When global corporations began quietly reversing their diversity commitments, at Finnish civil society organisation Väestöliitto, we decided to make the silence visible with fashion. In mid-2025, we launched a thought‑provoking campaign called the “DEI Turncoats”: a conceptual online store selling reversible ‘turncoat’ jackets resembling the visual identities of companies retreating from their DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) principles. Each jacket visualised how fast values can flip, reminding that equity should never go out of style.

The initiative was created pro bono with communications and branding partner United Imaginations. Together, we set out to confront this worrying global trend that, in Väestöliitto’s view, had received far too little attention in Finland. The message was clear: equity is a human right, not a seasonal accessory.

Background and objectives

Across the world, companies once celebrated for their DEI programmes began scaling them back as political winds changed. In recent years, DEI has become a core component of many companies’ value statements, leading to strategies, working groups and recruitment programmes. Just as quickly, however, these initiatives are now being reduced or cancelled. Yet in Finland, the discussion has remained muted.

For Väestöliitto, whose mission is to advance equality, sexual rights and inclusion both nationally and internationally, this silence was alarming. The campaign set three goals:
1. Raise awareness that DEI is under global threat and that abandoning it cannot be an option.
2. Spark public discussion around corporate responsibility and the moral weight of equity, even when it’s no longer “in fashion.”
3. Reinforce Väestöliitto’s position as a credible, outspoken advocate for inclusion — and invite donations to its international human‑rights work.

Creative idea and execution

At the centre was a conceptual online store selling “turncoats.” The reversible jackets carried two messages:
– Outside: “DEI is out.”
– Inside: “DEI is in.”
The typography and design playfully echoed real‑world corporate identities; close enough to feel familiar, distant enough to stay legally safe. Clicking to add the coat to your cart didn’t lead to a purchase but instead prompted a donation to our international work for equity.

The campaign aesthetic borrowed from high‑end fashion: striking product photography, minimalist layouts and a tone of polished provocation. The idea extended beyond digital:
• Outdoor advertising appeared in four Finnish cities (OTC ≈ 6.6 million).
• Two jackets were displayed in a Helsinki fashion‑store window, stopping passers‑by.
• And in a bold surprise appearance, the DEI Turncoats showed up at the Finnish Fashion Awards, inserting a human‑rights statement into Finland’s most glamorous stage.

Social media activity continued for nearly two months, with the strongest push during the first two weeks. Väestöliitto’s own channels reached over 209,000 people, and influencer collaborations (all pro bono) extended reach by another 85,000. The campaign also ran in Voima magazine, Finland’s largest cultural publication, and achieved 1.01 million earned‑media reach both nationally and internationally.

Results and impact

Advocacy was always the primary objective, with the donation path intentionally symbolic. The campaign generated widespread debate in social media, business circles and mainstream press, questioning how quickly corporations change their stance on equality.

• Social reach: ≈ 510 000 views / 209 000 unique reach
• Influencer reach: ≈ 85 000 (pro bono)
• Outdoor contacts: 6.6 million
• Media reach: 1.01 million
• Media ROI: 1 864×

Väestöliitto gained new credibility and corporate contacts, positioning itself as a fearless, relevant voice for equality  and proving that an NGO can challenge global brands with wit and style.

Learnings

The campaign showed how creative provocation can serve advocacy, when used authentically and in line with an organisation’s core mission. Because Väestöliitto is fundamentally about human rights, equity and inclusion, the campaign’s core message didn’t feel like a “stretch product” but a natural expression of its mission, even though this style of campaigning was new to the organisation.

Still, provocation in fundraising requires precision. It can spark conversation but must not confuse or alienate potential supporters. In this case, the balance worked: controversy invited dialogue, not backlash.

“The campaign wasn’t just about donations,” says Elina Korhonen, Director of International Affairs at Väestöliitto. “It was about credibility. If diversity and inclusion are the first things cut when budgets tighten, what does that say about the real weight of corporate responsibility strategies?”

Sanna Kotiranta

About Sanna Kotiranta

Sanna Kotiranta is an advisor on global communications at Väestöliitto, where she leads and develops the organisation’s global communications. Sanna also supports Väestöliitto’s fundraising especially related to its international work on sexual rights and equity. Sanna joined Väestöliitto in 2018 and has previous work experience in sexual rights from the Finnish NGO field. Sanna has a master’s degree in social sciences, majoring in international politics and a minor in development studies. Sanna is also a sexual counsellor.

International development network Bond questioned 150 people of colour for its Racism, Power & Truth report – 77% of whom were in the UK with 23% outside the UK. Overall, 90% questioned their organisation’s commitment to EDI, while 68% said that they had experienced an incident of racism in the workplace within the past year or had supported someone else who experienced a racist incident.

85% of respondents also felt that as a person of colour, getting promoted in the sector was not accessible to them, with promotion seen as a reward only accessible to people from non-minoritised groups. In addition, 65% felt they had not had equal access to mentors as their white peers.

The findings also revealed that:

– 69% did not feel they had been able to take leadership on internal initiatives as much as their white peers had

– 71% said they had fewer opportunities to represent their organisations externally than their white peers did

– 50% said they had not had the same training opportunities as their white peers

As well as including the voices and experiences of people of colour, the report also offers a number of recommendations that draw upon ongoing consultations with the Bond People of Colour in Development Group, and covering policies, systems, and culture.

Lena Bheeroo, lead author of the report and Engagement & Equity Manager at Bond, said:

“This report comes a year after the sector was invited to hold a mirror up to itself and look at the levels of representation we have in positions of power. Our report provides evidence for what we have known for many years now. Across the UK NGO sector, people of colour are underrepresented in senior roles, and that they are facing multiple barriers to career progression, with the odds stacked against them. 

“For a sector that is working to champion people’s rights, fairness and equality, this is a big problem. Organisations must not shy away from speaking about racism and anti-Blackness. They have the responsibility to move beyond diversity in just HR terms, towards making better staffing decisions that better represent the countries and contexts that we work in. 

“CEOs and board members should commit to sponsoring people of colour by investing time with them, opening doors, bringing them into existing networks and championing them publicly. 

“On an individual level, people need to reflect on their levels of privilege and power and their position within the sector, so that they can start to take steps to disrupt the dynamics at play.” 

The FAIR SHARE Monitor tracks progress towards gender equality, collecting data on the proportion of female staff and leaders in civil society organisations internationally. Its goal is to see a fair share of women leaders – defined as at least 50%, or a correspondingly higher proportion if the workforce consists of more than 50% women – by 2030.

The monitor looks at the number of staff broken down by gender, number of women in the senior management team, number of women on the supervisory / trustee board, and equality, diversity or inclusion policies. It began collecting this data in 2019 and will continue until 2030, in line with Goal 5 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda.

This year too, for the first time, it also collected data on Black, Brown, Indigenous women and women of colour.

56 civil society organisations took part in the 2021 Monitor, up from 31 in 2020, with the findings revealing that while women comprise around 63%-70% of the international civil society workforce, this is not reflected in the leadership of the sector. The proportion of women on staff has grown 5% since last year, but the proportion of women leaders has stayed at 46% – with 31% on senior management teams, and the remaining 15% on boards.

Boards lag furthest behind

The report shows that boards lag furthest behind when it comes to gender equality, although the proportion of boards with a majority of women increased from 25% in 2019 to 36% this year.

And, while senior management teams are more representative than boards, this number has stagnated since last year. Senior management teams with a majority of men, on the other hand, have increased from 45% to 48%.

Statistics on Black, Brown, Indigenous women and women of colour in leadership

The Monitor also revealed some key statistics on Black, Brown, Indigenous women and women of colour (BIWoC) in civil society leadership roles. 43 of the 56 organisations had data to share here, with the findings including:

– 44% of these organisations have a female CEO or executive director, but only 26% of those women are BIWoC

– 16% of these organisations had no BIWoC in their boards

– 42% had no BIWoC in senior management

– 9% had no BIWoC in leadership

– 26% are led by BIWoC

– Women make up 46% of members of boards, but of these only 31% are BIWoC

– Women make up 46% of the senior management, but only 30% are BIWoC

The full report can be accessed on the FAIR SHARE of Women Leaders site.

Related article:

Simona Biancu: Why we need to take a more feminist approach to nonprofit leadership

Image: by Christina Morillo from Pexels

As I sat down to write this blog, thinking about the need for a more feminist approach within nonprofits, the latest findings from the Fair Share Monitor 2021 landed on my desk, emphasising that women are still heavily under-represented in leadership roles in the sector.

Among the 56 high profile civil society organisations included in the monitor, almost two thirds (63%) of staff are women, and yet, women make up less than half of the leadership roles (46%). Even in a sector that is considered to be fair – and perhaps especially in this sector – the truth is that there is a lot of work to be done before we have a more equal balance of gender and power.

In my view, that growth will only come with clearer understanding of the vital role that women play in civil society and philanthropy and why it is so important that we create more opportunities for women to progress. We need clearer understanding too around what a feminist approach to leadership looks like and why nonprofits would benefit from it.

This is vital not only to enable our profession to be more representative and fair, but to ensure that the leadership traits associated with feminism – greater inclusivity, empathy and a more collective approach – become more widespread.

Too often, feminism is thought of as a topic for women or is confused with the concept of ‘by women and for women’. But it is not as simple a matter as gender. Thinking of feminist issues simply as being related to women creates a closed perimeter within which to confine thought, action and vision – a ‘pinkification’ of philanthropy, as Beth Breeze, researcher and director of the Global Challenges Doctoral Center at the University of Kent (UK), would describe it.

A feminist is someone who believes in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes, regardless of their gender. As Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie says in her book of the same title: We Should All Be Feminists. And to improve understanding, we need to promote discussion and debate – all of us – encouraging everyone to participate in the drive for change.

Opening up debate

Just a few weeks ago, we held the first Nonprofit Women Camp here in Italy. Led by 4 brilliant fundraising leaders, 250 women and men joined the 3-day virtual camp. It offered a leadership masterclass, workshops and talks exploring everything from charitable giving to community action, philanthropy to fundraising, communication and change.

Most importantly, it created a safe space to explore the issues surrounding women and feminism in philanthropy. Every session came from the starting point of what it means for women and encouraged people to consider each issue from a feminist viewpoint. And it’s this type of event and forum that is so critical if we are to tackle so many misunderstandings around what a feminist viewpoint entails.

Women and men both need to be part of this shift, and to inspire the characteristics and thinking that are more prominent within a feminist leadership style.

In my view, feminist thinking is not just inclusive and empathetic. It is upstream, it can draw communities together and identify new ways of working and new solutions.

The Fair Share of Women Leaders describes feminist leadership as “transformative, intersectional, collective, power-critical and a journey”. (You can read more in my interview with their co-founder Helene Wolf here). And this approach appeals to feminist philanthropists who are looking to connect with organisations and causes that correlate to their ideals and their way of thinking. But how can we bring about this change and inspire a more feminist approach to leadership and philanthropy?

Inspiring change

Certainly, we should be making space for more women leaders and creating more opportunities for discussion. Within our own organisations, we should be asking ourselves how feminist leadership and philanthropy is perceived. Is it fully understood and how will we promote more feminist thinking? What opportunities can we create to further discussion and debate?

What feminist leadership traits should we be aspiring towards? And are we paying enough attention to wider issues of diversity? How can we give more weight to inclusion across our organisations and communities? What role can each of us play to make this happen?

There is no simple answer to these questions and everyone’s approach is likely to differ. But this reflection is intended to be an invitation to everyone to share thoughts, visions and discussion on the subject. So, I ask you to join the debate and feel free to share your thoughts with me.

About Simona Biancu

Simona Biancu, ASSIF

Fundraising and strategic philanthropy consultant and trainer, Simona is founder and CEO of ENGAGEDin, vice-president of the Italian Association of Fundraisers (ASSIF) and a board member of both EFA and the European Lung Foundation. With a post-graduate Masters in Fundraising at Università di Bologna, she has more than 10 years’ experience of fundraising strategy, major gifts, individual and corporate fundraising, strategic philanthropy with trusts and foundations, legacies and board development. She is a regular speaker and trainer, presenting at conferences in Italy and internationally. She has co-authored Board in prima fila (2020), which focuses on Board development, and the blog Welcome on Board. Simona is also a proud member of the AFP International Development Forum.

Follow Simona on LinkedIn.

Main photo by Arek Socha on Pixabay

‘Missing Out: Understanding the female leadership gap in fundraising’ was commissioned by the Institute of Fundraising as part of its Change Collective strategy, a campaign to improve equality, diversity and inclusion in the fundraising profession. The research was carried out by Dr Beth Breeze, director of the Centre for Philanthropy at the University of Kent, and Dr Elizabeth J Dale, assistant professor in Nonprofit Leadership at Seattle University, USA.

Dr Elizabeth J Dale commented:

“It was troubling to see that gender stereotyping continues to be so prevalent, especially among donors and board members who undermine female fundraisers’ roles. This research calls on the entire sector, and society more broadly, to not only recognise women’s talent and leadership ambition but to rethink how to address tensions between work and family and create additional supports so that more women can obtain leadership roles.”

Key findings show that the salaries of male and female fundraisers typically begin around the same level but that the gap grows over the course of their careers. Amongst those working full-time, men reported salaries that were 14.3% higher than women.

The main barrier for women in realising their leadership ambition is insufficient flexibility in relation to hours and working patterns. Women also experienced a lack of recognition of, and appropriate policies to account for, the full range of women’s health needs. Female fundraisers are far more likely than men to say that they have experienced stereotyping and/or preconceptions based on their gender.

Informed through almost 800 responses to an online survey, focus groups, and case studies, the report provides recommendations for charities, fundraisers and the Institute to address barriers that female fundraisers face in their careers.

Recommendations include that charities should invest in promoting and recruiting diverse candidates to boards and senior management, educate trustees about stereotyping and preconceptions based on gender, and have a zero harassment policy in place. Charities were also advised to offer greater flexibility, and to be clear on flexible working conditions in job adverts.

Speaking at the launch of the research: Carol Akiwumi, chair of the Institute of Fundraising’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, said:

“For a long time we have known that the sector has a problem in equal representation at senior levels when it comes to gender. We need to change that, and now is the time for action and transformation.”

Dr Beth Breeze added:

“Clearly, the current career ladders in fundraising are not supporting all of the talented people who aspire to reach leadership roles. I hope the recommendations are read and taken seriously by all who are committed to strengthening the fundraising profession and its positive impact on society. Together we can make sure that talent rises to the top.”

This news follows the IoF’s recent announcement that it has been granted Royal Charter status.

Released at this year’s Fundraising Convention where diversity was a key theme, the Change Collective strategy sets out why change is needed including the business case for equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and the approach that needs to be taken by the Institute, its members and partners, to ensure that individuals from all backgrounds are recruited into the sector, retained and progressed.

Sufina Ahmad, Chair of the Expert Advisory Panel on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion commented:

“To have in one place a succinct but ambitious way forward for making the UK fundraising profession more equal, diverse and inclusive is a huge achievement. Individuals and organisations that champion this strategy are showing that they, like the Institute of Fundraising, are committed to working together to take an inter-sectional approach to addressing the well-known and well-evidenced inequalities that exist in the fundraising profession.”

According to a recent by the IoF, Who Isn’t in the Room? report, based on survey data provided by over 400 fundraising charities and almost 7,000 fundraisers, just 9% of fundraisers in the UK are BAME and only 3% have a disability. In addition, 76% of fundraisers are female, while on average men earn 10.8% more than women and 4% of fundraisers identify as LBGT+.

Four key inequalities to be addressed in the strategy are: the underrepresentation of BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) fundraisers, and of disabled fundraisers, LGBT+ fundraisers not always being able to be open in the workplace, and women forming the majority of the profession but not being proportionately represented at a senior level.

The IoF’s new strategy takes forward the commitments set out in its Manifesto for Change, which launched last November and sets out what the IoF plans to do to create a more equal, diverse and inclusive profession.

Initial activities identified in the strategy include commissioning research on the under-representation of BAME fundraisers, the barriers to entry and progression, and research on women in leadership role. The IoF will also develop an EDI Recruitment Toolkit to help organisations recruit more BAME, disabled and male fundraisers.

The IoF has also formed a new Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, chaired by IoF Trustee Carol Akiwumi to advise the IoF and evaluate and monitor progress on this agenda.

The IoF is again asking the fundraising community for its support, and hopes to raise £10,000 for the bursaries, which are aimed at enabling a more diverse range of fundraisers to attend the Convention. It will invite fundraisers who self-identify as BAME (Black, Asian or from a Minority Ethnic background), LGBT+, or disabled to apply from 2 April.

Successful applicants will receive bursaries for travel and accommodation costs as well as a ticket for one or more days at the Convention.

Last year, the IoF was able to award bursaries to 23 people through the Diversity Access Fund, who would have otherwise been unable to attend and contribute to Fundraising Convention. This year it hopes to fund 50 bursaries.

The Diversity Access Fund was set up by the IoF’s Expert Advisory Panel on Equality, Diversity & Inclusion, which has since established the #ChangeCollective: a sector movement aimed at improving diversity in fundraising.

Amanda Bringans, chair of the IoF, said:

“Our community currently lacks the real diversity it needs to fulfil its potential to support the causes we all care about. This is not only unacceptable but means that we are missing out on so much talent.  That’s why we are asking for donations to support the Diversity Access Fund, an early step for us to achieve our ambition of a more equal, diverse and inclusive profession.

“We have already received many generous donations from the fundraising community and hope that with the support of fundraisers, organisations and partners within the sector, we can raise a further £10,000 so that more people from diverse backgrounds can attend Fundraising Convention.”

Early bird tickets for the Convention are available until 17:00 on 1 May.

The Institute of Fundraising (IoF) launched the Change Collective movement in November along with its Manifesto for Change, which is a blueprint for a ten-year strategy aimed at addressing an under-representation of BAME, LGBT+ and disabled people throughout the profession, as well as unequal progression for women fundraisers.

According to the IoF, 68% of CEOs and almost two thirds of trustees are male, while only 3% of charity CEOs are BAME and just 9% of the sector is non-white.

The Change Collective calls for fundraisers and others in the sector to work together to change this and make fundraising a more equal, diverse and inclusive profession.

To this end, the IoF has asked fundraising charities to complete a survey on fundraising teams to help it set a benchmark of the current make-up of the fundraising profession and the existing barriers, which will inform the development of its ten-year equality, diversity, and inclusivity strategy and help it work out what the IoF, and its members, can do to create a more inclusive and diverse fundraising community.

Fundraising organisations had until 4 February to give their views in the survey, with the findings and next steps to be announced in due course.

The Access Fund will initially provide free passes to Fundraising Convention 2018. Bursaries for travel and accommodation costs will also be included. The IoF is inviting fundraisers who self-identify as BAME (Black, Asian or from a Minority Ethnic background), LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender), or disabled to apply for the Access Fund by 5pm on 08 June 2018.

The bursaries are the first output from the Expert Advisory Panel on Equality, Diversity & Inclusion, which was appointed in February this year to develop a strategy for the IoF to tackle the lack of diversity in the profession.

The IoF has contributed £5,000 to the fund and is looking to partners and supporters to contribute to it in order to enable more fundraisers from diverse backgrounds to attend Convention.

Sufina Ahmad, chair of the Expert Panel, said:

“As chair of the Expert Panel I am delighted that the IoF has taken the initiative to launch this Access Fund for Convention 2018. Whilst our main role is to develop a long term strategy for the IoF to improve the diversity and inclusiveness of the fundraising profession, we believe it is important that the IoF launches this Fund to enable more fundraisers from diverse communities to attend Convention.”

Amanda Bringans, chair of the IoF, said:

“Supporting the fundraising profession to become more diverse is an absolute priority for me as Chair of the IoF. Fundraising Convention is the key event in the fundraising community’s calendar, and I am delighted that whilst we are still developing our long term strategy, we are also launching this fund to help fundraisers who would otherwise be unable to attend Convention.”

[Fundraising Europe] Why is it so important that the sector has a diverse and representative workforce?
[Amanda Bringans] The sector is made up of committed and passionate fundraisers who support the incredible work being done by the UK’s charitable sector. But it’s important for the fundraising sector to be as diverse as the communities fundraisers serve. I’m a believer that if you constantly recruit people in your own image, you’re only going to carry on getting the same results. So, being white and middle class, it’s all too easy to end up recruiting people from a similar background.

Having worked with organisations like VSO in the past, which has a far bigger spread in terms of the cultural and ethnic minority representation, I’ve seen what this adds to the team. A more diverse workforce is not only more inclusive, but a richer and more representative one. It means fundraising teams will be better equipped to understand the people they support, to attract volunteer fundraisers from across the community and ultimately help charities achieve their missions.

And when you include different types of people, paving the way for a new, more diverse, generation of fundraisers, the more likely you will be of achieving innovative results.

In what way does the UK fundraising marketplace lack diversity?
Overall the sector is disproportionately white, university educated and middle class. We can see that there are fewer fundraisers from black, Asian and minority (BAME) ethnic groups compared to the overall sector workforce. The IoF’s research with the Barrow Cadbury Trust back in 2013 also highlighted that while there are certainly more women than men in fundraising, they are largely concentrated in junior roles. And there are relatively few fundraisers with disabilities.

Evidence suggests that fundraisers with disabilities and those from religious or ethnic backgrounds are most likely to be found within organisations that reflect these characteristics. Sure enough, when I was on a speakers’ panel at Fundraising Live recently – a fantastic event – I looked across the room of 400 people and realised that there was only one person who seemed to be from a BAME background. Our lack of diversity is limiting the fundraising profession and we have to do more to redress the balance.

What can organisations do to address this?
People often say they want to do something about it, but it’s only once you approach diversity that you realise how challenging it is to create such a significant transformation. It will require collaboration, understanding and patience; it’s going to take time to get this right.

Organisations will need to evaluate and examine their own diversity and inclusion practices and systems. They need to look at how they recruit, monitor and care for staff. To question why there could be so few fundraisers from BAME backgrounds and what they could do differently to change this, such as making a blind selection of CVs when recruiting. We also need to look at what might be preventing those with protected characteristics from engaging fully in our profession. And, of course, what can we do to support them?

What is the Institute of Fundraising doing to improve diversity?
The IoF has always believed that a more diverse workforce would make fundraising a richer and more representative profession, and started working towards diversity when Black Fundraisers UK was founded in 2006 by black professional fundraisers. This Special Interest Group within the Institute continues to support fundraisers from black, Asian and minority ethnic communities today.

But, in the last year, while redefining our own organisational goals, we took the opportunity to embed diversity across our work programme by writing it into our strategic priorities. We wanted to ensure that it will become enshrined in all that we do. When I stepped into the role of chair last July, this was something I really wanted to make happen and it just felt as though the time was right.

Having written diversity into your strategic priorities, what practical steps are the IoF taking to achieve change?
One of our first steps has been to appoint an independent Expert Advisory Panel to guide us in how the Institute can best address diversity. This is an astonishing panel of really talented people and I was in awe of the expertise they bring to the table. Now they are working with us to define our specific objectives, to advise the IoF executive and leadership team and to track our progress.

Initially, we are looking at how the IoF can take positive action to co-opt people from diverse communities into our governance structures and how we can make our events more inclusive through bursary programmes and ensuring we have a broader range of expert speakers. More projects are developing all the time, guided by our panel. I’m really hoping that this will create a bit of momentum and encourage others in the sector to do the same.

How will greater diversity help the sector develop and advance?
We need to empower and support new generations of young fundraisers. We know that it is getting harder to attract fundraisers to the profession than ever before. Once seen as a soft or easy job, it’s increasingly apparent that it’s a tough job to do. What’s more, it’s a particularly challenging time to be a fundraiser. There are more charities competing for funds, the cost of living is higher and trust and confidence is in a difficult place. We need to make it clear that we encourage people from all backgrounds and that we need new ideas and new ways of looking at things.

Ultimately, we need to ensure that fundraisers represent and look like the communities they are asking money from. The sector will only prosper from making the profession more diverse and inclusive.

About Amanda Bringans
Amanda is director of fundraising at the British Heart Foundation and chair of the Institute of Fundraising, the professional membership organisation for UK fundraisers. Her previous roles include director of global fundraising and communications at VSO and 16 years working at Macmillan Cancer Support where she became director of fundraising. She has also held senior roles with Leonard Cheshire Disability and Battersea Dogs & Cats Home.