The NonProfit Times just released its 2009 Power & Influence Top 50, an annual list of the most influential nonprofit leaders in our sector. As you go through the list of dedicated nonprofit leaders, you will undoubtedly recognize many familiar names that deserve the utmost respect and recognition, including: Geoffrey Canada, Harlem Children’s Zone Robert [...]
Creating the Safe Space to Talk About Race in the Nonprofit Sector
Here in America, we’ve had several opportunties to discuss race since the election of our nation’s first African American President: The New York Post cartoon depicting the author of the economic stimulus bill as a dead monkey Attorney General Eric Holder declaring that our country is “a nation of cowards” when it comes to race [...]
Why I Wish Nonprofits Would Stop Using the Word ‘Minorities’
We’ve got to stop using the word “minorities” to describe the communities we serve. It doesn’t have any value. It never has. I’ve been thinking a lot about language lately. How it can inspire or enrage, clarify or condemn. The English major in me wants to take a red pen to all the useless jargon [...]
$30 Million Won’t Buy Diversity (Or Where the Greenlining Institute Fell Short)
We can no longer accept that throwing money at “the diversity problem” will solve anything. In California, and now Florida, the Greenlining Institute, led by Orson Aguilar is at the forefront of pushing for legislation to require foundations to give more resources to nonprofits led by people of color. At first glance, we want to [...]
We ARE Nonprofit Culture, or Diversity is Everyone’s Business
I had the opportunity to speak at the National Human Services Assembly Summit last week on the topic, “Responding to the Diversity Gap” along with Carolyn Creager, Director of the Multicultural Executive Development Program of the National YMCA. The theme underlying our discussion was that society is changing all around us, however the nonprofit sector [...]
Nonprofit Times Editor Responds
I wrote a letter to the Nonprofit Times yesterday expressing my disappointment that their very prestigious Nonprofit Times Top 50 Power and Influence list for 2008 included so few nonprofit leaders of color and did not reflect the racial diversity of our nonprofit community. The NPT’s Vice President/Editorial Director Paul Clolery was kind enough to [...]
Celebrating Poetry Month: This is About More Than Color
Yep, it’s still poetry month. And as April comes to an end, I want to share with you dear readers another one of my favorite poems by Lucille Clifton. Lucille is an award-winning poet, fiction writer, and author of children’s books with an amazing presence if one is ever lucky enough to be in a [...]
