5 Years Helping Nonprofit Board Leaders
Boards matter and most often they are the impactful hidden figures of organizations. I’ve been extremely fortunate to work with leaders who genuinely care about creating impact and who selflessly dedicate their time, expertise, and resources to leading mission-focused...
Step One for “Doing” DEI: Comprehensive Assessments
Do We Need Training? Every organization I work with is in a very different phase with regard to diversity, equity, and inclusion, yet they all begin the journey with this same question. The short answer is yes, but that answer raises even more questions. The Society...
Preparing for DE&I Transformation: Five Foundational Steps
onging or social justice. There is work to be done on all fronts, but boards must determine the breadth and depth of work they should do to advance DE&I in alignment with their mission. What does justice look like for your organization?
Increasing Diversity on Nonprofit Boards: Debunking the Donor Loss Myth
The business case for diversifying an organization’s workforce is well-documented in both for-profit and nonprofit institutions. Though this article will focus on nonprofit boards of directors, it has been proven that diverse teams at all levels of the organization drive better business outcomes. It is not a new idea.
Opposition to Racial Equity and Racial Systemic Justice: Deconstructing Defensive Mindsets
In my work with countless organizations, I witness the internal struggles white people experience when trying to understand race, systemic racism, and questions of equity and personal responsibility. I have heard raised voices and read profanity-laced emails detailing...
Identifying and Addressing White Resistance on Boards of Directors
Resistance to racial equity takes many forms. The most blatant forms of resistance are easy to spot, for example, school boards and legislators banning the teaching of critical race theory in the classroom. Those who are adamantly opposed to critical race theory...
When Boards Fail: The Cost of White Resistance in Institutional Leadership
Nikole Hannah-Jones launched The 1619 Project in August 2019 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in colonial Virginia. It is a long-form journalism project that places slavery and its myriad consequences at the center of...
Opposition to Diversity and Inclusion: Understanding the Other Side
The Talk. Most parents imagine “The Talk” as an awkward discussion about puberty with their adolescent children. For some families, it is so much more than that. In 2015, Geeta Gandbhir and Blair Foster created a video called A Conversation With My Black Son. In the...
Join the Movement: A Call for Boards to Lead on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
We are collectively experiencing another face-off with the visible and visceral evidence of racial injustice and inequities that are allowed and protected through racist systematic policies and structural practices that both dominate and limit the human rights of...
Emergency Succession Planning: Ensures Clear Strategies During Turbulent Times
Every nonprofit organization needs to have an Emergency Succession Plan. The majority of US corporations have been caught off guard by the devastating and wide-ranging disruptions that have resulted from COVID-19’s global pandemic impact. There are also situations...