Achieving a nonprofit mission requires attention to DEI.

Nonprofit organizations aim to enhance society by addressing social challenges through mission-driven work.  By definition, most nonprofit organizations are committed to fostering a society that engages its citizens in purposeful ways that improve humankind and the world in which we live.  While it is possible to pursue a mission-driven purpose without examining how issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion arise, doing so has the potential to leave the organization falling short of fulfilling the full promise of that mission.  

There is increasing acknowledgement that the nonprofit sector suffers from the same inequities that exist in the for-profit and public sectors.  In the Nonprofit Quarterly article, “Why Are We Still Struggling with DEI in Nonprofit Governance?” key observations shared by panelists during a 2018 conference of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) reveal that all aspects of a nonprofit’s operations, including recruitment practices, need to be intentional.  Nonprofit boards remain predominantly White, and strategies to recruit and retain Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) members must be thoughtfully planned and carefully executed.  In a resource by BoardSource and Nonprofit Quarterly, “The Declining Diversity of Nonprofit Boards and What to Do About It,” (2017), several issues and solutions are offered.  

Ultimately, a nonprofit organization that aims to have an impact in communities or on society as a whole must be able to acknowledge capacity issues, including implicit bias and structural or systemic racism.  Without paying explicit attention to these issues and taking steps to dismantle inequities, nonprofits will fall victim to the intransigent nature of racism and bias.  These barriers – whether hidden or not-so-hidden – stand in the way of a nonprofit’s ability to fully achieve a mission-driven purpose.