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Purpose

This report publishes an anonymised summary of the Community Foundation’s equality, diversity and inclusion monitoring data. It has been structured to support public transparency while avoiding disclosure of names or individually-identifiable records in a small organisation.  It is based on survey responses from 13 members of staff, 13 trustees and 3 Ambassadors.  Participation in the survey was voluntary.

Method and presentation

Gender and ethnicity are shown separately for employees and trustees.  All other characteristics are reported for the combined dataset to protect anonymity. Comparators are taken from Census 2021 for England and Wales where a directly relevant national benchmark exists. Some questions are not directly comparable with census outputs: in particular, the armed forces question in this survey records broader connection (for example a partner of a serving member), while the census benchmark measures previous service as a veteran. Area identification is an internal, multi-select question and therefore has no direct census equivalent.

Executive summary

• The monitoring dataset contains 29 records: 13 employees, 13 trustees and 3 Ambassadors.
• Respondents could select to answer the question, ‘prefer not to say’, or leave the question blank.
• Current gender among employees is 69.2% female and 30.8% male; among trustees it is 50% female and 50% male.
• All responses to the gender-at-birth question are recorded as “Yes”, so the dataset shows no recorded respondents whose current gender differs from sex registered at birth.
• Ethnicity is more diverse within the trustee group than the employee group: employees are 92.3% White and 7.7% Asian, while trustees are 56.2% White, 31.2% Asian and 6.2% Black, with 6.2% preferring not to say. Both groups are more diverse than local population statistics.
• Across all respondents combined, 6.9% identify as disabled and 10.3% identify with an LGBTQ+ orientation.

Current gender. Employees are predominantly female (69.2%), whereas trustees and Ambassadors are evenly balanced, with 50% female and 50% male. Compared with the 2021 Census population of England and Wales, the employee group has a higher proportion of women than the national population (51.0%), while the trustee group is closer to parity but slightly more male than the national position.

Gender identity / sex registered at birth. All respondents recorded “Yes” in the gender-at-birth field. On that basis, the monitoring data show no recorded respondents whose current gender differs from sex registered at birth. The nearest census comparator is the voluntary 2021 gender identity question for adults aged 16+, where 93.5% answered “Yes”, 0.5% answered “No”, and 6.0% did not answer. Because the national measure is voluntary and is now classified by ONS as “official statistics in development”, it should be used with care and interpreted as context rather than as a target or standard.

Approach. For transparency and comparability, the narrative first summarises ethnicity at a high level (White, Asian, Black, Other, Prefer not to say), then provides the Foundation’s own recorded detailed categories in tables for employees and trustees separately.

Headline comparison. Employees have a predominantly White profile (92.3%), with Asian respondents accounting for 7.7%. Trustees are more diverse: 56.2% White, 31.2% Asian, 6.2% Black and 6.2% prefer not to say. Compared with the Census 2021 population of England and Wales (81.7% White, 9.3% Asian, 4.0% Black, 2.9% Mixed / multiple and 2.1% Other), the employee cohort is less ethnically diverse than the national population, while the trustee group is materially more diverse than the national population on this measure.  Looking at the area covered by the Community Foundation, the breakdown is 92.1% White, 4.2% Asian, 1.8% Mixed / multiple, 1.2% Black and 0.7% Other.

Ethnicity Detail

Headline comparison. The largest belief groups in the combined dataset are Christian (41.4%), followed by no religion (27.6%) and Hindu (17.2%). Compared with Census 2021 for England and Wales, the Foundation has a slightly lower proportion identifying as Christian (46.2% nationally) and a lower proportion identifying as having no religion (37.2% nationally), while the proportion identifying as Hindu is notably higher than the national figure of 1.7%. This is partially due to the higher than national average residency of the Hindu population in the area covered by the Community Foundation. The survey also records a small number of Muslim, Buddhist, other-religion and prefer-not-to-say responses.

Religion / Belief Detail

Headline comparison. The combined dataset shows 6.9% of respondents identifying as disabled and 93.1% as not disabled. This is below the Census 2021 age-standardised estimate for England and Wales, where 17.8% of people were disabled and 82.2% were not disabled. Given the difference in age profile between a workforce/board and the whole population, this comparison should be treated as contextual rather than judgmental.

Headline comparison. The combined dataset records 86.2% heterosexual or straight respondents, 10.3% respondents identifying with an LGBTQ+ orientation, and 3.4% preferring not to say. In Census 2021 for England and Wales, 89.4% of adults aged 16+ identified as straight or heterosexual, 3.2% identified with an LGB+ orientation, and 7.5% did not answer the voluntary question. On that comparison, the Foundation’s combined respondent group shows a higher proportion of openly LGBTQ+ respondents than the national census benchmark, although the organisation’s data are from a small, non-random group and should not be over-interpreted.

Headline comparison. Within the Community Foundation dataset, 72.4% are married or separated, 13.8% are single, 10.3% are divorced and 3.4% are widowed. Compared with Census 2021 for England and Wales, the Foundation has a higher proportion in the married / civil partnership category (46.9% nationally) and a lower proportion who have never married or entered a civil partnership (37.9% nationally). The divorced proportion is close to the national figure of 9.1%, while the widowed proportion is lower than the national figure of 6.1%, perhaps as a result of the Community Foundation dataset being based on a younger demographic than society at large.

Marital Status Detail

Interpretation note. This section has been added to the usual report in support of our commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant.  We are accredited to silver in the Employer Accreditation Scheme, and as such we have chosen to report on the engagement between our workforce and the armed forces.  The census only asks whether someone is a veteran, and so there is no directly comparable question.

Reported pattern. The recorded data show 10.3% connected to the armed forces through a partner/family relationship or as a reservist or veteran, and 89.7% with no current connection recorded. By contrast, Census 2021 shows that 3.8% of adults aged 16+ in England and Wales were veterans. Because the questions capture different things, the veteran benchmark is referenced only as background context, not as a direct comparison.

Interpretation note. This was a multi-select internal question, so percentages total more than 100%.  Respondents often have more than one association with a geographical area.  Of those people that answered Stoke-on-Trent as an area, they all also answered Staffordshire.  Most people, but not all, of those answering Staffordshire, also mentioned Stoke-on-Trent.  By contract, those that answered Telford & Wrekin did not answer Shropshire.  It is useful for understanding the Community Foundation’s local rootedness but it does not have a direct national census benchmark.

Recorded pattern. The strongest affiliations are with Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent and Shropshire. The full pattern is: Staffordshire (41.4%), Stoke-on-Trent (34.5%), Shropshire (34.5%), Telford & Wrekin (17.2%), Norfolk (3.4%), West Midlands (3.4%). This broadly reflects the Community Foundation’s operating geography across Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent, Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin, and as expected means that between the Ceremonial counties of Staffordshire and Shropshire, each county is represented by at least half of the board or staff team.  The data also shows a very small number of wider affiliations beyond the immediate core area.

Ongoing commitment. The current monitoring data shows that the Community Foundation already meets, and in several areas surpasses, the demographic representation standards and contextual benchmarks used in this report. The purpose of future action is therefore not to apply fixed quotas, but to maintain a broad, balanced and representative staff, trustee and ambassador profile that reflects the communities we serve across Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent, Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin.

Review process. We will continue to collect equality, diversity and inclusion monitoring information on a regular basis, analyse it in a proportionate and anonymised way, and compare the results with relevant national and local benchmarks where reliable comparators exist. This will allow trustees and senior staff to identify any emerging gaps, changes in representation or areas where additional outreach, recruitment activity or engagement may be needed.

Maintaining standards. The Foundation will review demographic representation through its governance, recruitment and people processes, including trustee recruitment, staff recruitment, ambassador engagement and periodic reporting to the Board. Where monitoring indicates that representation is weakening in any area, we will consider appropriate and lawful steps to broaden reach, reduce barriers to participation and ensure that opportunities remain open, inclusive and accessible.  Our overall aim is to at least maintain a level of diversity across all measures to remain representative of our local communities. This includes:

• aiming for at least 19% non-white British representation, to align with demographics across our service area
• maintaining an even gender balance with 50% men and 50% women across the organisation, accepting that the trustee board and staff team might be weighted differently
• ensuring that our services and employment practices are available to all, particularly those with disabilities or from minority demographics

Public accountability. Future monitoring reports will continue to present data carefully, protecting individual anonymity while providing sufficient transparency for stakeholders to understand the overall pattern of representation. This regular review cycle will help ensure that the Foundation continues to meet necessary standards, remains alert to demographic change, and sustains the inclusive culture reflected in the current dataset.

Overall picture. The monitoring data shows that staff and trustee diversity are materially different in some respects: employees are more female-dominated and less ethnically diverse than trustees; trustees are more balanced in gender but more ethnically diverse than the staff cohort. Across the combined dataset, the Community Foundation has a lower recorded disability rate than the national benchmark, but a higher openly LGBTQ+ proportion than the national census benchmark. Religion / belief, legal partnership status and local-area affiliation all show a pattern that is coherent with the Community Foundation’s local role and community base.

Sources and comparator notes

• Internal dataset: Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Monitoring Form (29 records).
• Census 2021 (England and Wales): Population and household estimates; Ethnic group; Religion; Disability; Sexual orientation; Gender identity; Marriage and civil partnership status; UK armed forces veterans (Office for National Statistics).
• Census comparisons are used as contextual benchmarks only. They do not represent targets and are not adjusted for the Foundation’s age profile, occupational profile or small sample size.
• The ONS gender identity estimates are classed by ONS as official statistics in development and should be interpreted with care.