New members bring expertise and experience to our Grants Committee

Last year we launched our new 2025–30 strategy, focusing on strengthening the power of communities to use and shape the law to achieve justice and equity. To help us deliver this via our grant making, we’ve recruited three paid external members with lived and learned experience of the issues we work on to our Grants & Learning Committee. They join the three LEF trustees already on this committee. 

As well as making decisions on all applications for more than £50,000, the Grants & Learning Committee plays a broader strategic role in challenging our internal thinking and shaping how we prioritise our funds and activities. It also helps us learn about how the law is contributing to movements for social justice and how legal organisations are working with communities to build social justice.

Our decision to appoint three external members is part of our commitment to increasing accountability as part of our work on Power, Culture and Inclusion. We looked for people who combined expertise and skills with first-hand experience of the structural barriers facing people in the UK justice system, particularly in the areas of disability justice and racial justice.

After a competitive application process, we’re delighted to have appointed:

• Tasnim Hassan, a researcher and practitioner with over a decade of experience in social justice, working through an intersectional lens to drive systemic change.
  
  Tasnim says: ​“What resonates with me about LEF is its willingness to take both systemic change and learning seriously – recognising that shifting power requires reflection as well as action. I wanted to join the committee to contribute to thoughtful, accountable decision-making that evolves through collective insight.”
   
• Ruqia Osman, who has spent the past decade working closely with racialised communities, public sector institutions and voluntary organisations to address systemic inequalities in mental health and public health. 
  
  Ruqia says: ​“Joining LEF feels deeply personal to me. My family’s experience of displacement as a result of civil war made me acutely aware of how systemic inequalities, racism and oppression can strip people of their rights, safety, and dignity. Witnessing this injustice shaped my values and set me on a lifelong path to work for a more equitable world. The foundation’s commitment to equity, participation, and courage reflects my own values and the kind of collective, transformative work I strive to be part of.”
   
• Virginia Toyi, who has a background in law and policy with extensive community cohesion experience and over 20 years of advancing equality, diversity and inclusion across the public and third sectors. 
  
  Virginia says: ​“LEF’s work aligns directly with my belief that funding, when shaped by justice, can be a powerful lever for structural change. Having worked with legal frameworks to challenge inequity and support communities to claim their rights, I understand how critical it is that resources reach those working to shift systems. I have seen how law can open doors, but also how it can fall short without sustained investment and learning.”

Our Director of Grants and Learning, Rachael Takens-Milne, says: ​“We are excited to be working with the new members of the Committee, drawing on their extensive additional expertise and networks, including on racial and disability justice. The insight and experience they bring to us will shape our decision-making and provide the strategic oversight we need as part of building our accountability to communities.”