Aim

We urgently need your help to undertake essential repair work in our cellar at the George Padmore Institute.

Who are we?

The George Padmore Institute is a small charity which started off through a combination of donations, ad hoc grants and volunteer work. We’re an archive which was started by a group of ordinary people with a shared commitment to promoting the histories of black and brown people in Britain who have helped to change society.

We have around twenty unique archive collections which contain stories of political and cultural activism in the UK over the last 75 years — from black parents fighting for fair treatment for their children in schools to a movement which highlighted Caribbean artists in the UK and the pioneering radical book fairs which brought writers and publishers from all over the world to London. It’s a treasure trove of fascinating documents, photos, letters, posters and more, which show how people from all backgrounds have made crucial contributions to contemporary British society.

We’re continuing the legacy of the movements we hold in our archives by publishing books for children and adults, hosting talks and events and welcoming researchers to come and learn about these overlooked aspects of British history. We’ve been visited by students, writers, TV and film researchers from the UK, Europe and North America. We also go out across London and the UK to tell the stories in our collections, from talks in schools and libraries to screening our films. Last year we were part of the Open House programme in London, throwing open our doors to the general public.

Images below: Open House in September 2025 with our Archivist Sarah Garrod showing materials and placards in our collections to attendees, and Artist in Residence 2026, the sculptor Gary March researching the Newton Rose placards.

Why are we crowdfunding?

We’ve been housed in a Victorian terrace in Finsbury Park, north London, for thirty-five years and this building requires ongoing care and attention.

When we started in 1991, we carried out major work to make the building ready to house the archives, and we’ve also done a lot of ad hoc work over the decades.

Over the last two years – and with only minor disruption to our day-to-day activities – we managed to complete major work inside and out, including to our roof, chimney and ceilings. We were really lucky to be able to do that through a fundraising appeal in 2023. We are hugely grateful for the donations we received from the general public as well as from the celebrated painter Peter Doig and the Paul Stolper Gallery in London, and the eminent Birmingham photographer Vanley Burke and BAND Gallery in Toronto.

Images below show some of the work carried out over the past two years. The first one is of repairs to the main roof and chimney and the second image shows renovations to one of the flat roofs at the back of the building.

Now, in 2026, we urgently need to address issues in our cellar (see image below) to keep the building functioning and open to visitors and researchers.

How we’ll spend the money raised

This fundraiser is to make the cellar ready for complete renovation, which we can do in stages. We’ll undertake the major work in the next two to three years, but over this summer we can start to make it ready.

For this stage, we will:

We have full quotes for this work and aim to get it done this summer when the cellar is less damp.

What a difference this will make

We’re a small charity which has, since 1991, operated on a shoestring and through grants and intermittent funding. In 2023, for the first time, we received regular funding from Arts Council England for our archive and public events and publishing work, which runs until March 2028. But that doesn’t cover the costs to maintain the building, which continues to require substantial monies for its upkeep.

We’re a very efficient charity, operating with only two staff, and with our trustees giving a lot of free time to keep us going, so this fundraiser will really help us to embark on a crucial building project we have yet to undertake. It will keep us – and our inspiring archive collections – open to the public and the wide variety of people who want to learn the full story of British history.

Learn more about the George Padmore Institute on our website: https://www.georgepadmoreinstitute.org

You can also follow us on Instagram , LinkedIn , Facebook, Bluesky .

The image above is a close-up of the archive at the George Padmore Institute.