Event Recap: Advancing Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in the Nonprofit Sector, 2.0

Thanks to member Gloria Ramón for the following recap! See her complete bio below.

On August 3, 2021, we welcomed our community to an interactive online event exploring how consultants can advance diversity, equity and inclusion in the nonprofit sector. This event was a follow-up to last year’s session, which focused on the role of the consultant; you can read a recap here. This year’s session focused on what has changed, how our strategies have shifted, the lessons we have learned and what is next.

The following is a summary of the event proceedings. The event opened with Inacent Saunders, Association of Nonprofit Specialists Board Member, welcoming the attendees and providing an overview of the agenda. She then introduced Joseph J. Barretto, Chair of the Association of Nonprofit Specialists Board.

Joseph welcomed the attendees, speakers, and panelists and gave an overview of Nonprofit Specialists, the organization’s values, and the importance of becoming a member. He thanked the event sponsors: Allies in Action, Heller Fundraising Group, and Women of Color in Fundraising and Philanthropy. Each of the sponsors shared brief remarks. The following are highlights of their comments:

• Yolanda F. Johnson, Women of Color in Fundraising and Philanthropy
  • As a consultant, even if you are not an expert, a fundamental best practice is always to bring it up, regarding inclusion, equity and diversity.
  • Proud of Nonprofit Specialists for taking that stand on this work.

• Peter Heller, Heller Fundraising Group
  • Peter’s Message of the Day: While we all like to think we’re one of the good people, when it comes to DEI, being one of the good people doesn’t mean “let’s set it and forget it;” this is ongoing work. In addition to the outer work, there is a need for us as individuals to do the inner work – daily reflection on our thoughts and actions. Doing this inner work allows us to be more calibrated as a loving person. In the end, love rules the day in terms of this work. It opens us up to other people’s perspectives, challenges and oppression, allowing us to align our actions and behaviors.

Inacent then introduced the keynote speaker, Cardozie Jones, CEO, and founder of True North EDI. The following are highlights of his remarks on the state of DEI:

• The state of DEI is in flux. Like many things, it is dynamic.
• Using the analogy of exercise as a new year’s resolution, one can discuss the state of DEI.
  • Over the last year, there was an uptick in organizations declaring a desire to begin DEI work – the racial reckoning prompting organizations to say they want to do better.
  • So many resolutions have come and gone, and there has been no change – the desire was to look good rather than be healthy.
  • When thinking about the current state of DEI and organizations in the last year, those that have thrived were thinking about this work and what it means to the organization’s health, mission and health of the future. Those that have fallen back or pulled back were doing this work to look good.

• The learnings for organizations that have pulled away from doing the work – they have left behind this cognitive dissonance:
  • This must be resolved; organizations must declare the truth, declare this work wasn’t wanted enough or that it is too hard.
  • Rather than confront the dissonance, organizations often find other excuses to resolve the discomfort – saying the consultant wasn’t good enough, poking holes in the credentials of those speaking up, or claiming somehow the organization is worse off.
  • Can’t fit DEI into old structures:
    • Very hard to fit old theories/approaches of organizational design into DEI or justice work.
    • It is difficult to use language that presumes we know where we are going. The reality is we are often building the plane as we fly it and flying to a destination we have never been before.

• For those organizations doing the work, many have accelerated or expanded their work – especially those that started the work before 2020.
• It is difficult to envision a world we have never been – very much an act of faith. There is a threshold. At that point the work becomes less about perfection and more about getting organizations towards or past the threshold. Once they get there, it will be difficult for them to turn back.
• Cardozie’s charge to the group for the day: Consider what you don’t know. Consider what you know. Be curious about the ways of unearthing what you don’t know you don’t know.

Inacent then introduced Association of Nonprofit Specialists member and volunteer Robin Yates as the panel discussion moderator. Robin then introduced the panelists: Jordan Bingham, Director & Consultant, nINA Collective; Dawn Cooper, Principal/Consultant, DMC Consulting Services (Member, Association of Nonprofit Specialists); Jen Chau Fontán, Founder, JCF Coaching (Member, Association of Nonprofit Specialists); and Bonnie Mazza, Principal & Founder, Mazza Strategy (Member, Association of Nonprofit Specialists).

The following is a paraphrased summary of the panelists’ responses to the questions raised by the moderator and the attendees during the discussion.

1. Building off Cardozie’s comments, we have seen state and federal initiatives to limit activities that might advance DEI in recent months. We have had the former president ban federally funded organizations conducting diversity training, state-level decisions to ban critical race theory as a basis for public education in schools, and voting laws limiting traditionally marginalized groups’ ability to vote in political elections. Can you share about these or other threats to advancing DEI in the nonprofit sector and what, if anything, we as consultants can do to persevere beyond them?

Jordan Bingham: These attacks are a way of seeing power reassert itself. We need to recognize this for what it is, systems of power and gender hierarchy maintaining themselves. So we must tell the truth. As consultants, part of our job is to support organizations in articulating what their mission and values are and being clear what their vision is for change; help ground the organization in their values and vision for change so it is something the organization can always anchor back to, and it becomes a source of courage. That way, in the face of those threats, we can figure out who can speak the truth and who can speak up when we need to speak for each other when we need to build alliances so that we can continue to build power while facing these threats.

Dawn Cooper: These threats are about power; this is why we must understand and have a level of awareness of what people are thinking about. As consultants, as we’re going into organizations, recognize where people are at; assess where the organization is because many of the challenges will come from not knowing the state of the organization. Assess so you can recognize if the organization is not fully committed to doing the work yet. Organizations that are doing good work have recognized DEI is about sustainability. A lot of this work is about how to be flexible. As we move forward, much of this work will also focus on preparing organizations to respond to the threats and be authentic in those responses.

2. As you transform and continue to transform your own practices, what are some things you had to adjust to doing this work?

Jen Chau Fontán: I have had to change my role as an external contractor from focusing on design, analysis, and implementation to advising, supporting, and cheerleading. Given my energy, time and where I want to be responsible, my commitment is being in the background, acting more as a coach to help organizations learn how to do this work for themselves. This change has taken a lot of discipline and self-reflection in my role as a consultant. I am helping my clients build capacity by holding space for the organization’s discomfort, learning, and growth and normalizing that as part of the process.

Cardozie Jones: Over the last year, I have had to be more explicit about my values. Redefining my relationship as a consultant with the organization as an engagement rooted in personhood and not being a transaction or not being a product that can be returned.

Bonnie Mazza: My entire work has shifted. It still starts with people in a transactional way, but it is transformational. I have had to adjust to the idea of health in the organization, which is critical to integrating DEI into the larger notion of health. I have had to learn to operate at the speed of trust. Slow it down and back it up and not promise some of the deliverables that are not meaningful, but instead focus on a process that shifts the organization.

3. Define the intersectionality trap. How can we as consultants help organizations overcome it?

Jordan Bingham: Words and concepts matter. It is crucial to have shared definitions. Intersectionality is a theory rooted in black feminist thought and around the work of Kimberlé Crenshaw, Patricia Hill Collins, and others. It recognizes that you can’t look at one area of the identity of marginalization of oppression in isolation because people live complex lives with complex identities. Identity markers do not exist independently of each other. Each informs the others, creating a complex convergence of oppression. At the systems and individual level, we must understand how marginalization and exclusion work, who belongs and who doesn’t, and the complexity. When discussing the intersectionality trap, it sometimes looks like marginalized communities are pitted against each other, for example, competing for resources.

In my work, I lead with race because racism is so persistent. It is the foundation for all of the hierarchies in the country. Race explicit but not race exclusive because you can’t have a race analysis without a good analysis of gender, class and other forms of marginalization. It is about bringing the complexity to the table and encouraging partners to hold that complexity and understand it.

4. What type of learning or un-learning have you had to do as you have shifted prioritizing DEI in your own work, and what important lessons have you learned along the journey?

Dawn Cooper: The challenge of being a diversity professional, you have to recognize your own racism. The hardest part of the work is getting everyone to acknowledge they must look at themselves. You have to be willing to question your own thoughts constantly. Only then can you authentically help others do this work. It is important to unpack what you’re bringing to the table. If you can’t authentically bring your perspective to the table, you won’t be able to help others do the same.

Bonnie Mazza: It is important to get out of your own head. I have shifted from only focusing on the theory/frameworks to also focusing on the emotion. I began understanding the importance of trauma and healing trauma and how to hold and facilitate a conversation and hold a room differently—unlearning frameworks that don’t fit DEI work.

5. How does one assess a leader’s readiness to address DEI in any capacity in their organization? How and when does a consultant hoping to broach the topic with an executive do so?

Jen Chau Fontán: Readiness can look like many things – humility, openness to learning, understanding it will take work, recognition that this work is woven into everyday life because it is a shift in how you live your life, finding day-to-day activities to practice. A leader should demonstrate openness and understanding that DEI will take a lot of work. I also want to see that they are thinking about commitment on an individual and organizational level.

Attendee Questions

Andrea J. Rogers asked: How do you address the trend of organizations wanting to hire a DEI/Equity Strategy staff person, who is often a BIPOC woman to do what they haven’t been able to do in 10/20 + years?

Cardozie Jones: These roles are set up for failure in the current system. We often try to apply old models on top of DEI versus reimagining new ways of being and operating. If we can create a pause point and question what would happen if the structure were reimagined, for example, maybe a person on every team. Also, it’s essential to be honest with clients and get at the root as to why the role is being hired.

Jen Chau Fontán: If there is serious intention around the hiring, try to poke at what is being sought in the role; extremely important to be explicit about those qualities you are looking for in this leader. Get specific about the skills and competencies we’re looking for.

Jordan Bingham: Importance of incorporating the work in everyone’s job and being able to spell out what that is in a growth way very clearly. I recommend to partner organizations to build a core team into the organization’s structure that represents multiple levels, perspectives, racial diversity. Internally building the infrastructure to organize around this work – you have to have so many people standing on the rug so they can’t pull it out from under you.

Valyrie Laedlein asked: What’s the starting point for supporting white board leadership to recognize the white supremacy inherent in aspirations of “outcomes,” “growth,” and fundraising when that contrasts with staff leadership of color who are committed to partnering with community, process, and equity?

Dawn Cooper: Everyone needs to get on the same page about the organization’s direction – where are we going and how are we going to get there. The importance of the board is to help them understand this is a change process and part of change is recognizing that the organization, the board, will have to do things differently.

Jen Chau Fontán: It is important not to get stuck in what is not working and give more space to a conversation around what is possible, opening things up and letting some dreaming happen.

George Hsieh asked: I really appreciate redefining the goal as helping organizations get past a threshold where turning back is no longer a viable option. What are some of the indicators that an organization is reaching/passing that threshold? How do you help organizations redefine success in this work?

Cardozie Jones: Conflict transformation is an indicator. How is the organization constantly transforming conflict? Because conflict will be the given, tension will be the given, but how is the organization practicing and embodying practices to transform conflict. Also, it’s essential to question language. Success and failure create a binary. What other language is there for us to decide where we are going? What does it look like there? What does it feel like there? What does it sound like there?

Panel closeout parting words:

• Overall there is a better willingness to work with one another.
• The mission and values of the organization are at the core of DEI work.
• Work has to be rooted in the work of the organization.
• The consultant is part of the intervention. How you show up is important. Every time you show up, you are modeling something for your clients.

The attendees then broke up into breakout sessions to complete the GROW exercise: From this day forward, how will you GROW? Below the exercise questions are the collective, unedited responses from the small group discussions.

• GOAL: What is your personal goal as it relates to advancing diversity in the nonprofit sector? Have you set one? What could a goal be for you?
• REALITY: Where do you find yourself on this spectrum of experience in advancing diversity? From being a proponent for DEI initiatives ↔ All the way to being a Trained/Certified DEI Practitioner. Another “reality” could be what time, effort, and resources are you able to commit to this work? Only you can determine your reality.
• OPTIONS: Have you identified steps to get closer to your goal? Of what the speaker and panelists shared, what concepts do you want to learn more about for your own personal growth and development? What do you think you need to get started?, e.g., resources, connections, opportunities, etc.
• WILL: What will you do? How will you start? Do you have an accountability partner for your next steps? Do you have a community of support to turn to? Will you get one / join one?

Responses from the small group discussions:

From this day forward, how will you GROW?
	GOAL ●      Be in a learning space for next 6 months for facilitating and listening to support clients ●      Being able to bring this convo to new spaces, understanding dynamics that exist and the resources available to me to catalyze change ●      Embedding equitable practices (big and small) in our own fin mgmt systems and pushing white leaders ●      Internally, creating the container for this work (not “doing” all of it); externally, using my voice/perspective with white leaders ●      As an employee in a daycare organization, my goal is to bring info – to inform leadership and gain commitment – but also avoiding fatigue of the burden ●      As financial consultant, help clients see budget as expression of values; within my org – to get all to actually believe DEI is part of our work. ●      Recognizing my privilege – and considering how I carry that lightly in my life & work; increase my awareness – and further explore how I can tackle, manage guilt, but not be stuck ●      Want organizations to really DO the work, not just check the box ●      Continue to be an advocate – for being human ●      For sector, start telling truth about doing this work, let go of our perfectionism as “experts” tap into emotional intelligence, real talk with client partners about what the work really entails – What are common points of intersection, touch points of language to assess where to come in to begin these conversations with a lot of different kinds of organizations – where can I raise issues and start conversations they need to have ●      Ask the hard questions, rather than provide the answers, bring up the difficult issues, then when they are ready, introduce them to more trained practitioners – Ask hard questions, support the leaders of organizations to push back on urgency pushed on them by boards, to see that they do have the time to do the diversity work ●      What does it take to support groups to get to that threshold, make the choice to commit to this work, have the space to do the work – what does it mean to support them, what is that threshold? Different for different organizations – help organizations see that this work is critical to their missions, integrity of their work, change they are hoping to make, ways we can help them get there ●      Better understand how we see nonprofit finance management through the lens of racial equity and what we mean by our “budget is a reflection of your values”. How does that translate into my work with my clients as a woman of color in dominantly white spaces? Where do we push our clients? ●      Internally how to understand the reality of how our policies and practices that create an oppressive environment and how can I learn more to help us shift the way we work ●      How do I incorporate DEI into the scope of work as an independent consultant (with parameters of resources) ●      Have this be a part of the DNA; build personal awareness; addressing power/contracting ●      Weave this into my book ●      Build 1:1 coaching into my work, how do I work with execs before supporting them to do DEI work with their org. How do I weave this into the interim roles I sometimes hold? ●      Create more opportunities to bring the focus of antiracism into 1:1 coaching. ●      Introduce creative ways of looking at things; permission to put aside others’ demands (including funders) and think on own ●      Investigate TOC, mission, outcomes, data, etc., to see if steeped in white supremacy/ centering the wrong things, but don’t throw them away; important guideposts for org (if self-identified) to help know if they’re focusing on right things ●      Help orgs increase and diversify revenue streams – more independent / free to make decisions / focus on priorities ●      Help people feel more comfortable talking about race / insert equity piece into conversations
	REALITY ●      Need to learn all I can – to share with others – what IS DE&I, how to pursue, how to think about it ●      Need to learn HOW to engage in the conversation – constructively – and gain confidence ●      Too often feel paralysis – the balcony vs dance floor – how to embody this? ●      How much there is to learn – and we’re never done learning ●      The people who need to hear this the most are the most defensive. ●      Acknowledging that we all have biases as distrust. Being a woman of color doesn’t mean I don’t have internal work to do. ●      Bringing experiences of being a woman of color while also learning from others. Where to speak up and how. Learning how to navigate defensiveness. ●      Some people won’t like what you’re saying and may walk away. ●      Options: engaging with internal colleagues about the importance of race equity lens into our work and get buy-in from leadership. Intentional about embedding it into the work. ●      Tapping into resources and colleagues/peers and how to be more impactful – strengthen ●      Practice inclusion; speaking up; trainer/practitioner focused on DEI and workforce development and changing perceptions of the value that young people of color can bring to an organization and helping to be nice and kind. ●      This is my life as a WOC. Do I need a credential? ●      IDI certification – offer this more to clients ●      Organization doing a lot of DEI work and working to integrate it into other practice areas, attention to making this an essential part of what it means to do OD – it’s all of my work – has time and resources and colleagues and support – A challenge, got some suggested ways forward from last year’s session – one rooted in existing relationships is about “do you have a group of professionals you can recommend?” That opens up doors, helps resolve issue of old networks blocking access, what is helpful to point out to clients even if not part of the actual project ●      Work is now 80% of portfolio (used to be 30%) – is tired and angry, the coping mechanisms unearthed both hope and sadness deep within, so pushing back on work not able to do right now – save myself so I can be there a year or two, sane and able to take on this work – Dealing with power dynamics imbalance, it’s easier to bring up issues when someone with more power is leading – being hesitant; also working with funders who have power, so is it OK to bring up those issues? Doesn’t want to jeopardize. ●      Need to learn more to work with organizations – do support individual clients who are BIPOC, get referrals based on work done in.
	OPTIONS ●      Training, conversation ●      Put out there that I’m still learning – invite help ●      Begin by talking about learning – as starting point ●      Hold awareness and humility as we undertake learning together ●      Thinking outside of the box…what are the things I can do to add to my toolbox? ●      How does organization define the work, understanding the communities of the organizations with whom I work, have the conversations with people in the organization and how they define the work ●      Use these opportunities to make sure her colleagues are on these calls to have more community with people who do this work ●      If you don’t have relationships with people who don’t look like you, you need to have that; it will help your work ●      Work is difficult, draining – how energetically can we move people in groups to see what is possible – visioning the future state – imagine something better ●      What would that look like and feel like
	WILL ●      Make this more front and center (what are the tools; not necessarily about money); reflecting on voting priorities and where leaders lake; unlearn ●      Continue with ANPS ●      Allow for reaching out to one another ●      Helps to be with others who are also at this beginner stage ●      Embrace the idea that we don’t know what the destination is – we’re all exploring and defining that ●      Community exchange, learning, pushing
	GENERAL NOTES ●      Bringing in our own experiences while also being in a space of continuous learning (we’re all learning together) ●      How to actually assess readiness – “you said this was going to be hard, but this is too hard” – Modeling in multiracial teams of facilitators – Setting expectations in the biz dev/assessment phases – Being comfortable with discomfort ●      How do we undo the sector’s problems, e.g., white supremacy culture?

Inacent closed the event by thanking the speakers, panelists, sponsors, and volunteers. She invited those who are not yet members of the Association of Nonprofit Specialists to join.

Continue to engage in this work by visiting our DEIA page: http://npspecialists.org/deia-diversity-equity-inclusion-access/. Here you can find additional resources and information that you may find useful in doing this work.

You can also access the recording of the DEI 2.0 event here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/bdPChZI6czxwSwRVfGNCiJ5WmUZ55mkMr0mbHMSzBGnt0VZrBUqBG7njJxO3P2CR.ctLeIC5gQ6B-32W6

Access Passcode: sa!0pUCP

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ABOUT GLORIA RAMÓN
Gloria Ramón is a nonprofit and philanthropic leader with over seventeen years of experience as a social impact growth strategist, organizational design, and strategic management specialist. She partners with local and national organizations to identify and meet their missions, increase reach and achieve social impact. Currently, Gloria is the Vice President of Development at National Community Stabilization Trust, where she leads philanthropic strategy, fundraising, partnership development, communications, and strategic planning. Before joining NCST, Gloria served in several executive positions, most recently Chief Development & Strategy Officer at Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation and Director of Development & Grants Management at The Century Foundation. In addition, Gloria has served as a strategic consultant and interim executive leader for various nonprofits. Gloria earned an MBA from Zicklin School of Business, an MPPM from the Muskie School of Public Service, and a BA in Sociology from Bryn Mawr College.