In the summer of 2020, BLMUK started a GoFundMe to support our work in grassroots Black education, abolitionist campaigning, and challenging racist police violence. We were overwhelmed by the support received and shortly after, committed to redistributing £570,000 in solidarity with other small organisations fighting for Black liberation.
We distributed the first £170,000 to 13 grassroots organisations in 2021, and in 2023 we have distributed a further £350,000.
The £350,000 had been allocated to two Funds; the Development Fund, and the Impact Fund.
The Development Fund provided grants of up to £10,000, paid over one or two years, to organisations that have been operating for fewer than five years, and have an annual income of less than £50,000.
The aim of the Development Fund is to provide financial resources to grassroots organisations that are just starting out, are very small, and have struggled to access funding to get started and/or develop their work.
The recipients of the Development Fund are:
– Peaks of Colour
– The Blak Ark
– Decolonising the Archive
– Unjust UK
– Black Obsidian Sound System
– Black People Talk
– Black Medics Scotland
– Account Hackney
– Aya African Learning Community
– Class 13
The Impact Fund provided grants of up to £50,000, paid over one or two years, to organisations that have been operating for five years or more, and which have an annual income of less than £200,000.
The aim of the Impact Fund was to recognise the contribution of organisations that have been working hard to create systemic or societal change for many years, significantly contributing to the Black liberation movement whilst being under-resourced due to a hostile funding environment.
Organisations’ work must be related to one or more of BLMUK’s priority themes:
Black Futures
Transforming Education
Black Arts & Culture
Defunding the Police – Investing in Communities
Ending the Hostile Environment and Border Controls
Read more about our priority themes and the type of work we were looking for
The recipients of the Impact Fund are:
– Reproductive Justice Initiative
– Afruika Bantu Saturday School
– Out & Proud African LGBTI
– The Hope Project Scotland
– 492 Korna Klub
– Manchester Migrant Solidarity
– National Mikey Powell Memorial Family Fund
If you have any questions, please check out our fund FAQs.