Today’s discussion about racial diversity in nonprofits addressed many of the issues nonprofits face in recruiting people of color on staff. Did you miss today’s live broadcast of What Should Racial Diversity Look Like in the Nonprofit Sector? You missed an amazing discussion, but have no fear. You can click on the link or listen below to the archived show.

My guests included leaders in capacity building, philanthropy, and direct service nonprofit work:

• Tamar Cloyd from Education Voters of America
• Stephen Bauer from American Humanics and Nonprofit Workforce Coalition
• Shawn Lewis from Pan African Community Endowment of The Saint Paul Foundation

One thing we all agreed on was that racial diversity is unequivocally important. Having racially diverse staff and leadership cultivates better decisionmaking, enables true representation of the full community and can mean closer relationships with communities of color that nonprofits serve. Tamar said, “don’t do anything about me without me,” meaning that nonprofits need to engage with communities of color before they can fully understand solutions to the problems of that community. Other takeaways:

Nonprofits Have to Prioritize Racial Diversity or it Won’t Happen

We talked about how hard it is to ask a small nonprofit to think about diversity and cultural competency when they can barely make ends meet and provide programs. But Steve urged us to stop thinking about diversity as an “add on.” Rather, it should be integrated into all of the work you’re already doing. Nonprofits can start with a diversity and inclusion committee if they have to. Steve told us about the Nonprofit Workforce Coaltion’s Nonprofit Diversity & Inclusion Compact. They are asking organizations to make a commitment to recruiting and supporting nonprofit leaders of color. Find more at: http://www.nonprofitdiversityandinclusion.org.

Nonprofit Leaders May Not Know Where to Find People of Color

Shawn said that philanthropic institutions don’t really have authentic relationships with communities of color. When a position comes open, nonprofits often reach out to their same old networks, which are majority white. Steve mentioned that it’s important to go to where people of color are, to build those relationships before you even have a job opening. Organizations like:

• National Black MBAs
• Conference of Black Lawyers
• Hispanics in Philanthropy
• Native Americans in Philanthropy
• Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy
• Association of Black Foundation Executives

Leadership Matters

Shawn said that much of the progress made around racial diversity in his experience was because someone on the board or on a committee pushed for it to happen. He shared his experience with a hiring process where he made sure the organization started over again because the candidate pool was simply not racially diverse enough. Tamar also talked about the idea that as nonprofit leaders, we need to be conscious of the decisions we make and the often subconscious racial biases we bring to the table.  We need to fight the stereotype that people of color don’t want to work in nonprofits because of the compensation issues. People of color want to make a difference just like everyone else. Tamar said that when even people of color get into positions of power, we have to use it wisely and ensure we’re bringing others like us to the table.

Climate Matters, Too

Nonprofits who want to retain their employees of color also need to be culturally competent in order to create a climate of inclusion. Many nonprofit leaders of color leave organizations because of toxic climates or feeling like they’re being treated differently because of the color of their skin. Shawn told us about how he was recruited for a nonprofit board position specifically because the organization wanted to diversify its board. They made sure to make him feel comfortable, support him and treat him like an equal. He eventually became the Board Chair.

During the show I also referenced Council on Foundations new Philanthropic Leadership Report which showed how leadership is chosen in the philanthropic sector. The report found that only 20% of successful candidates were from racially diverse backgrounds. It’s not enough to simply have a certain quota number of people of color working in a nonprofit, what we really need is full inclusion and power given to people of color as leaders. So, we have a long way to go, and if we our organizations to be more racially diverse, we have to do something. Now.

I’m blogging every single day this month for 31 Days of Giving to celebrate my 27th birthday on December 31 and asking all my friends to donate $27 to benefit the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of Washington DC. Will you give? Your gift would really make a difference for young nonprofit leaders in DC!