# #CharitySoWhite returns with new direction & apology for “many mistakes”

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2023/09/20/charitysowhite-returns-with-new-direction-apology-for-many-mistakes/
- Published: 2023-09-20T09:43:35+01:00
- Author: Melanie May

**The campaign group #CharitySoWhite has returned after being largely absent for
over a year, with a blog post explaining why, and setting out what comes next.**

#CharitySoWhite was [started in 2019](https://fundraising.co.uk/2019/08/20/charitysowhite-hashtag-trends-on-twitter/)
by three people in the charity sector following a tweet about racist content in 
a charity training slide that went viral. Its aim was to create space for People
of Colour (PoC) to safely share their experiences of racism and to call on the charity
sector to change. #CharitySoWhite quickly expanded into an organising committee 
of members, with its work including [a report published in April 2020](https://fundraising.co.uk/2020/04/07/bame-communities-heart-covid-19-response-charity-so-white/)
on a racial disparities in COVID-19, a ringfencing campaign for funders to create
equitable emergency funding pots, and regular comms and media appearances.

#### Apologies and explanation

[In its blog](https://charitysowhite.org/blog/whatever-happened-to-charitysowhite),
it says that while the committee membership grew to enable it to respond to demand
and need, its strategy and approach did not scale up, making it _“haphazard, reactive,
urgent, and still led by three”_ and as its name grew in the sector, this led to
the establishing of _“unhealthy working habits and expectations”_ for its volunteer
committee members and their wellbeing was not protected.

## Advertisement

As an organisation, it says, it _“structurally internalised the charity sector’s
white supremacist power dynamics”_ and white supremacist tactics crept in to its
ways of working, while it spent too much time engaging with white charity leaders.

The statement adds: _“White supremacy shaped the power dynamics within our organising
team and the campaign tactics that we used. Internalised white supremacy also meant
that we became gatekeepers of anti-racist activism, instead of building a movement
for anti-racist change in our sector.”_

Further distance to its communities grew through a failure to build an organising
team that was representative and radically inclusive, it says, and members of violently
oppressed groups were not validated, supported, or protected.

It apologises for not being there for PoC, and hopes that its explanation and new
direction will help it reconnect with PoC working in the sector and rebuild trust.

![#CharitySoWhite logo](https://wfay6x.infiniteuploads.cloud/2023/09/Screenshot-
2023-09-20-at-09.39.07.png)

#### The way forward

#CharitySoWhite says it has now _“completely dismantled itself and is embarking 
on rebuilding the campaign from the ground up”_.

It says: _“We want to become a community-led space for envisioning a future where
racism is dismantled within the charity sector and where PoC can thrive as their
full unapologetic selves. Our strength as a collective is as facilitators and organisers,
so we want our rebuild to create spaces for PoC to vent, get support, know their
rights, and navigate a cruel and unwelcoming sector.”  _

It adds that it has been _“far too nice to white leaders”_, and is _“not a department
store for consultancy services, or questions about whiteness”_.  It will now _“always
ask the question of who we are helping with the work we do. We will signpost to 
work being done by other activists and other PoC in the anti-racism space, to help
those with lived experience and authority promote their skills and services.”_