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Moving Towards Reparative Justice
29th September 2025
How do funders move from acknowledging their links to African chattel enslavement to action?
In recent years, numerous foundations and institutions have examined the extractive and exploitative origins of their wealth. Yet many struggle with what to do next. How do you meaningfully shift from the discovery of damage, a living history for descendant communities, to responding appropriately, changing how you distribute funds and to whom, how you invest, altering who governs, and who has the right to decide? How do you move towards centring repair over returns?
Ten Years’ Time’s ‘Moving Towards Reparative Justice’ report helps foundations to understand their current position on the journey towards repair and how to make the most progress.
The report explores the impact of African chattel enslavement on today’s descendant communities and the role of philanthropy. It explains what reparative justice is and features a seven-stage framework that foundations and other institutions can follow to facilitate change, with examples from those who have progressed toward reparative justice. We also utilise the framework to evaluate how institutions in the UK and abroad have advanced racial justice reparatively, before outlining some short, medium, and long-term recommendations for funders.
The report directly and indirectly addresses many issues, such as:
- How to convert your foundation’s assets into community-owned assets.
- How to devolve power and wealth to enable communities to determine how to respond in a crisis.
- Who has the power to trust, and why this is critical?
- Why divorcing grantmaking from investments, governance and leadership erases harm without fully addressing it.
- Why validation doesn’t come from who you consult or invite to your table, but being trusted enough to be invited to the most vulnerable community’s table.
‘Moving Towards Reparative Justice’ focuses less on the state of racial justice in UK philanthropy and instead offers a framework on how to address this issue.
This report is the third in our ‘How Funders Can Act’ series, which are accessible, action-oriented reports that serve as practical tools for funders and organisations. We translate complex issues into actionable insights, guiding stakeholders in implementing justice-centred practices.
Our 2019 report, ‘Climate Change and Social Change,’ helped Ten Years’ Time establish spin-off Impatience Earth, which has mobilised over £65 million for climate-related initiatives since 2020. Our 2022 report, ‘Racial Justice & Social Transformation,’ led to the development of the TYT Community, which currently supports funders distributing over £145 million per annum on their racial justice journeys.
We acknowledge that some funders may be doing more behind the scenes than they publicly announce. We also understand that not everyone will agree with all the recommendations in this report. But disagreement shouldn’t lead to disconnection. We should not let differences divide us, but rather explore how these differences can drive us, so we do not end up in ever-decreasing circles.
What ‘Moving Towards Reparative Justice’ provides is sufficient examples of how funders can act with urgency and patience and how they can sacrifice for the sake of solidarity. We are extremely grateful to Aditi Shah, Co-Director of Impatience Earth, for her skilled authorship, patience, challenge and care. We would also like to thank Guy’s & St. Thomas’ Foundation, who commissioned the report, and many others who contributed their time and expertise.
We are launching ‘Moving Towards Reparative Justice’ on our website www.tenyearstime.com on 1st October 2025. We will be hosting an online event to discuss the report on 9 October 2025, featuring Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP, Aditi Shah, Esther Xosei, and Catherine Seymour (Association of Charitable Foundations). If you would like to attend, please sign up here. If you are unable to attend the event but would like to sign up to our mailing list and receive a copy of the report, please sign up here.
We hope the report serves as a point of inspiration and aspiration for any donor or foundation as they consider their next steps toward reparative justice.