The London Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Voluntary and Community

The London Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) voluntary and community sector Almanac, 3rd Edition

© centred January 2014

First floor

38 Great Windmill Street

London W1D 7LU

020 7437 6063

www.centred.org.uk

Registered Charity Number 1054152

Company Number 3168854

ISBN 978-0-9558780-5-3

Acknowledgements

centred would like to extend thanks to the diverse LGBTQ organisations that completed the LGBTQ Almanac 3rd Edition survey; the contributors to the Almanac 3rd Edition; volunteering and activism workshop participants and participants in the London LGBTQ Learning Network; Rob Berkeley; Robert Dufton; Lia Latchford; Joan Neary; the HEAR Network; UK Black Pride; Rainbow Friends; Gay Star News; Peter Purton of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), the Consortium of LGBT Organisations, and Fiona Colgan of London Metropolitan University; and everyone who has provided feedback on and support for the Almanacs 1st and 2nd Editions. The Almanac is always a collaborative project made possible by participants and supporters.

Contents

Introduction / 4
Methodology / 4
Organisations / 5
Purposes and aims / 5
Activities / 7
Policy and campaigning / 8
Organisation structures / 9
Premises / 11
Experiences / 11
The people involved / 11
Volunteering in depth / 20
Focus group results: Creating positive volunteer experiences / Dee Olerenshaw / 20
Case study: centred Tour Guides / Tom Wilkinson / 25
Case study: Funded volunteer management: Naz Project London / Kim Hawkins / 31
Finance and funding / 33
Engagement with Infrastructure / 45
Case study: Guildhall Art Gallery / Tom Wilkinson / 45
Case study: Funder infrastructure / Ashlee Christoffersen / 53
Case study: Barking and Dagenham CVS / Carl Blackburn / Jane Standing / 57
Conclusions / 60
References / 61

Introduction

The London LGBTQ Almanac 3rd Edition, the final edition funded under the original Big Lottery Fund funded ‘In Our Name LGBT Infrastructure Project’, contains up to date statistical information about diverse LGBTQ organising in London; an in-depth look at LGBTQ volunteering and activism, with the results of two workshops/focus groups and two volunteering case studies; and case studies exploring LGBT engagement with mainstream infrastructure organisations. This 3rd Edition is published as an online/web publication.

The Almanac aims to provide a strategic information base for diverse London LGBT organisations to plan and develop; and for funders and infrastructure organisations to be better equipped to understand the experiences of, and offer support to, diverse LGBTQ organisations. The Almanac is a continuation of London LGBT sector research begun in 2007 with centred’s publication of the PiP report, the first in depth look at LGBT organising in London. This 3rd Edition draws on data now spanning a seven year period to explore changes within the London LGBTQ organising landscape. This edition compares detailed demographic information across the sector’s governance, staff, volunteers and service users to the 1st Edition survey in 2010.

The Almanac pays particular attention throughout to the experiences of LGBTQ organisations that work intersectionally, i.e. that work around other specific equalities areas such as race or disability. These LGBTQ community of identity organisations constitute 42% of the research sample and a large portion of LGBTQ organisations in London.

It has been found that the Almanac has supported diverse organisers and organisations to raise awareness of their work, fundraise, and influence policy. The number of London based organisations that participate in the Almanac research process has grown year on year.

Profiles of London LGBTQ organisations can be created, searched and updated by organisations themselves on the London LGBT Almanac wiki[1].

Methodology

The main Almanac 3rd Edition sample is made up of London based, not for profit organisations that specifically serve and/or represent LGBTQ people, and that completed the London LGBTQ Almanac 3rd Edition survey, which was open from May to July 2013.

The survey was emailed to all London LGBTQ organisations known to centred, promoted through centred’s networks, and disseminated by organisations who had been previous participants in the Almanac research.

For the first time centred worked with a larger research team to extend the Almanac survey across England and Wales. The team comprised of centred, the Consortium of LGBT Voluntary and Community Organisations, the Trades Union Congress (TUC), and researchers in the Centre for Corporate Responsibility, Diversity and Human Resource Management (CRDHRM) at London Metropolitan University. The national perspective will look at the impact of austerity on LGBTQ organising and is being managed by CRDHRM. This will be explored in a TUC publication later this year.

In total 117 London-based organisations completed the survey in full or in part. Of these two were excluded as they provided information to indicate that they did not specifically serve or represent LGBTQ people. One was excluded as it provided information to indicate that it was a purely statutory organisation. The full sample is thus made up of 114 organisations, five more than the Almanac 2nd Edition sample and 25 more than the Almanac 1st Edition sample.

64 organisations that completed the Almanac 3rd Edition survey also completed the Almanac 2nd Edition survey. Comparisons to 2012 are limited to comparisons between only these organisations unless otherwise stated.

49 organisations that completed the Almanac 3rd Edition survey in 2013 also completed the Almanac 1st Edition survey in 2010. Comparisons to 2010 are limited to comparisons between only these organisations unless otherwise stated.

Of 70 organisations that say they raise funds or have income, 58 are included in the finance sample. These are organisations that are LGBTQ by mission, in order to capture the particular context of organisations that make a ‘funding ask’ from a place of being specifically LGBTQ. Five organisations were excluded as they indicated that it does not state in their mission statement that they specifically serve or represent LGBTQ people.

Seven were excluded as they are projects within larger organisations or mainstream organisations, so the finance sample is made up of 58 organisations.

ORGANISATIONS

Purposes and aims

Of the 114 respondents to the survey, 103 organisations stated their purposes and aims. Most of the categories that were established with the same question in prior years are still present this year. However, the ‘To provide non-commercial social spaces and activities’ category has not been identified this year as this motivation was not made explicit by any organisation in the current survey. Many of the organisations included in this category in the Almanac 2nd Edition are now included in the new ‘Social/recreational activity group’ category. There is one other new organisation purpose identified this year, which is the ‘support group’ category.

The purposes and aims of London LGBTQ organisations can be broadly placed into the following, with some organisations in more than one category:

To promote LGBTQ equalities and human rights.

This category represents 16.5% (n=17) of the sample.

To build and empower/support community, including work around LGBT heritage and work to address isolation:

This category is one of the most prominent with 20% (n=21) of organisations’ purposes and aims being relevant. For example, QTIPOCs London is ‘a group for QTIPOCs (queer, trans and intersex people of colour) in London who want to hang out together and develop our community’.

To address LGBTQ experience and need around a specific issue:

This category is the largest this year and includes 32% (n=33) of organisations who provided their purposes and aims. The issues that organisations in this category addressed were varied, though 11 organisations form a large subgroup, focusing on physical and mental health and wellbeing. Other issues that were addressed include domestic violence, education, homelessness, the austerity politics of the current government, and immigration. For example, Queer Resistance is a ‘collective of queers and allies across the UK coming together to fight the cuts’.

To provide a platform for representation in order to influence policy:

Organisations in this category represent 2% (n=2) of the sample. For instance the LGBT Domestic Abuse Forum ‘exists to provide individuals and organisations with support to develop, implement and improve services for LGBT people who have experienced domestic abuse’.

To facilitate knowledge exchange across individuals and organisations:

Organisations included in this category represent 15.5% (n=16) of the sample. Organisations in this category include Gendered Intelligence, whose purpose is ‘to increase understanding of gender diversity in creative ways’.

To support LGBTQ organising and collaboration:

Four percent (n=4) of the sample is included in this category. For example Queers Against The Cuts aim ‘to mobilise the LGBTQ communities against the cuts, [and] promote discussion of alternatives to the cuts and reconstruction of a more LGBT friendly public service’.

To provide space for LGBTQ people of faith:

This category includes 11% (n=11) of the sample.

To provide support for individuals and communities affected by HIV:

Organisations in this category represent 3% (n=3) of the sample. Included in this category is Naz Project London, which ‘provides sexual health and HIV prevention and support services to selected Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities in London’.

Social/recreational activity group:

This new category of purposes and aims includes 18% (n=19) of the respondent organisations and is one of the most prominent. The social and recreational activities themselves are varied. Six organisations in this group organised sports activities including football, cricket, tennis, cycling, squash, and running. Other activities included climbing, diving, singing, yoga, and writing. Many organisations had a purpose and motivation that was orientated specifically towards the activity, for example, Grace’s Cricket Club’s purpose is to ‘promote the game of cricket in the LGBT community’, and the Gay Authors Workshop intends to ‘provide a forum for LGBT writers’. A minority of organisations in this category explicitly intended for their facilitation of the activity to have impact beyond the participation in the activity itself. For example, the Gay Football Supporters' Network has a purpose to ‘tackle homophobia in football on behalf of our supporting and playing members’.

Support group and user led support group:

‘Support group’ and ‘user led support group’ are new categories, where those organisations in the user led category explicitly state this aspect of their organising. Together they represent 12% (n=12) of the sample, and 9% (n=9) and 3% (n=3) respectively. For example Rainbow Friends is a ‘social and support group for people with learning disabilities that self identify as LGBTQ’.

Activities

The activities of London based LGBTQ organisations are in the table below.

Organisation activities / No of organisations / % (n=104)
Events / 65 / 63
Information, advice, signposting, referrals / 53 / 51
Newsletters and online media / 49 / 47
Campaigning / 43 / 41
Support / 40 / 38
Building knowledge / 40 / 38
Arts activities (e.g. performance) / 37 / 36
Advocacy / 33 / 32
Outreach / 31 / 30
Training (e.g. of public sector staff) / 28 / 27
Skills development / 28 / 27
Education (i.e. in schools) / 28 / 27
Befriending and/or mentoring / 28 / 27
Resource development / 26 / 25
Supporting LGBT organisations / 25 / 24
Counselling / 20 / 19
Research and research services / 17 / 16
Sport / 16 / 15
Helpline / 16 / 15
Youth work / 14 / 13
Religious/spiritual worship / 12 / 12
Third party reporting / 9 / 9
Health testing and alternative therapies / 7 / 7
Direct action and/or civil disobedience / 5 / 5
Housing provision / 4 / 4

When comparing the activities of organisations that completed both the London LGBT Almanac 2nd and 3rd Edition surveys, notable differences are:

The number of organisations that provide newsletters and online media has increased by 35%.

The number of organisations that campaign has increased by 12%.

The number of organisations that deliver arts activities has increased by 12.5%.

The number of organisations that indicate that they support other LGBTQ organisations has increased by 29%. This is consistent with findings from the PiP report (2007) that LGBT organisations tend to rely on one another for support. It is also notable since there is a general reduction in funding for infrastructure organisations.

The number of organisations that say that they do work in schools has increased by 42%.

The number of organisations that provide training e.g. to public sector staff has declined by 17%; that provide skills development for LGBT people has declined by 21%; and that provide research and research services has declined by 25%.

20% (n=19) of organisations indicated that they provide public services that would also/ordinarily be provided by public bodies, while a large majority of 80% (n=76) indicated that they do not.

Policy and campaigning

60% of organisations (n=62) reported that they participate in policy and campaigning.

Some organisations that indicated that they participated in policy and campaigning activities in the Almanac 1st Edition survey in 2010 now no longer do (n=7).

Amongst organisations that do, engagement has increased slightly: the number of organisations that participated in seven or more, and more than 10 policy initiatives or consultations has increased. The same is true of participation in policy forums.

Organisations were asked to describe a contribution that they had made to mainstream policy in the past year, to which there were 50 responses. From these open ended responses the following types of policy interventions were identified:

Policy level / No of organisations / % (n=50)
National / 28 / 56
Local / 15 / 30
Policy issue / No of organisations / %(n=50) /
Equal Marriage / 13 / 26
Crime and the justice system (domestic abuse, sexual offences and homophobic crime) / 6 / 12
Equality issues within the LGBT community (E.g. bisexuality, trans issues) / 5 / 10
Health / 3 / 6
Housing / 3 / 6
Homo/transphobia in sport / 2 / 4
International solidarity with LGBT people in other countries / 2 / 4
Sexual health / 2 / 4
Asylum / 1 / 2
Austerity / 1 / 2

For instance Sarbat ‘provided the gay Sikh community's response to the UK Government’s same sex marriage bill’. The Albert Kennedy Trust (AKT) ‘helped stop legislation being introduced which would have removed housing benefit rights for under 25's’.

Organisation structures

The below table shows the categories that organisations chose to describe themselves.