Leadership Diaries is a chance to go behind the scenes at The London Community Foundation, with stories, thoughts and updates from our Senior Management Team. Today our CEO, Kate Markey shares her thoughts on our annual year-end diversity survey.
Amidst the manic charge of activities towards year end (shout out to all the weary / frantic leadership teams whose brains are currently locked on March 31st), there is a commitment I am very proud of. For almost four years, The London Community Foundation has been reporting its Trustee and Team diversity in our Statutory Accounts.
This means in March every year we reach out to our people, with a survey they co-designed to demonstrate to them (and others) that how we represent London and celebrate difference really matters to The London Community Foundation.
We are a small Team and Board of Trustees. But this is important to us.
It has been a journey. From the initial proposal to the Board. Why would we draw attention to our shortcomings? And why now? The questions from the Team. How will this work in a small organisation? To the design, the questions, the language, the sequencing, the data and privacy. The iterations, the sign off, the launch…
It definitely is not perfect. No doubt we will need another iteration and we are still encouraging some people to complete it, not just tick the ‘prefer not to say’. But after 4 years of imperfection … We have built a tradition and expectation about our people.
It’s about accountability to our people those with us and yet to join; to London’s grassroots charities supporting the capital’s communities; and to our mission to support a more equitable London.
Difference matters to us. Diversity drives our (better) decision making. Better representation is fundamental to our mission.
You can read our survey in our Annual Accounts. It is not a legal requirement, but we are proud of it.
And we will keep challenging ourselves. And being transparent about our people and our work. And we will keep making mistakes and learning. And now back to that March end!