Nonprofit Organizational Leadership: A Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Perspective

Transcription

1 Nonprofit Organizational Leadership: A Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Perspective Presented by Dr. Carmen Phelps Chief Diversity Officer/ Executive Director for the Office of Equity and Diversity The College of Southern Maryland cphelps@csmd.edu

2 Why we re here: Your role is essential to the implementation of processes supporting diversity, inclusion, equity and access ideals leading to organizational and brand advancement, including your capacity to serve diverse publics as well as appeal to and attract a diverse workforce while setting expectations for increased cultural competency within your organization.

3 Getting Started: Introduction; providing context; defining key terms; framing the challenge of nonprofit (D&I) leadership development

4 Nonprofit leaders should get ready for additional uncomfortable conversations and accept that conflict will be necessary for progress Sean Thomas-Breitfeld Question: As an organizational leader, how prepared are you to engage controversial subjects in the interest of increasing the cultural competency of your staff and/or organizational leadership?

5 Defining the terms: Diversity: The extent to which our workforce (staff, leadership, contractors and volunteers) reflect the demographics of the populations (and consistently changing) communities we serve.

6 Defining the terms: Inclusion: The extent to which we are implementing processes and engaging in practices that include the participation of and/or are represented by those reflecting the diverse populations served

7 Defining the terms: Equity: Encompasses a wide variety of models, programs, and strategies that may be considered fair, but not necessarily equal. It is has been said that equity is the process; equality is the outcome. Inequities occur when biased or unfair policies, programs, practices, or situations contribute to a lack of equality in results and outcomes

8 Defining the terms: Access: typically refers to the ways in which we ensure or at least strive to ensure that all individuals have equal and equitable opportunities to take full advantage of our resources. Increasing access generally requires us to provide additional services or remove any actual or potential barriers that might prevent some individuals from being able to benefit from our services or resources.

9 Where do nonprofit organizational leaders need to focus to realize D&I progress and growth? - recruitment/hiring (and retention across demographics) -development/fundraising relationship-building w/ other organizations customer service community/public relations workforce professional development (including leadership) program design

10 As an example A recent report from a Philanthropic Partnership for Black Communities (ABFE Assoc. of Black Foundation Executives) found that 1/5 of Black practitioners leave the field of grantmaking because of being pushed out and being in isolation. Question: What methods are you currently using to assess the culture, climate and environment of your organization for all demographics (from the varying perspectives of your workforce?)

11 Any organization that is mission driven is going to have highly principled staff working to achieve social change in the world. When our own organizations all short of our professed values of diversity and inclusion, we should expect staff to fight for progress internally with the same zeal with which we call attention to injustice and inequity in the wider world. Question: In what ways are you challenging your organizational workforce (leadership, staff and volunteers to engage in such processes for the benefit of your organization?

12 As a nonprofit organizational leader, it s important to develop a workforce culture of accountability when supporting D&I goals as those that are everyone's business within the organization. Taking a top down approach to integrating D&I ideals into your organizational practices impacts your capacity to serve the public.

13 Your First Steps Toward Nonprofit D&I Progress and Growth:

14 Phase 1: Prepare for Start-up; learn as much as possible about implementing D&I processes

15 Phase 2: Establish a Framework; build D&I language and expectations into your organizational mission and goals as well as your outcomes

16 Phase 3: Early Implementation; begin building workforce D&I knowledge as well as cultural competency

17 Phase 4: Integration: Individuals at all levels within your organization become involved in D&I processes through education, training, etc. In addition, nonprofit leadership must continue to be actively involved in such processes from the perspective of their positions

18 Phase 5 Evaluation; Measure the outcome of your efforts (qualitatively and quantitatively)

19 Phase 6: Redefinition; Re-examine and redefine direction based on evaluation/assessment; be open to making adjustments

20 Phase 7: Consolidation; Incorporate learned and adopted D&I strategies into your organizational mission, goals and vision

21 Leadership Reflection, Sharing and Discussion: Where is your nonprofit organization in its D&I development/journey?

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23 For additional information, see Achieving Diversity in the Nonprofit Workplace: A Step-by-Step Guide