EDI and social justice at Barnwood
Barnwood Trust is a charitable foundation and agent of social change in Gloucestershire. In this blog, Jess Waterman, Head of Engagement at Barnwood Trust shares their EDI journey and the importance of this work with honest reflections about the challenges of doing it well
Equity, diversity, inclusion and social justice are a crucial and central part of making positive lasting changes in and through our work at Barnwood. We have been on a learning journey for over five years and we still have a way to go, but, with expertise and support from The Better Org, things are moving forward.
What has happened so far?
In 2022, Barnwood trustees released a statement on the history of the Trust's original founding funds. The origins of Barnwood are more complex than many national trusts and foundations. We were set up as ‘a service provider and social enterprise focussed on mental health’ (using today’s language) – serving those most in need, both rich and poor. A social enterprise is a business that aims to make money and do good for society at the same time.
Barnwood was not explicitly set up as a charitable wealth fund. However, some of the organisation’s initial subscribers did have direct links to African chattel enslavement* and that part enabled the purchase of land, capital and services – with this value then growing over the years.
The trustee statement acknowledged the systemic racial injustice and harm experienced by people today which is rooted in African chattel enslavement and our wider colonial history. Barnwood stated its anti-racist aspiration and commitment, linked to our desire to become a more proactive ‘agent of social change’.
Dedicated diversity, equity and inclusion (EDI) work followed. This was mainly focussed on team training, updating our organisational values, and improving internal policies.
But there were stumbling blocks. Since 2020, significant organisational changes have happened in response to changing needs in the world around us. This includes two restructures and big shifts to the work we deliver. This has had an unsettling effect and made EDI work harder to sustain. Overall, trust, work culture and our sense of belonging have been impacted and previous good work to that point was lost. We got stuck on the language of EDI and often confused ourselves, so, it hasn’t been straightforward, but it has remained important work for us.
How did The Better Org support us in this work?
We needed a fresh approach, so we brought in The Better Org (TBO) an organisational development consultant specialising in equity, anti-racism and social justice practice, to help us get to the bottom of our EDI challenges. The team at TBO engaged with key Barnwood stakeholders – funded partners, community partners and Barnwood Circle members, plus staff and trustees – to get a rounded view of how people have experienced Barnwood Trust from an EDI point of view. They also reviewed internal documents to try and build an overall picture.
TBO provided us with a report which outlined their findings and made a series of recommendations for us to move our EDI strategy forward.
What did The Better Org find out?
There were a range of challenges that TBO observed and wanted to reflect back to us. They noted that Barnwood Trust has made good progress in EDI with a focus on inclusion and forming strong relationships, particularly around disability and mental health, but that more emphasis on race equity and intersectionality** is needed for wider change.
In the past, EDI has not been ‘owned’ by everyone at the Trust. Staff have experienced low confidence when talking about inclusion and anti-racism and there has been a fear of making mistakes. Organisational changes and some inconsistent ways of working have also affected psychological safety and team culture.
TBO felt that Barnwood Circle is a successful example of community engagement, but greater visibility and connection with marginalised groups is needed to better represent our diverse communities in Barnwood’s work.
Being a funder in the county brings Barnwood unique opportunities and a position of ‘power’ and influence, but this is double-edged. More transparency in funding decisions is needed to address power imbalances, and targeted investment could also help to strengthen marginalised communities for systemic change***.
What did The Better Org recommend?
The following areas were identified for a new EDI ‘road map’ for Barnwood:
Organisational commitment – a clear, actionable EDI strategy with a focus on race, equity, anti-racism and intersectionality, working positively both alongside and in a cross-cutting way with disability and mental health.
Leadership and governance – collective ownership of EDI, clearer accountability structures and more transparency in decision making.
Culture and belonging – improve psychological safety, communication, consistent policy implementation and connection across the Trust.
Community engagement and partnerships – increase visibility, diversify Barnwood’s networks and engage with underrepresented communities.
Funding, influencing and power sharing – take an intersectional approach to funding and influencing activities, address power imbalances and target investment in areas that build community capacity.
How are we taking this forward?
Since we started working with TBO, the world we operate in has shifted again. There has been a sharp rise in racial hatred and division across the UK, with this now visible day by day where we live and in our communities. This has felt deeply concerning for us, for our staff and trustees, and the people and organisations we are here to serve in Gloucestershire. The urgency to get moving on our EDI and anti-racism commitments remains high and becomes more pressing than ever in this context.
We are also learning that, if we want to do this well, we need to take time to digest the findings, learn together and find practical and meaningful goals that are owned by us all at Barnwood.
“Recognising that the work on diversity, equity, and inclusion is an ongoing journey rather than a fixed destination is an important part of the Trust’s approach”
Starting as we mean to go on
We have set up cross-team groups to work on each of the five areas identified by TBO. Since September, these groups have been exploring the evidence and themes of the report; looking at how other organisations put the ideas into practice and coming up with top priorities for us to focus on at Barnwood.
We're not rushing – we're building understanding and will create our EDI plan from this. We also want to go about this work in a gentle and inclusive way, using EDI principles to underpin this work from the start.
Mary Jennings, a team member at Barnwood Trust, said: “When we formed into groups to examine the recommendations put forward by TBO, I remember hearing the term ‘social justice’ and thinking, this is new to me.
“I set about finding out more about the connection between social change and social justice. I discovered that people have mixed ideas about what it means for them and their work. It has been really helpful to have time to think deeply about themes within EDI and I have felt able to be honest about the bits I don’t know a lot about.”
Alongside the staff team, our Board of Trustees have also spent time together to absorb TBO’s findings and work out ways to build this into our strategy and work for the long-term.
For instance, how do we keep building on our anti-racism commitment as a Trust? How do we keep alive to the sources of Barnwood’s wealth? What does this mean for us as an agent for social change in Gloucestershire? And, what might this all actually mean in practice?
The necessary work of social and racial justice and EDI is not done when we state our intentions out loud; we have to work on this steadily and deliberately over time – it is a journey and we are only part of the way.
Dr Laura Batatota, Senior Consultant from TBO. said: “Recognising that the work on diversity, equity, and inclusion is an ongoing journey rather than a fixed destination is an important part of the Trust’s approach.
“Progress in this space is rarely linear - what stands out is the Trust’s intentional commitment to engaging collectively, taking time to reflect, ask questions, and make sense of the learning together. This is central to ensuring EDI and anti-racism efforts at the Trust are sustained through a shared understanding, confidence and commitment to nurture meaningful, long-term change.”
Find out more
Here is a link to the Barnwood Trust website for further information about Barnwood’s EDI journey and the report from The Better Org.
If you would like to have a conversation about this work, please get in touch with Jess Waterman, Head of Engagement & Insights, at jess.waterman@barnwoodtrust.org
References
*We use this term to mean the abduction and enslavement of African people as ‘personal property’ (chattel) for profit, and the global systems that supported this. It is important not to oversimplify what happened and to affirm the deep and lasting harm caused by these crimes on the people and communities in Africa, and their descendants.
**How different parts of a person's identity – such as race, gender, disability, sexual orientation and class – overlap and affect someone’s life experiences.
***Deep, long-lasting changes to the structures, rules, and ways things work so that the entire system becomes fairer and better—not just patching up problems on the surface.