Our statement on a review of Corra’s historical funding
By Corra Foundation
Publication of Surveying Corra Foundation’s Historical Relationship with British Banks, Empire and Atlantic Slavery, by Dr Stephen Mullen – a statement from Corra Foundation.
On 15 December 2023 we published a review of Corra Foundation’s historical funding.
This is an independent report commissioned by Corra and authored by Dr Stephen Mullen from the University of Glasgow. It examines the links to historical Atlantic slavery, the British Empire and colonialism of the banking sector and institutions from which Corra emerged.
We are grateful to Dr Mullen for undertaking this research and producing an insightful report, which we summarise below and can be read in full on Corra’s website.
Background to the review
Philanthropy has done much to tackle injustice and inequality in our society, seeking to improve the lives of those affected by layers of structural disadvantage. However, philanthropy is by its nature unequal, with philanthropic giving often drawing from wealth accrued through unequal labour and power structures.
Funders are also increasingly examining the sources of their wealth, which can sometimes be traced back to historical injustices and exploitation, which helped create the very problems philanthropy now seeks to solve. This is increasingly prompting funders to challenge their structures and practices, with some funders opting to redirect funds towards reparation.
How to embed DEI into your grant-making cycle (Civil Society Consulting/NPC, May 2023)
In 2020 Corra made a commitment to becoming an anti-racist organisation. Since then, we’ve been taking steps to learn, understand and act to bring about racial equity and racial justice. The most important part of this continues to be to listen to people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities across Scotland. We believe that to play our part, we need to understand our own role in benefiting from, or helping maintain, inequalities. Commissioning this review was part of that work.
Corra today is a small, independent foundation that is guided by its bold ten-year strategy. Our strategy aims to contribute to three big changes:
- The power to create change rests with people themselves.
- People with ideas for radical change are supported, skilled, confident, and connected.
- People are working together to respond to the big challenges facing Scotland.
Everything we do is guided by our values, expressed as our ‘ways of working’.
Before becoming Corra, the foundation had a historical link to the banking sector. The reason we commissioned this work was not to discover anything about the banking sector that was not already known. Indeed the research drew upon work that has been done in recent years, including by banks themselves, to understand the source of banking finance. Lloyds Banking Group has shared detailed information, and a Guardian article a few years ago highlighted a range of evidence of connections between UK banks and slavery. Dr Mullen’s research sought to help Corra to understand the thread that connects us to this history, and to reflect on what that means for the foundation in its present day work.
Corra’s historical connection to banks
Our roots are in the trustee savings bank movement begun in Scotland in 1810 with the aim that everyone, regardless of wealth or position, could benefit from a savings bank. Established in 1985 as TSB Foundation for Scotland, and then Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland, we received a percentage of the profits of the TSB (and after a merger, Lloyds Banking Group) from 1986 to 2018 and used these funds to support charitable activities in Scotland and internationally. All connection with the banks ended in February 2018.
Corra is not an endowed foundation, and our assets do not operate in a way that preserves the past wealth of an individual, family or corporation. Therefore, to review our historical funding we explored to what extent historic slavery-related activities influenced the development of the late-20th century banking institutions that we were linked to.
What we learned from the review
The key finding of the review is that connections with Atlantic slavery directly supported the evolution of international banking enterprises and shaped the late twentieth century commercial infrastructure, from which Corra later evolved. Therefore, the large-scale payments provided to the foundation between 1986 and 2018 (prior to becoming Corra) cannot be disassociated from Atlantic slavery.
Lloyds Bank was founded in 1765 and supported metal industries in the Birmingham area. Starting in the 1860s, Lloyds Bank embarked on a programme of expansion, taking over no less than 50 banks between 1865 and 1923. Many of these had been involved in financing slavery, or had been established using profits gained through ownership of plantations in the Caribbean. We note Lloyds Banking Group’s acknowledgement that some its ‘antecedent firms had historic connections to slavery economics.’
The review shows that Atlantic Slavery and its commerce were not fundamental to the development of the self-supporting savings banks in Scotland. As savings banks, the forerunners of the Trustee Savings Bank (TSB) were precluded by law from lending and had a unique customer base made up of ordinary workers. There is limited evidence that the self-supporting savings banks which were direct predecessors of the modern TSB had connections to the Atlantic slavery economy.
Our reflections on what we learned
The Trustee and staff team acknowledge that Corra has a connection to historical Atlantic slavery. While this connection is not direct and is rather via the banking sector from which Corra emerged, there is no doubt that without the profits generated by the Atlantic slavery economy, the banking institutions to which Corra was connected would not have existed in their modern form and scale.
The work Corra has been doing on racial equity in recent years has emerged from our growing understanding of the impact of historical Atlantic slavery on Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities. We acknowledge the deep injustices of slavery as well as how it has contributed to structural and systemic racism today. We recognise the harm caused to people who were enslaved and the intergenerational trauma that is experienced by people we work alongside today. The experiences and wellbeing of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities must be at the centre of how Corra reflects on this research and in actions we take as a result.
The work Corra does in the present day is in the service of tackling inequality and injustice. This includes our mission, our strategy and our participatory approach to grant making.
Our specific actions since 2020 include ringfencing funds for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic led organisations in an increasing number of our grant programmes and delivering new grant programmes focused on anti-racism and racial equity.
We are intentional about how we manage our financial assets, which are entirely in Environmental, Social and Governance funds. We are tracking our progress towards becoming an anti-racist organisation and are conscious of the many steps we still need to take. We have no doubt that there is more to do.
We have committed to reporting transparently on our progress, with our first Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) annual progress report published in August 2023. This is in addition to regular updates on the Racial Equity section of our website.
What we will do now
Anti-racism and racial equity will continue to be a central theme of Corra’s work, delivered through a range of actions, underway and planned. These include:
- Ensuring the voices of those who have been impacted by the legacy of Atlantic slavery, British Empire and colonialism are at the centre of our actions in response to this review. We will listen to Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities in Scotland and ensure their lived expertise shapes our work. We will seek their views on what action funders should take using a restorative justice frame.
- Continuing learning and training for Corra’s staff and trustees to strengthen our understanding of Scotland’s colonial history and the legacy that it leaves today here and in other countries.
- Embedding lived experience and participatory approaches throughout our grant making. This is the strongest current practice we are aware of that ensures funding systems do not repeat or sustain past inequity.
- Continuing Trustees’ commitment to ringfence at least a third of our £1m a year Henry Duncan Grants for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic led organisations up to 2025. At that point a deeper review of this programme will take place, in which a racial justice lens will be applied.
- Helping create the conditions for greater investment in racial justice in Scotland. This will include building on the learning from funds focused on racial equity and anti-racism that we have delivered to date.
- Listening to Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic led community groups in Scotland to understand what we as a funder can do to support their capacity building and development.
Our learning has re-affirmed that there is a need for greater action in Scotland to raise the visibility of how Atlantic slavery, British Empire and colonialism supported the institutions, economy, and cultural and other assets we see today. We believe that by publishing this review we are in part beginning to address the past. Transparency and honesty about our past are necessary to build a just and equitable future.
Corra staff and Trustees will continue to consider the findings of this review and welcome conversations or reflections, particularly with people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities and with other trusts and foundations or civil society groups.