Our equity, diversity and inclusion journey

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 have made good progress with our EDI journey, but 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.

Our work so far

Following the creation of our EDI Theory of Change in 2022, we created an action plan to embed and operationalise EDI into our everyday practices and messaging. 

This included:

Building an inclusive culture

EDI Core Language

We created a living document of core language that we use consistently across all our internal and external platforms. In doing so, we aim to make our EDI commitment open and visible to everyone we work with.

EDI Policy

We updated our EDI Policy to incorporate refreshed language and vision. This is 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

We collect 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. By analysing this data, we develop our understanding of the experience of organisations led by and for groups facing structural injustice who use our service.

Volunteer data

We collect data on protected characteristics so that we can monitor people’s experience of using our service, and identify patterns that can help address wider challenges. For example, we have published our analysis of the disparity in outcomes for trustee applicants in relation to age and ethnicity, to help inform discussions about board diversity. Read our blog.

Our work

The Trustee Recruitment Cycle
The Trustee Recruitment Cycle was launched in 2021 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. As part of a continuous update cycle, we refreshed the content in 2025.

Our plans

We are building on our activities to date with focus on the following three priorities:

• User-Led Organisation Data - Analysis and Reporting - We will continue to collect and analyse this data. We will supplement this with qualitative research to developer a richer understanding, with the aim of tailoring our service to provide targeted support which reduces barriers and builds on the strengths of these groups.
• Iterating the Trustee Recruitment Cycle - We will continue to iterate, develop and promote this resource to help charities recruit in a more inclusive way and build stronger and more diverse boards.
• Communicating our EDI journey - To ensure EDI remains a key lens through which we operate, we will update our key stakeholder groups 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 continue to 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.