Reach is committed to becoming a more diverse, inclusive and equal organisation, and to helping to increase equity, diversity and inclusion in civil society. Equity is at the heart of our vision, values and beliefs and equity, diversity and inclusion is one of the core beliefs that underpins our work.
We are now in the fourth year of our EDI journey, and while we have made progress we know that we have much more to do. As part of our continued evolution, we commit to keep learning and to being receptive to challenge.
Summary of our work in 2023
Following the creation of our EDI Theory of Change in 2022, we focused our 2023 action plan on the work necessary to embed and operationalize EDI into our everyday practices and messaging.
This has included:
Building an Inclusive Culture
EDI Core Language
We have created a living document of core language that can be used consistently across all our internal and external platforms. In doing so, we hope to make our EDI commitment open and visible to everyone we work with.
EDI Policy
We have updated our EDI Policy to incorporate refreshed language and vision. This is now a stand-alone policy that outlines our commitment to creating an inclusive, supportive and safe environment for all our colleagues.
Foundational Benchmarks
User-Led Organisation Data
In phase two of our equality monitoring work, we have begun collecting data on user-led organisations (led by and for groups facing structural injustice) to enable us to explore how we reach organisations serving different communities.
Our Work
Dismantling Racism Project
Reach staff members participated in the Dismantling Racism Advisory Group led by The Civil Society Group to engage with sector-wide commitments to anti-racism and to develop an action plan. Findings have been presented to the Reach team for internal discussion on key takeaways for consideration.
Next steps
In 2024, we are building on our activities to date with focus on the following three priorities:
- User-Led Organisation Data - Analysis and Reporting - We will conduct our first set of data analysis and reporting to develop our understanding of the experience of organisations led by and for groups facing structural injustice using our service.
- Iterating the Trustee Recruitment Cycle - In 2021 we launched the Trustee Recruitment Cycle to help charities diversify their boards and recruit in a more inclusive way. It weaves equity, diversity and inclusion throughout the cycle, and through all the resources which include case studies, templates and guidance. This year, we will review the content, and create a plan for updates and dissemination so that we can link organisations to relevant parts of the resource in relation to the user journey.
- Communicating our EDI journey - To ensure EDI remains a key lens through which we operate, we will ensure all our key stakeholder groups are updated on our EDI progress. This includes being transparent externally about our work to date, and providing dedicated internal updates to our Board and team.
This is a living action plan that will evolve and develop as we do. We commit to reviewing our EDI approach on a regular basis and to sharing updates on our progress each step of the way.
To learn more about our EDI approach and journey over the last three years, please see our presentation.
