Participants from a recent series of the EDI Roundtables for Nonprofit Executives share their key takeaways and honest feedback to consider along the EDI journey.
We extend our heartfelt support to the communities impacted by Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina. We'll continue to share resources for nonprofits and how to help.
Equity
- It can be helpful to take a few minutes at the beginning of each new year to reflect on and share challenges and achievements so we can recommit to our work going forward.
Charting the Journey: "We’re at the crossroads of transformation where momentum for racial equity can yield more just and equitable outcomes. Organizations are taking action and want deeply to be a part of the change but recognize that change begins on the inside first.
Many nonprofit service providers would gladly work themselves out of a job if solutions could be found for the most pressing issues of our time. However, we are generally so overextended just treating the symptoms of social and environmental problems that it can be difficult to engage effectively, if at all, in changing public policy and other structural conditions. The result is a nonprofit sector that too often does for people, rather than pursuing social change with them, which can reinforce barriers to advancing equity.
Societal structures exist in America that enable healthy lives for some and unhealthy lives for others. Leaders are uniquely positioned to drive social movement in the communities they serve. They are also charged with investing in their talent and removing barriers to healthy living within their organizations. Total rewards programs have come a long way for many nonprofits, and yet, one major area where health inequities still exist is in health benefits plan design.
Equity and inclusion are at the center of a nonprofit’s mission. What can nonprofits do to build strong partnerships among the communities served and donors? How does an organization expand its fundraising strategy to involve donors who may not have been included in the past? What are the ways all supporters can feel a sense of belonging as we work to create a stronger community?
Over the last two years, the learning and action network Learning for Equity: A Network for Solutions NC (LENS-NC) has focused on increasing educational equity for low-income students and students of color with diagnosed and undiagnosed learning differences. The network is a partnership between nine organizations across NC, MDC, and the Oak Foundation Learning Differences Programme.
The American novelist Joan Didion once wrote, “We tell ourselves stories in order to live.”
In many ways Didion was right. Stories may not seem like a basic survival need, but our brains naturally tell us stories as a way to give structure and meaning to our lives.
Renewing the Commitment: An ADA Compliance Guide for Nonprofits - The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 ensures the civil rights of people with physical and mental disabilities to have equal access to, and equal opportunity to enjoy, the services and activities of the public, private, and social sectors.
It's through continued effort that policy changes to promote equity are implemented and imbedded into practice. Tracking the progress of equity advocacy is important and does not need to be complex or daunting. Getting Equity Advocacy Results (GEAR) from PolicyLink is a suite of benchmarks, methods, and tools for advocates, organizers, and their allies to track the results of their equity campaigns to: