FAQ
Look through our FAQs to find answers to your queries about taking part in The RACE Report. If there’s anything else we can help with, please get in touch!
ABOUT THE RACE REPORT
What is The RACE Report and what is it trying to achieve?
The RACE Report sets out to collect data on the proportion of people of colour in UK environmental, climate, nature and sustainability charities and not-for profit organisations, and the organisations that fund their work. It also sets out to identify what policies, strategy and action on race equity is being taken within the sector.
We believe that now is the time to work with the sector to agree a standardised reporting protocol for race data and to collect and publish the data on an annual basis. This should serve as a catalyst for meaningful action to tackle the barriers that are preventing more people of colour from working and thriving in the sector.
Following the success and impact of Green 2.0, an American annual league table of staff racial diversity in the top 40 environmental not-for-profits and top 40 environmental foundations in the USA, we have developed a UK version, called The RACE Report which launched in 2022.
Why should organisations take part?
We hope organisations will take part for the following reasons:
- Increasing the diversity of our sector requires individual and collective action by all organisations in our sector;
- Climate justice cannot be achieved without racial justice
- Your participation will help our sector better represent and include the diverse communities that it serves and achieve equitable environmental outcomes;
- Being a diverse and inclusive organisation is organisational performance and increasing impact;
- Participation and associated progressive actions, will help demonstrate commitment to and taking action to tackle racist structures in society that are also present within our sector;
- Organisations lacking diversity risk being seen as out of touch, and also not being effective at delivering their goals within diverse communities.
Which organisations are eligible to take part?
Any UK-based environmental, climate, nature or sustainability charity, not-for profit, social enterprise, trust or foundation can participate in The RACE Report and submit their data to us.
Organisations that predominantly work on or fund environmental, climate, nature or sustainability issues are invited to sign up to take part. Our definition of this is that any of these issues forms the main part of their mission statement on their website or charity registration.
The RACE Report is not open to for-profit businesses, social enterprises or education institutions - our focus is the charitable sector.
We are exploring options for ineligible organisations to join as supporters. Please get in touch so we can discuss this further once details are confirmed.
Is it free to take part?
Yes, there are no costs for organisations to participate in submitting data to The RACE Report.
What is the intersectional data element of data submissions?
We introduced this element to further increase the transparency of who is and isn’t represented across the sector.
Submitting intersectional data involves cross-tabulating race/ethnicity with other personal characteristics to allow us to understand who is and isn’t represented in the sector in more detail.
The characteristics included in the intersectional data element of data submissions include:
• Age
• Gender reassignment
• Marital or civil partnership status
• Disability
• Religion or belief
• Sexual orientation
• Birthing parent, non-brithing parent or adoption leave
DATA COLLECTION IN YOUR ORGANISATION
What data will I need to take part?
We are asking for data in the following categories:
- Organisation characteristics (e.g. total stuff numbers, charity number, organisation sector, organisation activities)
- Broader staff diversity characteristics (e.g. age, gender identity)
- Race/ethnicitystaff characteristics (including overall staff, permanent staff, non-permanent staff, governance/trustee boards, people managers, senior leaders, retentionand promotion of staff)
- Organisation pay gap data on gender, ethnicity and disability
- Action on diversity (e.g. transparency measures, strategy and targets, management andgovernance, HR processes, practical and positive action) (Optional questions)
Since 2024 we have included the collection of intersectional data, with data collected across the protected characteristics covered by the Equality Act (2010). Please visit the FAQs on this topic for further information.
You can also see all the questions we will ask on The RACE Report website.
What do I need to tell staff in my organisation about what will happen with their data?
Please remember to review your own privacy notice issued to staff when you collect data from them to make sure it allows for sharing of anonymised data. You may wish to reiterate to them that no individual’s names are shared with The RACE Report.
If you have already collected data you plan to submit, please review your organisations’ privacy notices that may have been issued when you collected data from your staff to ensure they allow for sharing of anonymised data.
It’s also important to make your staff aware that whilst they personally will never be named, your organisation's name and the aggregated data for all staff/different categories of staff will be published on your organisation's transparency card if you meet the relevant criteria for 30 or more employees.
I’d like to take part, but my organisation doesn’t collect any / some of the data requested – what should we do?
We have developed a staff survey template to enable organisations that don’t currently collect diversity data from their staff (or do collect it but not to the definitions of the standardised reporting protocol that we have developed through The RACE Report), to do so. To use this template, please download the template and use the questions to amend existing surveys you may have, or to create a new one.
Please note – this template includes questions that are additional to what you may choose to submit to The RACE Report. These are to support your wider work on diversity and inclusion beyond a focus on race and ethnicity. It is up to your organisation to decide which questions you wish to include when collecting data from your staff.
If you are not able to amend or deliver a survey within our submission timeframes, but you still have data you would like to submit, please do so notifying us which data you do and don’t have. Please get in touch with us if you would like any support on collecting your data or submitting your data to us.
Should we collect and submit data on staff outside of the UK?
No, we only need you to report on staff based in the UK. If you have staff that work for your organisation from overseas, please do not include these members of staff in your data.
Should I include trustees/governance bodies in the ‘all staff’ data?
No, trustees are not considered employees and should not be included in any figures that are focused on paid staff roles.
SUBMITTING DATA TO THE RACE REPORT
When do I need to submit my data by?
Data submissions open on 27 April 2026 and close on 25 September 2026. This allows just under six months for organisations to collect and submit the data.
Who should lead on this for our organisation?
The data should be compiled and submitted to The RACE Report by a member of staff who leads on HR and / or equality, diversity and inclusion for your organisation. The data platform used for submissions from 2026 onwards allows organisations to create multiple accounts (one admin, and multiple users) who can all support the process of submitting data through the platform. You can find guidance on how to do this in our data platform submission guide.
How will you collect, process and store the data submitted?
Data submitted to The RACE Report will be collected, processed and stored in compliance with GDPR. This includes special category data, for example racial or ethnic origin. Data will be collected through The RACE Report data platform. It will be stored within the data platform's cloud server storage. Where exported for analysis and reporting purposes, it will be stored on SOS UK's file servers.
Only authorised individuals from SOS UK's team working directly on the analysis of the data will have access to the data submitted by organisations. Access to the data platform will only be given to the named contact signing the organisation up to take part. Organisation users will only have access to their organisation's data within the platform. Two-factor authentication will be required for all admins and users of the platform.
Password encryption will be applied to all documents containing contact details for organisations. These will be stored for the duration that participating organisations need to be contacted about the data they have submitted.
Data will be archived and stored on SOS UK servers for five years, should there be questions or concerns arising in subsequent years of participation in The RACE Report or for other verification requests.
The data you provide will be used to:
- provide organisations with their own diversity data analysis
- generate anonymised, aggregated sector-level benchmarking reports
- produce the annual RACE Report publication
- send service-related communications
Account data is retained while your account is active to enable year-on-year comparisons. You may request deletion of your account and associated data by contacting us at race-report@sos-uk.org. Please note, whilst we can retract your data from our records, we will not be able to extract your data from published aggregated analysis.
Please read our full privacy statement for the 2026 RACE Report.
How do I submit my organisation’s data?
Organisations should submit their data to The RACE Report using the data platform. Once an organisation has signed up to participate, the named contact provided at sign up will be registered as the organisation admin on the platform. They can invite additional users to the platform who can complete the data submission. Please review our data platform submission guide for full details.
You can see what data is required by logging into the platform, or reviewing our list of data points.
What should I do if my data doesn’t match the categories you’re using?
Please try to submit as much data as possible to allow us to build a full picture of diversity across the sector. We have aimed to develop categories of data that encompass the variation in methods used by organisation to collect data about their staff, therefore you should be able to identify which category to submit data into. You may need to combine data where you have gathered it in greater granularity than that which we are requesting. Please get in touch if you have questions about how to approach this.
PUBLICATION OF THE RACE REPORT
What data will you publish and where?
Since 2022, all organisational data that was submitted to The RACE Report has been aggregated and presented as a single figure for each data point. This report will be repeated in 2026, publishing aggregated data from all organisations that submit.
From 2023 onwards, we also publish online transparency cards for individual organisations.
The RACE Report data collection form is divided into three areas:
- Section A: Administration and organisation characteristics [e.g. organisation location, FTE staff numbers, headcount staff numbers, organisation main areas of work]
- Section B: Diversity data [e.g. gender identity, age, ethnicity/race of staff and trustees]
- Section C: Policy, strategy and action [e.g. activity delivered by organisations to progress equality, diversity and inclusion]
The table below shows each of the three sections of the data submission will be used.
In each case, no percentages or counts of staff in each identity grouping will be given and no overall figure for the exact number of staff overall or within each category will be provided. Please look at the transparency cards published in previous years of the campaign to see how your data will be presented.
Will I be able to see what will be published prior to publication?
Participating organisations will be able to review the data to be published and provide feedback prior to its publication in February 2027. We will hold feedback sessions at various points in the reporting and publication process to enable this.
What publicity will take place around the publication of the RACE Report?
Each year, we produce a press release sharing the findings of The RACE Report. We adopt a collaborative approach to producing the press release, with participating organisations offered the opportunity to feed in to the framing of the findings, and also to review and feedback on the final press release produced.
My organisation has a small number of staff, how will their identity be protected in the transparency cards?
We are use a cut off of less than 30 staff to define a small organisation. The figure of 30 staff has been chosen as this is a commonly used ‘rule of thumb’ for a sample size in statistical analysis. The table below outlines how data submitted by organisations with fewer than 30 staff members (headcount) will be published.
- Section A: Administration and organisation characteristics [e.g. organisation location, FTE staff numbers, headcount staff numbers, organisation main areas of work]
- Section B: Diversity data [e.g. gender identity, age, ethnicity/race of staff and trustees]
- Section C: Policy, strategy and action [e.g. activity delivered by organisations to progress equality, diversity and inclusion]
If you have any concerns about anonymity, please contact race-report@sos-uk.org and we will work with you to find a solution.
What if I still have concerns about protecting the identity of staff in my organisation?
All organisations will be asked to identify any concerns they have about the publication of their organisation’s data, for any section and any size organisation, e.g. if they think a member of staff may be identified when completing the data submission. The RACE Report team will discuss these concerns with the organisation and reach a collaborative solution.
Alternatively, you can raise these concerns with us prior to submitting your data by contacting the team via email.
STAFF PERCEPTIONS SURVEY
What is the anonymised staff perceptions survey and what’s it trying to achieve?
In 2023 we introduced an anonymous staff perceptions survey that will be repeated bi-annually. Organisations can opt into this aspect alongside submitting their diversity data. Participation is optional but strongly encouraged. The survey is running for the second time in 2025.
The purpose of the anonymised staff perceptions survey is to understand how quantitative diversity data collected through the annual data submissions translates to inclusive working environments.
How will the findings of the staff perceptions survey be published?
Key findings are published in aggregate form to provide a cross-sector benchmark through which progress can also be tracked over time.
We do not attribute this data to individual organisations in The RACE Report, or on the transparency cards, although it will provide a useful steer on which we can be confident about celebrating and promoting in our case studies.
Organisations that have opted in will receive a summary data report following the close of the survey and it should provide a useful insight for the management of each participating organisation.
How do staff in my organisation complete the perceptions survey and what will they be asked?
Organisations that opt into the staff perceptions survey will receive a link to an online survey that can be shared with their staff members. Organisations that have opted in are responsible for encouraging their staff to complete the survey.
When signing up for The RACE Report in 2025, you will be able to opt in to participating in the staff perceptions survey. The staff perceptions survey is available for any organisation participating in The RACE Report.
The responses from this staff survey will come direct to The RACE Report team, not to the organisation participating in the survey.
The survey includes a mix of open and closed questions asking staff to identify their experiences e.g. through open text boxes or agreement/disagreement scales on topics like the provision of a working environment free of discrimination and harassment, if they have witnessed any discrimination, the ability to be themselves at work without worrying about how they will be accepted, their sense of belonging to the organisation, access to opportunities and progression, and organisational culture. A copy of the questions is available on our resources page.
Staff are asked to identify what organisation they work for, and are asked about their personal characteristics / identity but they are not asked for their name or any contact details.
When will the staff perceptions survey take place?
The staff perceptions survey runs biannually and will next run during the 2027 campaign.
INTERSECTIONAL DATA
What is the intersectional data element of data submissions?
We introduced this element to further increase the transparency of who is and isn’t represented across the sector.
Submitting intersectional data involves cross-tabulating race/ethnicity with other personal characteristics to allow us to understand who is and isn’t represented in the sector in more detail.
The characteristics included in the intersectional data element of data submissions include:
• Age
• Gender reassignment
• Marital or civil partnership status
• Disability
• Religion or belief
• Sexual orientation
• Birthing parent, non-brithing parent or adoption leave
How do I submit intersectional data?
Submitting intersectional data is open to all organisations. When making your data submission, you can add the data you have on your staff for the intersectional characteristics to your Excel template which is imported into the data platform. Please read our submission guide for full details.
Get in touch via race-report@sos-uk.org if you want to discuss in more detail how your data could contribute and for any support in collating the data for submission.
Where will the intersectional data be published?
Data will only feature in the aggregated main data report – no organisation names will be featured alongside the data. Data from individual organisations will not be published on the organisation’s transparency card.
ANYTHING ELSE
What if I have any other questions or concerns?
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us at race-report@sos-uk.org.
The four founding partners of The RACE Report are Hindu Climate Action, Nature Youth Connection and Education, South Asians for Sustainability and SOS-UK. The project is funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and and Sychronicity Earth. The accountable organisation is SOS-UK.
Get in touch at race-report@sos-uk.org