Kiran Kaur’s Post

Sooo, this happened ... After much dreaming, much deliberation and so (so so) much planning - Amna Akhtar and I have finally started to make a move over to the US to explore what GirlDreamer could look like here! 😍 Spending eight years building an understanding, a community and responding to a growing need, our recent international experiences have led us right back to where the dream began. 💭 Funnily, before GirlDreamer even existed is when we first travelled to the US together in 2014 as volunteer mentors for a youth and education charity. Seeing the non-profit sector in action in the US is what inspired a long journey of hope, courage and commitment to change. Thank you to all the people involved who helped get us to this stage and to those who have been so incredibly welcoming and helpful as we've arrived. More on you wonderful people soon! 🧡 I'll save the full story for another day, but for now, I'd love to connect with those in D.C, NYC or Chicago - so if that's you or you know anyone we should meet during our time here, please let me know! #GirlDreamerintheUSA #ittakesavillage #ineedanap

Just a morning reminder that being expected to carry on working as normal right now in a world that is anything but, is what's weird. The dissonance, the confusion, the anger, the pain, the helplessness, the guilt and the sheer exhaustion is the right human response. Yet, here we are.

(Not) fun fact - the women and girls sector received just 1.8% of UK grants awarded to charities from Trusts and Foundations in 2021 (Rosa Fund, 2023 - https://lnkd.in/esP-hdgV). 🫠 This statistic speaks volumes about the underfunding of critical work focused on advancing gender equity and supporting women-led initiatives. In a world where women and girls are at the forefront of driving social change and yet remain underrepresented and underfunded, we need to rethink how we allocate resources. It’s not just about funding projects—it’s about investing in the future of communities and ensuring that the people who are most affected by systemic inequalities have the support they need to lead and thrive. Possible solutions I've come across so far are: 💡 Ring-Fenced Funding: allocating a percentage of funding exclusively for women and girls' initiatives to ensure equitable access to resources. 💡 Capacity Building: investing in building the capabilities of women-led organisations to help them access larger grants and become sustainable. 💡 Gender-Responsive Philanthropy: should funders adopt a gender-lens approach to ensure that funding decisions address the specific needs of women and girls. 💡 Long-Term, Unrestricted Funding: providing core funding to give women-led organisations the flexibility to grow and innovate sustainably. 💡 Transparency in Allocation: increasing transparency in how funds are distributed, ensuring more accountability for where money is directed. 💡 Gender-Responsive Budgeting: Push for gender-responsive budgeting at a national level to ensure public funds advance gender equity. If anyone has anymore insight, thoughts, new data or otherwise - please share! #funding #womenandgirlssector #datadeficit

Excitingly, GirlDreamer has been shortlisted for Social Mobility Initiative of the Year category at the European Diversity Awards 2024! 😍 As a small team, it takes a real collective effort and a whole lot of passion and commitment to design and deliver the programming and initiatives that we do for a mission much bigger than ourselves, and although we don't do it for the awards, it's always a nice little surprise when we receive news that our work is being highlighted! Launched in 2010, the European Diversity Awards are now firmly established as the continent’s most prestigious and widely respected Diversity event. The awards celebrate the amazing individuals, organisations, companies, charities and networks that drive Diversity, Inclusion and Equality into the heart of everything they do. Congratulations to all other shortlisted individuals and organisations who continue to contribute to the future of EDI! #EDI #DEI #diversityawards #europeandiversityawards

Some light end of Monday reading for you ... It's nothing new. But it's always fun to remind ourselves about the strange experiences we endure operating in this sector. As always - thoughts, feedback, challenges are welcome! #charity #fundraising

For World Mental Health Day, here's something important to acknowledge: "Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities are often at higher risk of developing mental health issues but are less likely to receive adequate support or treatment. Factors like racism, stigma, and socio-economic inequality contribute to this disparity. Many women of colour feel misunderstood by healthcare professionals, face cultural and language barriers, and often experience stereotypes that complicate their access to care." (Mental Health UK). And here's something I've observed and experienced that I've found adds additional layers to that, which is - women of colour founders. There is a largely unknown balancing act between two (or more) worlds that not many other people can completely understand or appreciate. The level of nuance, the fierce need to make it work and the absolute exhausting rhetoric - all whilst operating in spaces that make no room for you, don't represent you and don't always welcome you - is a different mental ball-game. This is on top of every other barrier, stereotype, misconception, responsibility, disparity, discrimination, fight and pressure you're carrying. So on this day, I'm taking a moment to acknowledge and encourage my fellow founders and communities of colour to prioritise their mental health. Whilst the system and the world around us catches up to understand and prioritise the needs and care we deserve, we can start by centring our own wellbeing within. Whatever that means to you, I implore you (and me) to begin and continue figuring that out, because truly, nothing else is more important. Remember, the journey is only worth it if we're well enough to do it. 🤎 #worldmentalhealthday #womenofcolour #mentalhealth

One of my favourite times of year is here because ... The Dream Fund is OPEN! 🎉 🎉 Thanks to the generous support from the Alliance for Gender Equality in Europe, our Dream Fund is back again with bigger grants and more support! We currently have an active cohort going through their capacity-building programme and are now inviting new applications to form our next Dream Fund x AGEE cohort, which will kick off January 2025. Here's what you need to know - ✅ The fund is open to women of colour social entrepreneurs in the UK ✅ The grant per founder/organisation is £2,500 (unrestricted) ✅ Unincorporated organisations/groups are welcome to apply ✅ Founder(s) must be aged 18-35 (that's the age bracket our organisation supports) ✅ Deadline - Wednesday 2nd October 2024 ✅ Outcomes take around six weeks from the deadline ✅ You receive six-months of capacity-building to strengthen your organisation The link to apply is - https://lnkd.in/eYK89FJg If you have any questions, please let me or my team at GirlDreamer know! Nina Ma 马妮娜 نينا ما FRSA and Kayalveli Sivakanthan are your go to people! If this has reached you and you don't quite fit the bill, then please share with your networks! Our mission to support the leadership development of young women of colour is made more possible when we're supported too. Speaking of, if you're interested in sponsoring, funding or donating to the Dream Fund and want to see more women of colour in civic leadership thrive and make incredible social impact - then please reach out, my DMs are open. We have a bunch of options for you to get involved! 😉 #womenofcolour #fundingopportunity #socialentrepreneurship #genderequality

A friend recently shared this with me ... "The "Problem" Woman of Colour in the Workplace", after recently experiencing this very thing at her job. It didn't come as a shock to me as unfortunately, I've seen it far too many times, especially when EDI is just brought in as a 'piece of work' to fix existing or potential issues, with no real intent to implement the real changes needed. This surface level thinking, brings in surface level changes to appear more aligned to the EDI work, but ultimately ends up with the same consequences because the thinking, the design, the practices and the leadership needed aren't truly embedded into the organisations foundations. Instead, they're a nice to have. 🤔 And before we believe the third sector is not/less reflective of this, this research was conducted about women of colour in non-profit organisations. And although it's US-based, there's an absolute correlation to the experience women of colour face in the UK. The behaviour patterns caused by the power dynamics that exist within companies are perpetuating because of denial and an unwillingness to share or change power (amongst other things). Crying diversity, allyship, inclusion, social justice and all the 'good' words isn't going to move us forward, if the refusal to accept inherent, systemic and institutional issues, like racism, continues. Without that, we stay here. We write powerful posts. We create cool conferences. We enact well-intended events. We promise to do better. We take one step forward, two steps back. We perpetuate cycles. You get the point. 👀 Nothing changes unless we do. #womenofcolour #EDI #leadership

One thing people of colour are great at doing in times of crisis and pain is embodying collective care. Times like these remind us just how fortunate we are to belong to the cultures, faiths and communities that we do because truly - we get each other through. We recognise and empathise with each other instantly - allowing our full authentic selves to come through and lean on each other to not carry the weight of performing as we usually have to. It's been genuinely heart warming over the past week as every email or call with other POC has started and ended with words of solidarity, genuine love, care and concern for each other. No blanket statements or professional guards, we have made space for each other to be fully human and I love that about us. For those lucky enough to not have to experience or just "get it", please allow space for those that do and simply lead with your heart right now. It'll help create an environment of safety and right now, that's just what's needed.

Each time a systemic issue rears its ugly head, we see an outpour of something called 'optical allyship', which is a term coined by Latham Thomas. Whilst messages of support and acknowledgement are needed and important, too often, they are where things start and stop and that's just not cutting it anymore (or ever). Right now, grassroots and frontline organisations are completely stretched and drained of energy and resource. For many lived experience organisations, the personal trauma and impact teams/staff are having to undergo, whilst simultaneously trying to serve a community they are also a part of is devastating us. Having to personally experience what you professionally tackle is double the toll, and takes pretty much everything from you to simply operate. This means organisations and lived experience leaders are operating from a place of survival and let me tell you, the regulation of cortisol, anxiety and one's nervous system in order to do so, is a health risk. So to have optical allyship in response to real-world danger and trauma for marginalised communities can simply feel empty, even if well intentioned. More radical and practical actions are needed. And as we all know, the thing grassroots/frontline organisations need right now is additional resources and funds to keep up with the demand that naturally pours in during times of crisis and the breathing space to get on with the work we know how to do best. Condemning, supporting and listening makes a statement, but it doesn't go beneath the surface and is not aimed at breaking away from the systems of power of oppress. If you truly want to help, go beneath the surface.