The radical funder: LankellyChase Foundation

The charity sector is in a moment of self-reflection, as it looks to ensure its traditional philanthropy model is equitable and empowering the communities it aims to support. For example, many international aid charities are trapped in their colonial roots and blighted by “discriminatory attitudes”, according to a report published by M.P.s in 2022.

 

Such concerns have led to international aid body Bond to produce guidance urging charities to decolonise local operations to ensure they are community led. This helps the fight against racism and the “superiority and privilege of Western thought and approaches” when distributing money.

 

Concerns around inequality in U.K. grant giving have also been raised. A report in December 2022 from think tank Pro Bono  Economics’ Law Family Commission on Civil Society warned that current processes “reproduce wider social inequalities” which leaves Black and minority ethnic led charities facing “especially acute struggles in accessing grants”.

 

According to the Funders for Race Equality Alliance, just 6% of £122m worth of funding it looked at in 2021 went to organisations led by people from ethnic communities. 

 

In July 2023, one funder LankellyChase Foundation decided to take radical action to ensure its funding is being distributed equitably. It has done this by announcing its closure and that its assets will be handed over to socially just funders and causes instead.

 

 

The bold decision

 

After 60 years of grant giving the LankellyChase Foundation announced plans in 2023 to close amid its concern around its role within a philanthropy model that is “entangled with colonial capitalism”. This is a role it feels will “inevitably” continue “the harms of the past into the present”. The decision was made by the board of trustees “following years of learning”.

 

Over the five years to 2028, the Foundation is being dismantled and it will “relinquish control of our assets” into the hands of funders who specialise in social justice and have a strong track record of diversity and tackling inequality. It is adamant that the process should take five years as “any longer would not reflect the urgency of the situation”.

 

It will hand over its multi-million endowment and resources “so that money can flow freely to those doing life-affirming social justice work”, says the funder. “We will make space to reimage how wealth, capital and social justice can exist in the service of all life and for future generations.”

 

It acknowledges that the end of the Foundation “will undoubtedly be experienced as a loss by some” and that “not everyone will agree with this decision”.

 

But the funder has offered an assurance it “will shape this process with care and responsibility, especially for those whose work, insights and allyship have allowed us to understand the need for this approach”. Also, all existing grant agreements and contracts will be honoured.

 

The funder adds that it hopes it is “opening the space for radical reimagining that we can connect with the potential and possibility that lies beyond the dominant model”.

 

 

Becoming a radical funder

 

The process of becoming a radical funder is to take five years so that the Foundation can ensure it is accurately pinpointing the best new guardians of its considerable wealth.

 

According to the Charities Register the funder’s accounts for the year ending March 2022 show it had unrestricted funds worth £144m and its total income from investments was £2.42m.

 

Already 6% of its endowment, amounting to £8m, has been handed to Baobab Foundation, which focuses on resourcing racial justice.

 

Boabab has praised LankellyChase for its bold stance, saying it “has shown what a radical funder looks like in the space of racial justice”.

 

 

Transition pathway

 

A transition pathway is being developed as the funder looks to close and redistribute the remainder of LankellyChase’s assets. This is focusing on “promoting mutuality and collectivism” as well as “enabling resources to flow with ease to communities doing social justice work”. In addition, this path aims to ensure funding can be invested “in ways that are aligned with the visions and values of communities”.

 

 “Allowing a diversity of resourcing approaches to flourish that reflect the necessary diversity of life-affirming work”, is another key priority of its transition path. Another focus is ensuring funding can support “alternative ways of living, knowing and being in the world”.

 

 

Reimagining the future of funding

 

The LankellyChase Foundation has urged all funders to consider how they distribute funding but adds “we are not saying every endowed foundation should follow our direction”. It adds: “We believe that the case for profound change is now impossible to ignore, and each of us must find our answer. This is ours.”