by One of Britain’s biggest charitable trusts is sacking all its boards as part of a diversity campaign after branding itself “white and privileged”.
The Tudor Trust, which has an endowment of £288 million and received £2.35m of government funding in 2018, wants to put “a more diverse group” and “social justice and anti-racism” at the heart of its work.
The group, which donates around £20 million a year through charitable grants, was founded in 1955 with the financial support of Sir Godfrey Mitchell, founder of the construction company George Wimpey. Many of his descendants, including Matthew Dunwell and his brother Benjamin, held a trust, both of whom could face the sack.
An email from interim chairman Raji Hunjan of the Tudor Trust, seen by The Telegraph, reveals the charity plans a “wholesale change” to the family-led board. New trustees and a permanent chair “more representative of the demographics and life experiences of the communities we serve” will be appointed instead. The renovation is expected to be completed by August 2024.
The changes follow an internal “anti-racism review”, described in a press release last year as “a journey towards a better understanding of the history of racism”.
The trust said in March it would move on from its “long history as a family trust” and change trustees as part of a “re-imagining process”. Ms Hunjan was appointed in June to oversee the transition, with the trust’s website touting her “commitment to racial and social justice”.
The trust is understood to be using Cadence Partners, a diversity and inclusion consultancy, for its recruitment process. The group specializes in “inclusive recruitment” and “building talent pipelines” for “ethnic minorities, disability, gender, LGBTQ+”, and lists revolutionary Marxist Angela Davis as a “voice for social justice”. Other clients for the group include the Trussell Trust and the RSPCA.
A number of external figures were also consulted in the search for the new board. This includes the co-founder of the Power & Integrity project, whose mission statement declares that “colonialism, patriarchy, and racism intersect and underpin unjust societal ‘normalities'” that place society “in favor of current privilege”.
In November 2020, the trust issued a ‘Racial Justice Statement’ in response to the “disproportionate racial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic” and the Black Lives Matter protests. The statement acknowledged the “white and privileged” profile of the current board, linking their lack of representation to their status as a family trust.
The trust provides funding to a wide range of charitable organisations, and lists grants in its latest annual report to “a self-help charity in Glasgow led by and for racialised women” and “CIC. [community interest company] in Leeds taking a gender approach to establishing and supporting user-led support groups”.
Race justice
Ms. Hunjan released a statement on LinkedIn in October announcing vacancies for a permanent chair and three trusts that “could make intersectional racial justice central to our work.” The trust’s decision is guided by a desire to be “governed by a more diverse group of trustees”.
The trust listed 18 employees headquartered at its Notting Hill office in its 2022 accounts filing. According to the email release, the organization is now “very small”, with a public posting on the group’s website advertising for “three trustees, including chairman nominees” in the first round of hiring. The email notes that some staff members have already left the organization.
Christopher Graves, who was paid a salary of £120,000, stepped down as executive director in April after 38 years’ service. He has not accepted a position at another organization.
Shilpa Shah stepped down as trustee in March 2022 to take on the role of independent facilitator during the “re-imagining”. Along with finance head Aabida Mohmed, she leads the “Racial Justice Organizing Group” within Tudor which seeks to “develop an approach to strengthen psychological safety for racialized colleagues”.
The trust drew criticism in the spring after it announced a pause to new grant applicants to focus on internal racial justice, citing a desire to learn about the “culture of white supremacy.” Grant capabilities will be reopened next year under the direction of the new chair, and applicants will be asked to list whether their operations are led by “BAME, deaf or disabled people”.
Grant award decisions
Baroness Tina Stowell, former head of the Charity Commission, said that “granted charitable foundations make a huge contribution to charities that provide huge benefits to people and communities. It is a matter for all foundations which charities they choose to support but it is a concern, and could limit the benefit of the charitable endeavour, if foundations allow contested political agendas to begin to influence grant award decisions”.
A spokesman for the Tudor Trust said the group is “undergoing a well-publicised shift in its mission, which involves reviewing the charity’s giving priorities to reflect the contemporary needs of our grantmaking community.
“As part of that planned evolution, the trustees decided to renew the board in order to make it more representative of the demographics and life experiences of the communities we serve. We are extremely grateful to all our trustees who have helped us reach this stage of our journey and we wish the best of luck to those who have decided to take this opportunity to pass the baton into the future.”
