As a funder committed to equity, diversity and inclusion, the Berkeley Foundation is continually working to become more transparent, accountable and aligned with EDI principles in grant-making. You can read our EDI plan here.
One of our core aims has been to collect and analyse information from all our partners and from our funding programmes to better understand who we are supporting and where barriers may still exist.
We adopted the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Data Standard in 2024 and used it to collect data on organisations applying to the Resilience Fund. Since then, we have expanded its use across our partnerships and will continue to build our data, analyse trends and use this to inform our future grant making.
Exploring the Data From Our 2025 Resilience Fund
The Resilience Fund forms part of our 2030 Strategy and represents a £1.35 million investment in strengthening the voluntary sector over seven years. It aims to support organisations to invest in organisational development and build resilience for the future.
In 2025, the fund focused on supporting organisations that align with our Youth leadership impact goal. Five organisations that are working to build leadership skills in young people affected by racist or Islamophobic violence, empowering them to positively impact their own lives and the communities in which they live, will receive £90,000 over three years.
We opened the fourth year of the Resilience Fund for applications in March 2025. We received 129 applications, of which nearly 80% were eligible for funding. 19 organisations were invited to submit a Stage 2 application, where they had a 26% chance of being funded.
The Fund’s Focus on Supporting Young People With Experience of Racism Is Fully Reflected in the Funded Organisations
In 2025, every organisation we funded was ‘led by and for’ communities experiencing racial inequity. All funded partners are also working with children and young people and people facing educational or economic disadvantage.
The majority of applications also came from organisations supporting these three groups. This suggests that the fund’s focus on supporting young people affected by racism was reflected in the applications received, and subsequently, in those funded.
Supporting Organisations Whose Leadership Reflects Communities Is Vital
The leadership of the five funded organisations reflects the communities they serve. All grants awarded went to organisations led by people with experience of racial inequity, and 80% of these were led by people with experience of economic and educational disadvantage. This marks an improvement on previous years and demonstrates a growing focus on backing organisations with leadership rooted in the communities they serve.
Addressing the Underrepresentation of Youth-Led Organisations
One of the fund’s key priorities was to support organisations led ‘by and for’ young people, aged 18 – 30. Based on the DEI Standard data collection, 40% of the organisations that received funding were led by young people.
The Foundation recognises that a ‘youth-led’ approach can look different across organisations – from formal leadership roles to peer-led activities and governance structures that centre young people’s voices. This might also not always align with the DEI Standard’s 75% threshold requirement.
We are committed to ensuring that our work is even more visible to organisations led by young people and enabling young leaders to apply for this type of funding.
Overall Success Rates in 2025
- 78% of applications were eligible for funding (102/129)
- 19% of eligible applications were invited to Stage 2 (19/102)
- 63% of Stage 2 applications were shortlisted (12/19)
- 42% of shortlisted applicants were successful (5/12)
- 5% of eligible Stage 1 applications were successful (5/102)
- 26% of Stage 2 applicants were successful (5/20)
The full analysis of the data collected is available here.