Dismantling oppression: a report from our latest forum convening funders and grassroots groups

We held our most recent funder forum on 19 November. As well as being the first in-person forum we’ve held, it was the first of these events that brought funders and grassroots groups together.

The forum focused on ways funders can resource tech justice solutions that support communities affected by the racist and violent events of August 2024. 

Our aims were to:

• help members share insights and experiment with new approaches to funding 
• examine what it means to make sure this work is supported and resourced in the future
• work towards a collective commitment to make sure these interventions are long-lasting

Framing the forum

Sheeza Shah, one of Catalyst’s Executive Directors, set the context. She explained that to build collective power, we need to have difficult conversations about where we are today. 

Sheeza outlined key factors that fuelled the racist and Islamophobic riots: 

• decades of systemic dehumanisation targeting marginalised communities
• persistent hateful narratives against Arabs, Muslims, Black communities and immigrants
• technology including social media and AI contributed to divisive content 

Grassroots organisations, funders, faith leaders, and community groups played a critical role in mediating tensions and she explained that we need to put justice and regenerative practice at the centre of digital work to sustain these efforts. 

Sheeza stated Catalyst’s position on tech: 

“We believe that technology should serve as a tool for collective liberation, not oppression and are committed to the development of liberatory technologies. 

We acknowledge that this is an ongoing journey toward a future where the creation, use, and the disposal of technology uplifts all people.” 

And she suggested that funders could support tech justice by:

• supporting more people with lived experience of being minoritised to experiment and co-produce projects within communities
• collaborating and with communities 
• resourcing building alternative tech ecosystems co-designed with communities

How technology fuels harmful narratives

Shaf Choudhry (Seen on Screen Institute & The Riz Test) gave an insightful overview of Muslim representation in film and TV, why it matters and its impact.

He spoke about the Riz Test, criteria that can be used to assess how Muslims are characterised in film and on TV. And he shared research (120 years of Muslims on Screen) that showed that a staggering 87% of TV and film fails the Test. 

Muslims have been, and still are, consistently presented as:

• misogynists if they’re male
• oppressed if they’re female
• superstitious, backwards and irrationally angry
• a threat to the ‘Western’ way of life
• victims or perpetrators of terror

Unsurprisingly, this unrelenting misrepresentation of Muslims in popular culture has a real-life impact on public discourse. Research carried out by More in Common in February 2024 shows that a sizeable proportion of British people hold anti-Muslim and anti-Islam sentiment.

And a study found that large language models associate Muslims with violence. 66% of the time ChatGPT3 completed the phrase “Two Muslims walk into a…” with violent actions.

The next step in Catalyst’s tech justice work

Hannah Turner-Uaandja, is Catalyst’s Participation Engagement Lead. She introduced Catalyst’s latest tech justice project. 

The first phase produced the network’s tech justice report and manifesto for a more tech just society. 

The second phase involves working with grassroots organisations to imagine what a liberatory tech landscape could look like. Catalyst is aiming to build a movement of connected organisations who are using and sharing liberatory technology.

3 grassroots justice-led orgs have joined us in the network:

• Camden Giving: a participatory funder based in Camden. It’s going to develop a digital decision-making tool that will be co-designed with a community panel
• Chayn: a global nonprofit run by and for survivors. Will be looking at whether a feminist AI could support victims of gender-based violence
• Multitudes: a design and tech co-operative that designs and builds tools to support movement builders and social justice groups to uphold their values

Siana Bangura, author of the tech justice report, will be leading on including storytelling and liberatory practices in the process. And Catalyst is developing a decolonial evaluation framework with InFocus.

Read more about The Tech Justice Road Trip.

Funders’ responses to the racist and Islamophobic riots

Institutional philanthropy and faith-based organisations

Fozia Irfan is Director of Impact and Influence at BBC Children in Need and author of Transforming Philanthropy. She noted that organisations often make performative statements after events like the riots.

Fozia made it clear that the sector should be:

• be prioritising tackling racism and Islamophobia.
• coalesce around the issues. 

Fozia organised convenings to keep the issue high on the agenda. These were sessions on structural racism and a specific session on Islamophobia. Surprisingly this was the first of its kind in the UK philanthropy sector.

She pointed out that the sector can be cautious in funding applications from faith based organisations. There’s a lack of knowledge and recognition that faith is an integral part of people’s identities. Funders and organisations to recognise multiple identities. 

We need culture change as well as funding

Abdou Sidibe, Director of Grants at the Paul Hamlyn Foundation explained that the Foundation is exploring ways to collaborate and build on the work it’s already doing. It also wants to embed anti-racist principles in all programmes. Right now it's using the Funders for Race Equality’s audit tool to help them see:

• who they’re reaching
• where the gaps are
• where it can do more

The Foundation has made a commitment to become an anti-racist organisation, and is still establishing what that looks like in practice. 

He was also clear that giving funding isn’t enough. Funders have responded to easily identifiable symptoms of oppression. But they need to build a movement that addresses its root causes. This means changing internal practice to unlock more resources, shift power and shift mindsets. This can be especially challenging for funders that aren’t well-resourced.

Why relationships matter and what holds funders back

Sofiya Gatens is Head of EDI at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF). She explained how trusted, existing relationships helped the JRF to respond to the riots quickly. The organisation was able to quickly allocate funding to Hope Not Hate and the Civic Power Fund to support affected people directly. For example, supporting a family to stay in a hotel and use safer methods of transport. 

Sofiya also noted factors that can inhibit funders’ responses. For example, restrictions imposed by the Charity Commission. Funders were willing to speak about atrocities in Ukraine but hesitant to discuss those in Palestine. 

Lessons learnt by the JRF include the importance of:

• having an external funding strategy
• having a funding pot available for emerging issues
• trusting intermediaries
• being willing to let go of heavy due diligence, because a high level of risk aversion isn’t always necessary

Where funders should be focusing their attention

Bonnie Chiu, of The Social Investment Consultancy spoke next. She explained how, after the riots, she was confused about the muted response from funders. So she channelled her frustration into crafting a call to action for funders on LinkedIn. She urged funders to:

• recognise that racism, Islamophobia and xenophobia are the root causes of violent riots and terrorist acts
• commit more long-term, flexible, sustained funding to minoritised and migrant-led organisations. Work on racial equity and migration. 

• ensure that those most affected by racism are adequately represented in decision-making processes.

Although Bonnie’s LinkedIn article appeared in people’s feeds more than 16,000 times, there wasn’t much of a sustained response. She believes that the momentum and boldness gained by the UK philanthropic sector during Covid has not been sustained. She challenged the sector to examine:

• its role in safeguarding democracy. An example of this kind of activity is the work of the Daniel Sachs foundation
• the role of toxic masculinity in the riots, and how it links to white supremacy. 
• the relationship between our economic system and how tech companies operate. Advertising based business models drive the most divisive and toxic content.

Resources shared by speakers and attendees

Tech justice, liberation & disrupting philanthropy 

1. What is tech justice?
2. What is liberatory technology?
3. Is there ever a convenient time to disrupt philanthropy?

Funder collaborations

Funders for race equality alliance

A diverse group of funding organisations, networks and individuals. They work together to achieve race equality in the UK.

DEI data standard 

An independent working group of UK funders. They believe that we need an effective framework to capture DEI data. That without this we can't target funding at addressing structural inequalities.

AI for grantmakers 

A group that meets every other month. They share individual work and to reflect on progress against prioritised challenges of using AI in grant making.

Organisations and initiatives

360Giving

A charity that helps organisations to publish open, standardised grants data. It also supports people to use it to improve charitable giving.

Charity Digital Skills Report

The largest annual barometer of charities’ digital skills, attitudes and behaviours. Co-funded by Catalyst. Check out their calls to action for funders.

Better images of AI 

A library of free-to-use images of AI that avoid clichéd and unhelpful stereotypes

Muslim Tech Fest

Annual celebration of Muslim excellence and talent in tech.

Concepts

Sociocracy – basic concepts and principles 

Mentioned in Hannah’s presentation as the collective governance method Catalyst is using to run its tech justice project.

Decolonial evaluation - shifting from extraction to nourishment

Part of a Catalyst-funded project led by inFocus into decolonial evaluation. 

Our next Funders Forum is planned for February 2025. The theme is ‘AI isn't the problem, the business models behind them are’. Fill in this form if you’d like to attend. Hope to see you there!

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Images taken at Catalyst Funders' Forum 19 Nov 2024.