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SCVO
Equalities Briefing May 2004
Introduction
Resources
are often seen as a barrier to effective
equalities mainstreaming. And equalities
organisations working with particular
disadvantaged groups find it difficult to
persuade funders to support their work, given
other more popular causes. Funding issues take
up increasing amounts of time, which is lost to
service delivery. This briefing aims to give
information behind some of the issues.
Issues
and barriers in accessing funding for equalities
work
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Seeking
funding takes time and capacity and is
expensive.
-
Some
causes are more attractive to funders than
others. Less ‘cuddly’ equality causes,
such as support for Lesbian Gay Bisexual and
Transsexual (LGBT) people, or for people
with mental health problems, can be harder
to find funding for.
-
Some
areas, eg gender equality suffer from a
perception that this strand has been
‘sorted out’, as many initiatives have
already tried to address the problems.
-
Changing
attitudes is crucial to equalities work, but
hard to measure and takes time. Long-term
funding is hard to find.
-
Voluntary
organisations may be pigeon-holed by
funders, who may see a group’s work as
being in one particular area, and be
reluctant to fund equalities work that seems
to go into another area.
-
Studies (see resources) have shown that black and
minority ethnic groups find it particularly
difficult to access funding.
Equalities and Funding
Provision
Lottery
Funding
Approaches
to equality and diversity vary between the
different lottery distributors. Generally,
funders have tried to broaden the source of
applications through targeted conferences,
seminars, training sessions and focus groups.
The
Equal Opportunities Commission has highlighted a
lack of women on the committees dealing with
lottery applications, and has called for
monitoring policies and accessible data on
funding distribution.
The
Community Fund
strategy until March 2005 is to target funds on
charitable projects that benefit disabled
people/ carers; people living in disadvantaged areas; refugees, and people from black and
minority ethnic communities.
The
Scottish Arts Council monitors
anticipated beneficiaries and applicants’
management committees in terms of ethnic origin,
physical ability and gender. This monitoring
information is however not publicly accessible -
a common problem amongst the lottery
distributors.
The
New Opportunities Fund,
tasked with awarding grants to education, health
and environment projects, called for the
establishment of an Equality in Grant Making
Forum. The Fund has recognised the need for an
evidence-based measure of equality and a
standardisation of information held about all
grant applications.
Grant Making Trusts
The
equalities and inclusion policies and practices
of individual trusts vary greatly.
Some
actively promote equalities in their approach to
applications and funding distribution. E.g. The
Lintel Trust have a mainstreaming equalities
programme as a funding theme for 2003-2006, with
a commitment to greater involvement and
participation by people with disabilities in
devising and delivering new solutions to their
housing problems.
However,
not all grant making trusts use equality
monitoring. Some ask only for information about
the project’s target audience, whilst others
place more emphasis on information about the
applicant organisation.
Lloyds TSB Foundation Scotland produces
an annual report on awards including monitoring
of projects and intended beneficiaries. Comic
relief have a particular focus on funding
projects promoting equality, and run by
equalities groups.
Local Authority Funding
There
is no reliable source of data on local
authority funding to the voluntary sector. In
2001, the Scottish Executive reported on concern
about difficulties faced by black and minority
ethnic voluntary organisations in accessing
support.
COSLA
has called for all councils to ensure that
equalities performance measures and targets
measure their delivery of equal opportunities
and are made public.
Scottish
Executive Funding
In
2001, the Executive required all recipients of
funding to demonstrate that they had appropriate
equal opportunities policies and evaluation
procedures in place.
The
Executive monitors grants by gender, age, race
and disabilities but this information is not
publicly available.
In
2001, the Executive carried out a review (see
resources) of funding for black and minority
ethnic groups in the voluntary sector, and concluded
that they received disproportionately small
amounts of funding, often relying on one off
charitable sources. BEMIS (Black and Minority
Infrastructure in Scotland) report that BEM
groups still experience these problems.
The
Scottish Compact was reviewed in February 2004,
reaffirming the commitment to equality of
opportunity, including fair access to public
services and the application of best practice in
funding and the administration of grants.
Also
in 2004, following on from the European Year of
Disabled People, the Executive set aside £1
million for funding projects that benefit
disabled people in Scotland, including over £500,000
to support local Access panels; and has also
announced increased funding for the
LGBT community.
The Strategic Funding Review
The
Strategic Funding Review involves SCVO, COSLA
and the Executive in looking at funding issues
for voluntary organisations. The aim is to
identify the current scale and pattern of
funding; consider why funders should support the
sector; look at sustainability; identify how to
increase best value; consider reform of policy
and practice, and propose actions to address
identified issues. Overarching issues identified
include security of funding; competition;
funding mechanisms; the development of income
and assets; costs to voluntary organisations;
and building capacity.
Necessary
actions identified include the development of
better relationships between public sector and
voluntary sector; consideration of impact of
policy changes on the voluntary sector; the
establishment of three-year funding, with
full-cost recovery (where all costs are looked
at, eg core costs, insurance, etc) as the norm;
for funders not to be overly risk-adverse; to
keep better information on funding to the
sector; and to develop an explicit equalities
agenda.
One
of the problems faced by members of the review
groups was a lack of information on public
sector funding.
European Structural Funding
Projects
are expected to demonstrate that they have built
in equalities considerations from the outset
(mainstreamed) and are required to take specific
actions to redress existing inequalities. (In
Scotland equalities is broadly defined, as in
the Scotland Act, covering gender, race,
disability, sexual orientation, age, language,
social origin, religious belief and political
opinion.) ESF encourage smaller organisations to
work in partnership with others to consolidate
skills and access funding.
How
ESF funds equalities work:
- All
projects must address inequalities
- Funding
may be available for positive action
projects
- Funding
support is available for disabled
beneficiaries - eg adaptations, sign
language support.
- Childcare/
dependents costs are funded
- There
is a focus on working with employers to
change attitudes, develop equalities
policies and raise awareness.
- If
equalities polices are not in place, ESF
will work with organisations or projects to
establish them.
Work
in such areas as training, including equal
opportunities training, human resource
development and capacity building, awareness
raising, good practice training and
dissemination, renovation and renewal, guidance
and counselling, aftercare, and research (e.g.
into positive gender policies) may qualify for
ESF funding.
An
issue with ESF has been the arduous application
process, and the process of administering the
funding after the award is made. Plus, match
funding may be required. Again, partnership
working can help.
Banks
Banks
to date have had little to do with voluntary
sector equalities work, but may be persuaded to
lend to social economy organisations. In Wester
Hailes, Edinburgh, it was pointed out that the
local population collectively had a sizeable
income (despite poverty) and so it made good
business sense to one high street bank to make
available basic bank accounts and small loans
for business start-up, and to lend to voluntary
organisations with a guaranteed income stream.
In ‘Scotlands of the Future’ (see resources)
Barbara McLennan suggests that providing finance
for small businesses and community ventures can
avert a rise in unemployment, which is in
banks’ interests. There is however a danger of
‘postcode lottery’, where more affluent
neighbourhoods would see a greater benefit in
community reinvestment.
Social
Investment Scotland,
launched in September 2001, is a loan fund that
takes on the cost of assessing and processing
applications for banks, which supply the
capital. SIS
provide a range of loan finance to social
economy organisations which have a clear social
purpose and will make a lasting difference
to their communities (ie they focus on the
poverty strand).
Key Questions
Should
groups automatically include equalities costs in
funding applications?
Yes.
It is important to factor in equalities costs
from the start and to include these in your
application. ESF expect all projects to do this.
How can voluntary
organisations avoid being ‘pigeon-holed’ by
funders?
Sometimes
working in partnership with other organisations
can address this. We also need to persuade more
funders to recognise the interrelatedness of
areas of discrimination, realise how a focus on
equalities can enhance services, and encourage
organisations to put in bids for equalities
work.
Is
there a role for community planning in improving
understanding of equalities issues by the public
and voluntary sector?
Better
communication is needed all round, especially
between the public and voluntary sectors.
Community planning could provide a way for
equalities issues to be raised with public
authorities.
Should
we share success stories? -
Success
stories by voluntary organisations who have
secured funding, and information by funders
about successful projects they have funded,
could extend awareness of sources of funding and
reduce fear of risk-taking or reluctance to
support ‘less cuddly' causes.
Would
it be helpful to have legislation that obliged
banks to lend for community projects?
In
‘Scotlands of the Future’ Barbara MacLennan
discusses the potential for a community
reinvestment Act, and also suggests that change
in bank culture and practice may be instigated
bit by bit through individual and collective
action.
Resources
Summary
of Structural Funds in Scotland
Equal
Opportunities Adviser, Structural Fund
Programmes, Muriel Mackenzie
mackenziem@esep.co.uk
Strategic
Funding Review website
www.scotland.gov.uk/about/UNASS/UNASS/
00015300/page2106627178.aspx
Black
and Minority Ethnic Infrastructure in Scotland
(BEMIS) www.bemis.org.uk
(still
under construction at time of publication)
mail@bemis.org.uk
‘Scotlands
of the Future’ Democratic Left Scotland in
Association with Luath Press, dls@newpolitics.org.uk
Review
of Funding for Black and Minority Ethnic Groups
in the Voluntary Sector
www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/society/equality/funds-02.asp
"Black
voluntary and community sector funding,
civic engagement and capacity
building" by
Joseph Rowntree Foundation. www.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/findings/socialpolicy/224.asp
NCVO
sustainability microsite
- www.ncvo-sfp.org.uk
SCVO
Publications – includes Directory of Grants
and Funds, ESF guides and other funding
information
www.scvo.org.uk/publications/default.htm
Work
with us – voluntary sector portal -
includes access to a range of funding
information www.workwithus.org
Directory
of International Development Funding (NIDOS):
www.nidos.org.uk
Lottery
www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk
- includes links to the sites of lottery
distributors.
Directory
of Social Change – includes
information and publications on various types of
funding.
www.dsc.org.uk
COSLA
Guidance on Equalities, Best Value, Community
Planning and Power of well being September 2003
www.cosla.gov.uk/attachments/publications/bvequalitieguidance.pdf
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