Group Interview by Anh Vo, Meg Schroeder and Thandi Cai (9 minute read)
Team members Anh Vo, Meg Schroeder and Thandi Cai share their experiences of navigating the intersectionality of their identities in the nonprofit space. They explore honest partnerships and equity-centered practices by discussing their personal experiences and envisioning what a truly inclusive work environment looks like.
Is there a more specific topic on your mind? These resources are categorized by a handful of topics you may find relevant to your company’s DEI work. Applying an equity lens to our work allows us to take a step back and examine our actions from another perspective, highlighting areas for improvement. That’s why it’s essential to observe the ways in which the following topics and more appear in our everyday work in the philanthropic sector.
Organizations in the nonprofit community have been leaders when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion – and yet much of the language used in fundraising communications has stemmed from needs-based messaging. This webinar makes time to elevate and uplift the work of nonprofits and the communities served through strength-based messaging.Continue reading “Strength-Based Messaging: How to Accelerate Impact Through Inclusivity”
For over 40 years, Alford Group has tested the effectiveness of written material with a variety of stakeholders (donors, volunteers, partners, community leaders, foundation and corporate funders, etc.) for nonprofit organizations ranging in size, sector, lifecycle stage and geography.
How to find great, or even good, nonprofit board members is an ongoing challenge. For many nonprofit organizations the board development issue feels especially urgent right now. The competition for good board members is increasing.
The philanthropic environment has nearly recovered from the Great Recession, but many philanthropists are still very cautious about where to invest their dollars, time and energy. Organizations who have been largely supported by government grants and contracts, their long-held intention to diversify their revenue through board members with financial capacity and connections, are now faced with the reality that it’s harder than they thought to find strong board members.
What’s happening around diversity and inclusion among foundations?
At the AFP 2016 International Conference, Brenda Asare, President & CEO of Alford Group spoke briefly about foundations and their interactions with nonprofits around diversity and inclusion.
At Alford Group, diversity is one of our core values and we are proud to have been the diversity partner with AFP and the AFP Foundation for the past 17 years. We hosted this year’s AFP Diversity Session, “Foundations Empowering Change: Not Business As Usual,” which featured a facilitator and panelists who are committing funds, insights, counsel, social capital, time and other resources toward building diversity, equity, and inclusion in their own organizations and the organizations with which they partner. They are:
Miki Akimoto, U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management
HeHershe Busuego, The Boston Foundation
Beth Smith, The Hyams Foundation
Let’s start at the very beginning…a very good place to start…
Remember that song from The Sound of Music? Just like Do-Re-Mi, we must understand and use a shared set of building blocks if we want to sing together. Linetta Gilbert provided us with a primer and reminder of the key terms and concepts we all need to use to share and advance our ongoing conversation. Continue reading “The Long Road to Equity is Paved with Data, Innovation and Optimism”