Equality Fund
Supporting grassroots organisations working on race and disability
The Equality Fund is a key priority for Camden Giving. The fund provides flexible funding to grassroots charities and organisations who are working to reduce inequalities in the borough. The fund gives space and resource for innovation to take place, enabling up-and-coming community leaders, supported by our other smaller seed-funding, to progress to a more established offering. The fund, following recommendations from our alumni community, focuses on racial justice and disability rights, and offers unrestricted funding for up to 2 years to organisations working on either or both of these areas.
Race and Disability in Camden
At 41%, Camden has the second highest poverty rate in London, and the worst housing affordability. Its Black and Asian communities have been most disproportionately affected by the cost-of-living crisis. Over 2 in 5 Bangladeshi and 1 in 3 Black households in Camden, for instance, are overcrowded. Furthermore, a record 39% rise in hate crimes across London was seen between 2022-2023, with a 20.34% increase in racially motivated crimes in Camden.
15.2% of Camdenites live with disabilities, and 4,140 households in the borough are home to two or more members having disabilities. At 6.7%, Camden has one of the highest proportions of people whose everyday lives are affected by their disabilities, in the country. Inclusion London reported in 2023, that there is a severe lack of police involvement and underreporting in case of disability hate crimes due to ‘lack of evidence’ and ‘stigma’.
The Need for Sustainable Funding
While there are many incredible grassroots organisations working around race and disability in the borough, a key challenge for most remains the lack of long-term, unrestricted funding. For several of our past grantees, some of whom started out in their journeys with one-person/citizen-led projects, the nature of the Equality Fund grants and the additional support and resources we are in a position to provide, has helped them upscale their delivery, widen their reach, and progress to a more established offering.
Community Decision-Making
Our participatory model ensures that people with lived experience of racial injustice and/or disability are the ones who are funding the solutions to the challenges facing communities in Camden. This gives crucial decision-making power to people who may not have had it otherwise, and also means that those with closest ties to the communities we are supporting and a deep understanding of the issues being addressed are the ones with this power.
Camden Giving has had the privilege of funding some incredible grassroots work in this area. Khady's Dream is one such project. Their work focuses on education and outreach to help young people understand the criminal justice system, creating a resourceful support system for young people at risk of offending. Founder Kevin Koffi’s story bears testimony to the power of lived experience leaderships and the potential for growth and capacity-building that our community-led participatory model enables, as this had started as a citizen-led project under our smaller grants programme.
Yet another 2024 Equality Fund grantee Creators House supports young people from marginalised backgrounds to break into the creative industries. They provide their service users with free access to a multi-purpose studio, mentoring, coaching, and therapy. They are working with young people across fields of fashion, sound engineering, photography, and filmmaking, with more than 89% of the demographic being from global majority backgrounds.
We are keen to partner with businesses who can support the Equality Fund through money, resources or time. If that’s you, or you just want to know more, email natasha@camdengiving.org.uk.