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7 Pitfalls to Avoid When Building a Diverse Nonprofit Staff

By  Rebecca Koenig
March 30, 2016
7 Pitfalls to Avoid When Building a Diverse Nonprofit Staff

Once you’ve determined that your nonprofit and the people it serves would benefit from a more diverse staff, you may be tempted to hire the first person you find who seems to represent the demographic you’re seeking.

But hiring to increase workplace diversity is a delicate process, experts say. They advise managers at nonprofits to treat diversifying as an ongoing effort, not a finite task, and to realize that it will affect the way the nonprofit approaches its work.

Here are seven pitfalls to avoid when trying to add new people and perspectives to your charity.

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Once you’ve determined that your nonprofit and the people it serves would benefit from a more diverse staff, you may be tempted to hire the first person you find who seems to represent the demographic you’re seeking.

But hiring to increase workplace diversity is a delicate process, experts say. They advise managers at nonprofits to treat diversifying as an ongoing effort, not a finite task, and to realize that it will affect the way the nonprofit approaches its work.

Here are seven pitfalls to avoid when trying to add new people and perspectives to your charity.

1. Using a “check the box” mentality

For workplace diversity to be truly meaningful, it requires nonprofits to undertake transformative change, says Heidi Schillinger, founder and principal of Equity Matters, a consulting firm that specializes in workplace diversity.

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That means nonprofits can’t think about diversity as a box to check once, says Erin Okuno, executive director at the Southeast Seattle Education Coalition. Instead, they should redesign their procedures and shift their cultures to embrace and require diversity, she says: “At the end of the day, if you’re not fixing systems, you’re going to re-have this conversation in two years.”

2. Talking without acting

Naming workplace diversity as a priority is a good step in the right direction, but making it a reality requires concrete work, Ms. Okuno says.

It’s easier to talk than to act. For example, Ms. Okuno once advised a group that, despite having created a strong equity statement, didn’t refer to it at all while developing a new strategic plan. The group would have demonstrated a much stronger commitment to diversity if it had incorporated its equity statement throughout the new plan, she says.

Nonprofits, she says, “continually have to think about [diversity], work on it,” and ask “how are we doing things differently?”

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3. Singling out people who are different

Employees who come from backgrounds that are underrepresented at a nonprofit may not appreciate having that fact publicly highlighted, says Kathy Bernhardt, director of business resourcing at Tangram, a nonprofit that supports people with disabilities.

“The last thing people with disabilities want is to be singled out or treated differently,” she says.

That means nonprofits shouldn’t assume that employees who have disabilities need extra assistance and shouldn’t inquire about job modification in a public setting. Employees who require accommodations will most likely address those in private conversations with appropriate managers, Ms. Bernhardt says.

4. Expecting all “diverse” people to be the same

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Hiring someone because of race or gender will not necessarily bring your nonprofit the new perspective it needs to thrive. That’s because all individuals have their own unique experiences, Ms. Okuno says. For example, she explains, a Chinese American will bring something different to the table than a Japanese American or a Vietnamese American.

“Within race, you can’t just say we have to check the box of an Asian, an African American, and a Latino,” she says. “Even within those race categories, there are so many differences.”

So a nonprofit hoping to reach more Spanish speakers of Guatemalan descent shouldn’t necessarily hire a Spanish speaker of Chilean descent who may not understand the cultural specifics of the target population.

5. Expecting individual minorities to speak for whole groups

Because everyone has his or her own perspective, it’s unwise and unfair to expect an employee from a minority group to speak on behalf of all other members of his or her group, Ms. Okuno says.

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For example, that means nonprofits shouldn’t expect a black employee to be able to intuit how all black community members will react to a new program. It’s important to respect employees as individuals and not expect someone to speak for an entire demographic.

6. Not compensating minority employees for their skills

Hiring employees who can connect with specific minority communities may make your nonprofit better suited to carry out its mission. But charities that expect employees to serve as liaisons or perform outreach duties should specify those duties in their job descriptions and pay for the time and effort that kind of work takes, Ms. Okuno says.

She hears often from people who happen to be bilingual that they’re called upon to provide translation services without any advance warning or acknowledgement, which detracts from their actual job responsibilities.

“Are you paying them to do the outreach plus their job?” she asks.

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7. Overlooking the value of diverse partners

Even if nonprofits are willing and able to hire more diverse employees, not all nonprofits are well suited to work with diverse communities, Ms. Okuno says. She encourages charities that want to connect with minority populations to consider supporting grassroots nonprofits that already work closely with them.

If you don’t have ties to the community, ask yourself, “Can you support another organization that does have the relationships?” she says. “Are they the better organization to get the work done?”

It can be more effective and respectful to support a grassroots program than to impose a new one from the outside, Ms. Okuno says.

“Communities often know the solutions to our own problems, but we don’t always have the resources, access, and funding to solve it right away,” she says. “People in positions of power can really support them and become good allies.”

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Read other items in this Coverage and Tools About Fostering Diversity and Inclusion at Your Nonprofit package.
We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
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