Board Members Explore Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Together

The National Council of Nonprofits has created a guide to help nonprofit board members first understand and then work toward diversity, equity and inclusion in their organizations. For those land trust boards of directors that have decided to move in this direction, here are excerpts from the Council of Nonprofit’s article.

Knowing that each board of directors is unique, the Council of Nonprofits urges “each nonprofit to articulate its own values and be guided by them. Let’s use our staff meetings and board meetings to examine our core values. How will our nonprofits apply those values in their daily operations?”

Learn Together

The Council of Nonprofits writes, “Many organizations find that it’s helpful to begin with an exploration of terms and definitions” and points to the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s glossary as a good place to start. Reviewing the glossary together, a board can “spark deep conversations about how we individually interpret and experience discrimination of whatever nature.”

To help you and your colleagues understand your implicit/unconscious biases, which is “key to opening doors to equity,” says the Council of Nonprofits, use Project Implicit’s tool to identify “your associations about race, gender, sexual orientation and other identities.”

Other steps a land trust can take include hiring a professional DEI trainer, working together to draft a policy on diversity, inclusion and equity, and considering ways to diversify the board itself. The Council of Nonprofits reminds us, though, that “values written on a page are not authentic until they are demonstrated by your organization’s actions.”

Ask Questions

When creating a DEI action plan for your land trust, the Council of Nonprofits lists the following questions for consideration:

• How transparent does your organization wish to be about the steps it is taking to become more diverse and encourage inclusive practices? How does your organization communicate its values to the public, to paid staff and to volunteers?
• Are organizational values published on the nonprofit’s website or otherwise shared publicly? Does it make sense for your DEI commitments to be inward-facing, outward-facing, or a combination of both?
• Does your nonprofit create opportunities to listen to the voices directly from community, grassroots or young leaders in low-income, underserved and/or marginalized populations within its community?
• How can your nonprofit open its board recruitment and staff hiring pipeline to talented candidates from among underrepresented groups?
• Is the organization’s commitment to diversity, inclusion and equity part of the orientation message for new board members and incorporated into onboarding new teammates and volunteers?
• Does your organization expect its collaborative and community partners to uphold its own values?
• How will your nonprofit assess the progress you are making toward your goals of diversity, inclusion and equity? What will success look like? Feel like?

Sift Through Many Resources

Have you been inundated with DEI reading lists, resource lists and stories? Service organizations like the National Council of Nonprofits do some of the compiling for you so that you have the resources in one place, but you still have to sift through the material to find what will most help you. Here are some resources listed in the council’s article:

• “Awake to Woke to Work,” from Equity in the Center, includes a glossary, a comprehensive list of resources and a framework for how to look at the levers that influence and support a nonprofit’s race equity culture.
• The Race to Lead report series explores the results of surveys conducted in 2016 and 2019, and challenges the way the nonprofit sector has been approaching the racial leadership gap. Other reports in the series address LGBTQ nonprofit staff and women of color in the nonprofit sector.
• The University of Southern California offers the Diversity Toolkit: A Guide to Discussing Identity, Power and Privilege with ideas for “DIY” facilitation that can stimulate conversation and learning. Or, check out How to Begin Equity Work in Your Organization with Little or No Money from the North Carolina Center for Nonprofits or “Embracing Equity: Race Equity and Inclusion Action Guide” from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
• RespectAbility offers a series of free resources for creating an inclusive culture for people with disabilities, from recruiting, accommodating and promoting employees with disabilities to ensuring that events are accessible and language is welcoming.
• Racial equity tools is a library of resources designed to support individuals and groups working to achieve racial equity. 

The Pennsylvania Land Trust Association has also compiled a list of DEI resources on its website. And Nonprofit Quarterly offers a free two-part webinar.

Share Your Stories

Land trust board members form the heart of the land trust community. Your volunteer service is essential to the success of land conservation in America. If you decide to take the DEI journey together, know that the Land Trust Alliance will continue to gather stories to share to help along the way. If you have a story, send it to the Saving Land editor at csoto@lta.org.