Ugo Ikokwu, who leads our Racial and Economic Justice Fund, reflects on four years of the fund and the changing climate around racial justice funding - as well as what he's learned and what we're looking to fund.
The Racial and Economic Justice Fund has now been running for four years. In that time, I’ve written two portfolio reviews, sat with our partners as their work has evolved, and read a very high number of applications from organisations doing vital work across London. That process has been both encouraging and sobering.
Encouraging because the energy, creativity and commitment to racial justice hasn’t gone anywhere. If anything, it’s deepened. Sobering because the climate around this work has become harder.
There’s less interest in funding it, more scrutiny, and in some spaces an active backlash. That makes it even more important that when we do invest, we do it in a way that is thoughtful, long-term and grounded in what it takes to shift conditions not just deliver activity.
That context is part of the reason the fund looks the way it does.
From the beginning we chose to take an economic lens, not because racial justice is only about money - it clearly isn’t. But because so many of the inequalities we see in London are ultimately about how income, assets and opportunity are distributed. You see it in the pay gap.
You see it in who owns property and who doesn’t. You see it in who has savings, who can access affordable credit, who can weather a crisis, and who can’t.
So, the question we’ve been trying to hold is a simple one: what does racial justice look like when it changes people’s material conditions over the long term?
The aims of the fund
That’s why everything in the fund comes back to two things: increasing income now and building wealth over time in Black and minoritised communities.
Income is about what’s coming in today:
- Better pay,
- Fairer work,
- Stronger access to social security.
Wealth is about what stays and grows:
- Savings,
- Assets,
- Ownership,
- Land and buildings,
- Access to capital,
- Collective financial power.
If a proposal can’t clearly connect to one or both of those, it’s usually not the right fit for this particular fund, even if it’s important work. And saying that isn’t about narrowing the definition of racial justice. It’s about being clear on the specific role this fund is trying to play.
What’s been most interesting over the last few years is seeing what happens when organisations are given the time and space to work in this way.
We’ve moved increasingly towards longer-term funding because we’ve learned through our partners that you can’t build economic power on one- or two-year cycles. You can’t develop new financial models, secure community ownership of space, or influence policy in a meaningful way if you’re constantly having to stop and restart. We are being more intentional about longer funding, so that it allows organisations to plan, to test, to learn, and to build things that last.
Across the portfolio, many of the strongest projects aren’t choosing between frontline delivery and systems change. They’re doing both at the same time. They’re supporting people in very immediate ways while also gathering evidence, building alliances and pushing for changes in the policies and practices that create those pressures in the first place.
Supporting alternative economic models
We’re also seeing a growing confidence in alternative economic models approaches that have existed in our communities for generations but have rarely been recognised as part of the “formal” economy.
Communomics’ work with the University of Bath on Rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCAs) is a good example. What’s emerging from that research is that these aren’t marginal or informal practices, they are highly organised, disciplined and trusted financial systems.
Wealth building is already happening. Just not in ways the formal system sees or values.
In many Caribbean communities they’ve long been known as Pardner. People contribute regularly, take turns accessing lump sums, and use those funds for things that mainstream finance often makes difficult like housing deposits, business start-up costs, education, getting through a crisis.
In other words, wealth building is already happening. Just not in ways the formal system sees or values.
The real question is what becomes possible if those systems are recognised and supported rather than ignored. What would it mean if participation in a Pardner or a ROSCA could help demonstrate creditworthiness? What would it mean if these collective financial practices could connect to mainstream capital on fair terms? That’s where the work starts to move from coping to transforming.
We’re seeing similar long-term thinking in work around land and buildings. Because control of space is directly tied to economic security. If you don’t own the building you’re in, it’s almost impossible to hold value, generate income sustainably or plan for the future. So when organisations like Stour Trust start to explore community ownership, they’re not just talking about a building, they’re talking about wealth, stability and intergenerational change.
Infrastructure needs
Another major learning has been the importance of infrastructure. Many Black-led organisations aren’t simply asking for funding for a project. They’re asking for the capacity to exist, to lead, to research, to convene, to sustain their work.
If we’re serious about racial and economic justice, we have to fund that not as an add-on, but as core to the change we want to see.
Common reasons applications don’t succeed
At the same time, I’m still seeing a lot of applications that speak passionately about racial justice but don’t clearly show how people’s economic lives will be materially different as a result. Confidence-building, awareness-raising and community support all matter.
But for this fund the central question is always: what changes in terms of income, assets, ownership or access to capital?
That’s not about being technical or restrictive. It’s about being honest about the purpose of this fund.
For organisations thinking about applying, the most useful starting point is to ask yourself a set of straightforward questions:
- How does this increase income?
- How does it build something that lasts?
- What structural barrier are you shifting?
- And what will be materially different for communities if this works?
If those answers are clear, then you’re probably in the right space for this fund.
Ultimately, this is about long-term change. It’s about moving from short-term support to economic power. It’s about communities having more control over the resources and systems that shape their lives. And in a funding environment where racial justice work is under increasing pressure, it’s also about making sustained, patient investments in the organisations that are holding that work.
Because when that happens, we’re not just funding projects. We’re helping to build the conditions for lasting change.
And if your work is part of that story, I’d really like to hear from you.
The Racial and Economic Justice Fund is jointly funded by City Bridge Foundation and Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales