Activism
The 17 New Organisations BLMUK Is Backing
The human rights movement has redistributed over £500k since 2020.
Thanks to donations in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, the adjoining Black Lives Matter UK announced last autumn that they would be sharing £350,000 with Black-led organisations in their second round of funding. On March 5, 2023, BLMUK divided £350,000 between The Development Fund and the Impact Fund. This year, an additional £50,000 was made available under BLMUK’s International Solidarity theme.
The Development Fund has been shared among 10 groups, providing grants of up to £10,000 for organisations “that have been operating for fewer than five years, and have an annual income of less than £50,000.” The Development Fund aims to help “support groups that are just starting out, or have struggled to access funding to get started and/or develop their work.” The Impact Fund has been shared among seven groups and has provided grants of up to £50,000. This will be paid to organisations operating for five years or more over one or two years with an annual income of less than £200,000.
The 10 groups funded in the Development Fund are:
- Peaks of Colour, can donate here
- The Blak Ark
- Decolonising the Archive
- Unjust UK, can donate here
- Black Obsidian Sound System
- Black People Talk
- Black Medics Scotland
- Account Hackney
- Aya African Learning Community, can donate here
- Class 13
The 7 groups funded in the Impact Fund are:
- Reproductive Justice Initiative
- Afruika Bantu Saturday School
- Out & Proud LGBTI
- The Hope Project Scotland
- 492 Korna Klub
- Manchester Migrant Solidarity
- National Mikey Powell Memorial Family Fund, you can donate here
A spokesperson for BLMUK shared the movement’s excitement for the 17 groups receiving funding, and the impact that will be made by the support. “We look forward to continuing our work with the organisations funded in the first two rounds, to respond collectively during periods of crisis and build sustainable Black political infrastructure,” they said. “BLMUK is thankful for the trust, encouragement and patience we’ve received from all of our 36,000 donors over this period. Since 2020, we are proud to have distributed over half a million pounds, and we will continue to uphold the trust of our communities.”
BLMUK raised £1.2 million in grants in 2020 from over 36,000 donations in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. Since then, the group has distributed £570,000 to “smaller organisations across the community, who stand shoulder to shoulder” with their aims. In 2021, BLMUK began their first funding round by giving £170,000 to 14 Black-interest groups while using £600,000 to build BLMUK into an “anti-racist organisation that can scale up its existing community organising, educational work and direct actions.”
