The Ox had better be better

Happy Lunar New Year. It’s the Year of the Ox. Here’s a picture from Prague of Ai Wei Wei’s bronze of an ox head from his touring Circle of Animals exhibition. Here’s hoping the Ox turns out better for all of us than the Rat.

This week, charity twitter has been dominated by the aftermath of the coverage of the findings of an independent report into NCVO’s culture which found systemic bullying and harassment on the basis of race, gender, disability, and sexuality. Damning stuff.

The coverage led to people sharing their personal stories of abuse with the hashtag #NotJustNCVO. The stories are heartbreaking and I would like to thank those who came forward to contribute their experiences, and those who didn’t, of course. I hope you have all found/will find roles and bosses more deserving of your energies.

The sector owes you all its commitment to deep, lasting accountability and change. I’ve been looking at the world of charities wide-eyed and open-mouthed ever since I started my first role at The Prince’s Trust in the 1990s. Having come from a role at American Express, I remember thinking that people would be nicer in charities. Not so. The instances of appalling behaviour were worse than anything I’d seen at Amex. I vowed then to work to change things, and this is what I’ve tried to do ever since and I worry things have got worse, not better.

If you’d like to join me in working to create a charity sector that’s fit for purpose, let me know by replying to this email.

These discussions aren’t just happening on Twitter either: Do I just have the worst luck or are the majority of non-profits like this?

Interesting and useful links 🖇️

Want to make your company more diverse? Consider quitting

On 24 February, Rosa UK will be running a free ‘Unconscious Bias – Interrupting Bias’ webinar exploring how individuals and organisations can embed EDI in all areas of policy and practice.

Why we need to radically reimagine leadership to achieve gender equality by the new Chair of ActionAid, Srabani Sen.

Interesting discussion about the use of the term “racialised communities” instead of BAME. Would be interested to know what you think. Drop me a line.

What am I listening to? 👂

The writer, Nikesh Shukla, has a series of podcasts to accompany the launch of his new book, Brown Baby. I haven’t read it yet but it’s about themes of race, parenthood, love, and gender. This week’s podcast episode features Kit de Waal discussing found families, identity, and growing up as Black, Irish, *and* British in 1960s Birmingham, and her pride in all aspects of her identity which she describes as “different facets of a diamond”. Have a listen. It’s fascinating.

Tune of the week 🎶

“You always talk of differences.

But do you know what difference is?”

Hope you can get out into some form of countryside or park this week.

Lots of love

Lucy

I write this newsletter because I believe in sharing progressive ideas that help us work towards a truly equal world.

Share it with your friends so they can read it too 📣

Thank you!

ChangeOut is created by Lucy Caldicott. You can find more about my work at ChangeOut.org. If you’re looking to have a chat about culture, leadership, purpose, equity, or a facilitated team discussion about any of those things, get in touch. You can also find me on Bluesky, Instagram, and, LinkedIn.

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