In this blog, Nilushka Perera, Senior Fellow for Race Equity at Foundations, shares her reflections on how Foundations’ anti-racism transformation plan is shaping the work programme, supporting improvements to service design and policy, and bringing us closer to better outcomes for children and families from racially minoritised backgrounds.

Foundations have been on an incredible and insightful equality, diversity, inclusion and equity (EDIE) journey for the last 12 months. In early 2025, I joined Foundations as a Senior Fellow, alongside Samia Benbrih, to focus on strengthening EDIE across the organisation. The approach that we took was twofold, involving both organisational development and the organisation’s work to generate and champion evidence. This decision acknowledged that taking an anti-racist approach requires not only learning and changes to the work by the organisation but the people and processes behind it. Foundations’ commitment to anti-racism and its transformation plan can be found here.

The aim of integrating race equity and EDIE principles into the work programme is to generate evidence of disparities and ensure that those principles are integrated into the design and delivery of research and evaluation projects.

On a practical note, this meant working closely with the evaluation, programmes and synthesis teams to understand and reflect on the evaluation and research processes, the relationships between partners, the limitations and opportunities with research methodologies and examining how Foundations role as a funder, evaluator and policy influencer can lead to innovation and positive change.  

In this blog, we have summarised three key reflections on our journey so far. These reflections not only share our learning and next steps, but also extend an invitation for ideas and feedback. Reflective practice is an ongoing learning journey, so we welcome you to engage with us as we consolidate our learning and map the way forward.

Definitions are important; so is accountability

We worked collaboratively to agree on a shared definition on racism, inequality and equity as it impacts children and families in the UK. Developing a definition that acknowledges intersectionality and minority/majority power dynamics, and taking the time to create a shared understanding across teams, resulted in greater clarity and shared momentum. This meant that we were more able to have open discussions on accountability and responsibilities, particularly on how race equity and EDIE is centred across the work programme and integrated into operational delivery across the teams.

Sharing power, intentional collaboration and a culture for learning.

Over the last year, a key strength of the work has been the deliberate deepening of how decision-making, programme design and research evaluation are shaped by stakeholder input. While Foundations already had strong engagement processes in place, an increased focus on intentional collaboration has strengthened and formalised this approach. This led to the establishment of the Experts by Experience Panel, whose collective insight now plays a central role in shaping decisions across the work programme.

Alongside this, the staff-led Race Equity Group and the Foundations Race Equity Expert Advisory Group provide vital, constructive challenge. These groups actively inform and scrutinise organisational processes, grant-making decisions, and priority areas, helping to ensure the work is rigorous, inclusive and responsive. Achieving the right balance of who needs to contribute, when, and how remains an ongoing area of reflection. We are working towards a culture that places collaboration at the centre of how we operate – one that values diverse perspectives, encourages learning and engagement with stakeholders, and is grounded in trust, respect and reciprocity.

Every project that Foundations runs now has an EDIE Action Plan, setting out a number of goals that are developed collaboratively to support commissioned partners to generate more and better evidence for children and families across intersectional demographic characteristics.EDIE workshops support the development of these plans, creating space for evaluators and programme leads to focus on recruiting, engaging and supporting minoritised children and their families in each element of their work. Layers of accountability, coupled with awareness of the ‘why’ and ‘how’ are now standard practice. This ensures that racial equity is not an afterthought, but a key consideration in the design of the programme and its evaluation.

Test, learn, iterate, adapt and repeat

As funder, Foundations are in a position to shape the narrative on how evidence is generated across their key priority areas for children and families. They have made significant commitments to centre minoritised children and families across all workstreams – I have summarised a few below:

• Dedicated funding: There is now dedicated funding for projects examining what works to support minoritised children and families and the mechanisms and impact of that change.
• Reviewing processes: From engaging By and For organisations to reviewing the application process for funding, each team is moving with momentum to innovate, test and learn and implement changes that strengthen inclusion. There are active conversations on how Foundations navigate epistemic and methodological tensions and how rigour and inclusion blend.
• Synthesis: Major improvements have been made to showcase how EDIE is advanced through the Guidebook, which is part of the Foundations Toolkit. The process of synthesising the evidence acknowledges the dominant/Western evidence frameworks and explores ways to include community lived and living experiences.

Taking an anti-racist approach means being willing to test new ways of working, learn from what does and does not work, and adapt accordingly. This iterative process supports innovation while keeping equity at the centre of evidence generation.

While the progress of the past year is meaningful, we continue to be conscious of tensions between methodological rigour and inclusivity, between pace and depth, and between institutional power and community engagement. We will continue to interrogate whose knowledge is prioritised, and whether our evidence outputs are genuinely shifting policy and practice for racially minoritised children and families. The next phase of this work will move beyond integration and towards accountability for impact: testing whether our approaches are changing outcomes, not just intentions, for all racially minoritised children and families.