Diversity, equity and inclusion

The Board has agreed benchmarks for the diversity of our staff and trustees against which we will measure how well we reflect our communities. The data below was last updated in April 2025.

When we say benchmark, we mean a standard against which we measure ourselves. Whereas a target is something that must be met. We think benchmarks are more helpful than targets, as they give us a way to ensure we are consciously considering diversity and checking how reflective our trustees and staff are of the communities we serve and are from. While we might not always perfectly fit a benchmark, if we move too far from it, we will say so and set ourselves actions in response. For example, we might review our recruitment processes or target under-represented groups. And, sometimes, these actions might require a target. Benchmarks also allow us to recognise change in our region’s demographics. For example, in the most recent census, the proportion of people in North East England who are from Black, Asian and other non-white ethnic backgrounds has risen to 7% from 5%. So we’ve changed our benchmark to match.

We have taken account of demographics in North East England where possible, as the area we serve and where our staff and trustees live and work. For ethnicity this means our benchmarks may be very different to those of organisations based in London. We chose 50:50 as our gender balance benchmark to reflect the whole population, especially given our Board is drawn from our diverse membership. However, we note that data on the UK’s voluntary sector workforce shows 60% are women.

• We chose our disability benchmark based on the percentage of disabled people in the working age population in England and Wales. However, we recognise that there are challenges in ensuring staff and trustees feel confident in self-identifying as disabled as defined by the Equality Act 2010.
• Our benchmark for ethnicity is based on 7% of the population of North East England now identifying as being from a Black, Asian, Mixed or other non-White ethnic group in the most recent census. This is up from 5% at the last census.
• For sexual orientation, census data shows that 1.5% of North East England’s population identifies as lesbian, gay or bisexual while, nationally, 1% list their sexual orientation as ‘other’. We have chosen 3% as our benchmark as significant numbers of people don’t respond or say ‘don’t know’ to this question and ONS figures suggest the numbers of younger people identifying as lesbian, gay or bisexual is increasing.
• On socio-economic background, analysis by the Social Mobility Commission shows that 63% of the UK’s population as a whole are from working class or intermediate backgrounds based on parental occupation at age 14. Working class covers technical and craft occupations, manual and service jobs and people long-term unemployed. Intermediate covers clerical roles, other non-managerial ‘office’-type roles not requiring professional qualifications and small business owner

We aim to have a staff team with diverse lived and learned experience, relevant to their job roles, and broadly reflective of our communities. We have standards and procedures to ensure open staff recruitment which attracts diverse candidates and gives everyone a fair chance regardless of background. This includes a requirement to always publish the salary for job roles. We take positive action to attract candidates from under-represented groups. We do not ask for specific qualifications unless they clearly link to a role’s requirements. We remove information that might identify protected characteristics before applications go to a panel. The Foundation is a Living Wage Employer and has a remuneration policy which is explained in our audited financial statements which you can find on the resources page of our website. Although we are not required to, we also report in our financial statements on the gender pay gap.

We also aim to have a Board with diverse lived and learned experience that broadly reflects communities in our area. Our governing document sets out how our four membership groups appoint two trustees each through open nominations and elections. The Board co-opts up to five more trustees to ensure we draw on a range of skills and experience. In advertising vacancies and when recruiting trustees, we will take positive action to make sure we attract under-represented groups. Trustees are not required to have specific qualifications except where relevant to a role (e.g. accountancy qualifications for the post of Treasurer). More information on trustee recruitment is in our standing orders.