The Foraker Group

Posted Under: Diversity and Inclusion President's letter

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The right people at the right time to move your mission forward – this is how we approach our work at Foraker. It is a central tenant in the Foraker Nonprofit Sustainability Model and it applies to both board and staff. Beyond a slogan, this idea encapsulates the work of planned succession for both board and leadership staff, addresses the essential relationship between the board and the CEO, and aligns the goals and values of the organization with the people in charge of stewarding those ideas. Importantly, it also speaks to the necessity for representation in all our leadership spaces. There is a historic and current gap between the demographics of most boards and leadership staff – based on race, age, gender, and experience – and the populations they serve.

In fact, our experience and the national research – especially from the Building Movements Project Race to Lead and the latest Leading with Intent report from BoardSource – tell us that neither the leadership teams running most nonprofits, nor their boards, reflect the overall demographics of their communities. That said, the tendency is to focus on the perceived lack of qualified leaders of color or “knowing who they are,” rather than educating nonprofit decision-makers on race equity and implicit bias and removing known, persistent barriers to board and staff leadership opportunities.

For some time now, we have been deeply exploring what it means to be a diverse, equitable, and inclusive organization, and what it means to guide other organizations on their journey From Bias to Belonging.^SM In 2015, the Foraker boards prioritized this work in our strategic plan and formed a diversity task force that is still active today. In 2018, to see more diverse leaders succeed, we launched our pilot for Leadership Transition with long-term outcomes that reflected systemic shifts in hiring and retention practice. Today, Leadership Transition is a fully integrated service that still retains those long-term goals. In 2019, the staff formed a voluntary and informal network to explore their own biases in a supportive atmosphere. In 2020, we renewed our commitment in our strategic plan and drafted a DEI theory of change to guide our work while creating an internal diversity intention statement and updating our employee manual to match our commitments.

We also honed our focus in Sultana, Foraker’s fiscal sponsorship incubator, to be a tool in creating a more equitable sector and added an equity lens to our public policy process. In 2021, knowing that external commitments should only reflect true long-term work and commitment, we determined it was time to thoughtfully express ourselves with a public-facing diversity commitment. We also clarified and set an expectation for an authentic practice of land acknowledgments that went far deeper than just the way we introduce ourselves. And, once again, we adapted our education curriculum to integrate the newest learning on diversity and inclusion into each subject. While these are not all the steps we have taken, each is a sample of our commitment that is more than just words but is deeply embedded into how we show up every day in our work.

Based on these building blocks, it is time for us to take a bigger step forward. We are ready and our nonprofit partners are seeking support. It is time to build out the full scope of services. To that end, I am thrilled to announce the launch of a new suite of services we are calling From Bias to Belonging.

This framework will take a team effort to truly succeed. And while I, as the CEO, and the board are fully engaged, we knew we needed a dedicated leader to ensure the capacity to follow through on all your requests. We also understand that part of every goal in this work is to elevate the concepts for our sector. To that end, we see that even the act of creating a position with this focus illustrates the importance of the work.

Thankfully for us, we have a person on our team who is ready to take on this new role that we call the Director of Diversity and Inclusion. Please help me welcome Kim Waller to her new Foraker role. Kim already is an incredible member of our team, and she is absolutely dedicated to this work. More than qualified to lead the way, Kim knows we only get where we want to go together – and she is ready! Kim will be a weaver of thoughts and action both within our team and outside through our services. We have been piloting ideas for a few years now, and today we are excited to share them with you.

From Bias to Belonging – the special sauce

We have done our homework on what is available to nonprofits. We have looked deeply into our own way of working, and we are clear on these guiding tenants.

• We believe in strong nonprofits, which we know are diverse ones. We create and hold space for conscious conversations to advocate for a diverse, inclusive, and welcoming nonprofit sector. It is and has always been, core to our purpose and values.
• A diverse and inclusive board can have long-lasting positive impacts on the mission, foster more equitable policies, stimulate hiring of a diverse workforce and, ultimately, bring about needed systems change.
• We seek to address known barriers to board and staff diversity and representation. Specifically, we intend to address the barriers to accessing information, networks and connections, and resources. We will purposely challenge unconscious bias and root out the changes in the underlying system that are required for a lasting shift to a more equitable, welcoming, and diverse nonprofit sector.
• Our facilitators will guide and hold brave space for every organization. To accomplish this, we employ trusted Foraker tools and implement new ones from those leading the way in diversity around the nation.
• Everyone is welcome. We are all about calling each other into the work rather than calling people out to shame and blame. Our strengths-based approach means we lead with a holistic view, emphasizing positive attributes and the need to work together for better outcomes.
• This journey has many destinations. It is an ongoing process, along with a commitment to lasting change within the sector.

A sample of services to meet you where you are

It is important to us that the initial launch of these services represents many options. We want everyone to feel that there are multiple ways into the conversations that meet you where you are in the journey. To that end, we have designed many offerings that will roll out over the next few years. Like all aspects of Foraker, we are a learning organization so this list is not complete and the items in it will evolve as we learn from doing them.

The six initial paths we intend to explore with you include:

• An intensive cohort experience with modules that combine peer support, education, and facilitated experiences
• Community education offerings that are available through our regular rotation of courses
• Customized facilitation for groups that want to tackle an issue or work on a longer trajectory
• Resources on our website for those seeking ideas and tools from a trusted source
• Development of a board match website that is aimed at breaking down barriers to participation
• A Nonprofit Leaders of Color Affinity Group which allows safe space for nonprofit leaders of color

Of these items, the Nonprofit Leaders of Color Affinity Meet Up was launched as a trial program in late 2021 and is now scheduled. You can sign up here. The board match site is being developed and the intensive cohort series has been outlined. Some small-scale customized facilitations have taken place to test our approach and are ramping up.

As you can see, we have done considerable thinking about how we want to position ourselves in this work. We are focusing on our own team and how we want to be more intentional with each other, thinking about how our trusted reputation allows us to create a space for brave conversations and contemplating how we perform this work in a way that honors its complexity without losing its simplicity.

What we know right now is that the time is right for us to take a leap forward in our journey. Let us know if you are ready to join us.