of making mistakes. Organisational changes and some inconsistent ways of working have also affected psychological safety and team culture.  

TBO felt that Barnwood Circle is a successful example of community engagement but greater visibility and connection with marginalised groups is needed to better represent our diverse communities in Barnwood’s work. 

Being a funder in the county brings Barnwood unique opportunities and a position of ‘power’ and influence, but this is double-edged. More transparency in funding decisions is needed to address power imbalances, and targeted investment could also help to strengthen marginalised communities for systemic change 4. 

What did The Better Org recommend? 

The following areas were identified for a new DEI ‘road map’ for Barnwood: 

Organisational commitment – a clear, actionable DEI strategy with a focus on race, equity, anti-racism and intersectionality, working positively both alongside and in a cross-cutting way with disability and mental health. 

Leadership and governance – collective ownership of DEI, clearer accountability structures and more transparency in decision making. 

Culture and belonging – improve psychological safety, communication, consistent policy implementation and connection across the Trust. 

Community engagement and partnerships – increase visibility, diversify Barnwood’s networks and engage with underrepresented communities. 

Funding, influencing and power sharing – take an intersectional approach to funding and influencing activities, address power imbalances, and target investment in areas that build community capacity. 

How are we taking this forward? 

Since we started working with The Better Org, the world we operate in has shifted again. There has been a sharp rise in racial hatred and division across the UK, with this now visible day by day where we live and in our communities.  

This has felt deeply concerning for us, for our staff and trustees, and the people and organisations we are here to serve in Gloucestershire. The urgency to get moving on our DEI and anti-racism commitments remains high and becomes more pressing than ever in this context.  

We are also learning that, if we want to do this well, we need to take time to digest the findings, learn together and find practical and meaningful goals that are owned by us all at Barnwood. 

Starting as we mean to go on

We have set up cross-team groups to work on each of the 5 areas identified by TBO. Since September, these groups have been exploring the evidence and themes of the report; looking at how other organisations put the ideas into practice; and coming up with top priorities for us to focus on at Barnwood.  

We’re not rushing – we’re building understanding and will create our DEI plan from this. We also want to go about this work in a gentle and inclusive way, using DEI principles to underpin this work from the start. 

Alongside the staff team, our Board of Trustees have also spent time together to absorb TBO’s findings and work out ways to build this into our strategy and work for the long-term. How do we keep building on our anti-racism commitment as a Trust? How do we keep alive to the sources of Barnwood’s wealth? What does this mean for us as an agent for social change in Gloucestershire? And, what might this all actually mean in practice?  

The necessary work of social and racial justice and DEI is not done when we state our intentions out loud, we have to work on this steadily and deliberately over time – it is a journey and we are only part of the way.  

We will share more about our DEI journey over the next 12 months. 

[1] A social enterprise is a business that aims to make money and do good for society at the same time.

[2] We use this term to mean the abduction and enslavement of African people as ‘personal property’ (chattel) for profit, and the global systems that supported this. It is important not to oversimplify what happened and to affirm the deep and lasting harm caused by these crimes on the people and communities in Africa, and their descendants.

[3] How different parts of a person’s identity – such as ethnicity, gender, disability, sexual orientation and class – overlap and affect someone’s life experiences.

[4] Deep, long-lasting changes to the structures, rules, and ways things work so that the entire system becomes fairer and better—not just patching up problems on the surface.