About GDFS
How it all started
In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, a survey conducted by Karl Murray for The Ubele Initiative revealed that 9 out of 10 Black and racially minoritised community organisations, with annual incomes between £10k and £100k, were on the brink of closure due to insufficient financial reserves. The potential collapse of these organizations threatened to leave 15,000 to 20,000 individuals without essential 'safety net' services. Murray's report called for deeper exploration into the support needs of these vulnerable groups, leading to a partnership between Impact on Urban Health (IoUH) and The Ubele Initiative to co-design a more inclusive and responsive grant-making system.
In 2022, IOUH launched the ‘Safety Social Lab’, bringing together leaders from 18 Black and Racially Minoritised community organisations in Lambeth and Southwark to collaboratively rethink how grants are allocated.
After over 15 months of workshops and deep analysis, the learning coalition identified four key areas for innovation:
Radically re-imagining funding structures
Wakanda Assets
Black Ofsted: Race Equity in Education
Crime, Justice and Policing
The 'Radically Re-imagining Funding of Social Issues' project was borne out of these insights, laying the foundation for creating a more equitable system where Black and racially minoritised community organisations have a say in how funds are invested to address the social challenges they face.
Now, more than ever, we need innovative approaches to support these communities.
Key Guiding Principles
For a new funding system such as the GFDS to be successfully implemented, it must be operated, and developed within spaces where the following key emerging principles are observed and valued:
Openness
Leadership shifts from inside an organisation to the surrounding sphere
Transparency
Information must be transparent, not secret
Organising revolves around common intention, - a shared vision of effectively addressing social issues of importance to Black and racially minoritised communities, not structures
Intention
Co-creative communities that require high-quality core groups and holding spaces
Holdings spaces
Conversations
Shift from ‘transactional’ to dialogic and co-creative
Shift from the primary mode of operating from ego-system to eco-system awareness
Awareness
Along with diversity & symbiosis
The twin principles that allow eco-systems to thrive
How it works
Join us
Your support is critical in prototyping this transformative model. Together, we can build a system that empowers communities and creates real, lasting change. Be a part of the movement to re-imagine how we invest to address intractable social issues.