Leaders in Reimagining Equity and Inclusion in the Nonprofit Sector

An 8-Week Non-Profit Management Course

Schedule:

Week 1: History of the Nonprofit Sector & Culture

How did the nonprofit sector, which primarily serves Black, Indigenous, and People of Color come to be rooted in White supremacy? Why is it that nonprofits are primarily White led? Which White supremacist cultural characteristics show up and continue to show up in our daily work? In the opening class, we’ll learn the practices that we’ve developed and perpetuated and discuss how to pivot from it. We’ll recognize how the “nonprofit” was created and discuss what is required of nonprofits by the IRS vs. what we can reimagine creating.

Week 2: Human Resources

Did you know that “human resources” is rooted in the enslavement of Black people in the U.S.? Every day, nonprofits are grappling with high turnover and burnout. It’s not okay to just assume that everyone is going to eventually leave for better paying jobs, or that we can afford to keep people. Instead, we must think about recruitment, hiring, and staff retention differently. To do that, we need to put people and culture first. We have to value different skill sets and remove systemic barriers for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color to advance into leadership roles.

Week 3: Development & Fundraising

Ask any nonprofit leader, and they’ll tell you that fundraising an essential part of nonprofit work. The way we’ve been taught to fundraise is directly tied to White supremacist cultural practices, and in the end, the best fundraisers and grants get funded – NOT necessarily the most effective programs. Learn where most donations come from (hint! It’s not just rich White folks), the areas for diversification, and the grassroots fundraising strategies that have worked well, particularly for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color organizations. Discuss what ethical fundraising/development looks like, and how the decisions we make in development impact the communities we center.

Week 4: Management & Leadership

Nonprofits have long held onto a top-down, hierarchical structure with the board of directors and executive director at the top and frontline staff (who are primarily Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) at the bottom of the organizational chart. While boards and executive leaders are ultimately held accountable for the organization, that doesn’t mean they have to lead in a top-down manner. In what ways can executive leaders and managers share power with others in the organization? How might they use their positional power and privilege to support staff growth and development? We’ll discuss how different privileged social identities and fragilities show up in management. You’ll learn specific strategies and actions that you can take and what leading with a shared or distributed leadership model looks like.

Week 5: Volunteers & Community Engagement 

Volunteers are the backbone of almost all non-profit organizations. And some of our most valued individual donors are our volunteers. But how do we evolve from having volunteers who show up with a sense of (White) saviorism or the feeling sorry for the community to cultivating volunteers who show up in solidarity with the communities you’re working with? Discuss how we incorporate the lens of allyship and co-conspiratorship into our recruitment, management, and retention of volunteers. Additionally, what does it look like to be held accountable to the community you’re working with? How do you engage the community to ensure that the services you’re providing and issues you’re advocating are aligned with the priorities and needs of the community? We’ll share ways of working in solidarity with the community and discuss how to create accountability strategies to ensure that our work is community-led and focused.

Week 6: Financial and Fiscal Management 

If numbers make you cringe, don’t worry. We won’t be learning how to read balance sheets and profit and loss statements. However, we will be discussing how to talk about our budgets and finances in a way that shows that our organizations are financially credible and viable. We’ll share the roles that ethics play in financial decision making and how to address the question that 95% of our funds should go to programming vs. overhead.

Week 7: Board of Directors

Did you know that 84% of nonprofit board members in the U.S. are White? Why is this? What can nonprofit board members and executives do to build an anti-oppressive culture on their board? How do you recruit, attract, and retain diversity so that the board reflects the communities that are being served? In this class, you’ll recognize how current board recruitment processes may be inadvertently creating barriers for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color to serve. We’ll discuss new and innovative methods for diversifying your board (going beyond the board matrix) that focuses on equity and inclusion.

Week 8: What’s Next? Action Planning & Creating a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Team

As we approach the end of the course, what are the next steps for you? If you are looking to create a diversity, equity, and inclusion team? Unsure of where or how to start? Or do you already have a team and feel stuck? Learn how to build a team equitably and appropriately. Recognize the varied factors that may impact the diversity, equity, and inclusion team creation process such as power differentials, implicit biases, transparency, and “buy-in”. Determine whether your nonprofit is ready to support a team. Then create and share your next action steps and what resources you need to continue your equity and inclusion journey.