Inclusive Management – Not For Profit organizational approach

Diversity describes one aspect of inclusiveness: the extent to which an organization has people from diverse backgrounds or communities involved as board members, staff, and/or volunteers.

Inclusive organizations, on the other hand, not only have diverse individuals involved but, more importantly, they are learning-centered organizations that value the perspectives and contributions of all people, and they incorporate the needs, assets, and perspectives of communities of color into the design and implementation of universal and inclusive programs. Furthermore, inclusive organizations recruit and retain diverse staff and volunteers to reflect the racial and ethnic composition of the communities they serve.

Some people have tried to adapt the term “diversity” to encompass the full range of inclusiveness/diversity related issues. David Thomas and Robin Ely do so in their report on diversity published in the Harvard Business Review in 1996:

“Diversity goes beyond increasing the number of different identity-group affiliations on the payroll to recognizing that such an effort is merely the first step in managing a diverse workforce for the organization’s utmost benefit. Diversity should be understood as the varied perspectives and approaches to work that members of different identity groups bring”.

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Inclusiveness Can Help Nonprofits Be More Effective and Better Serve Their Constituents and Communities

Nonprofits are in the business of making their communities healthier, stronger, and more enriching for all members. Whether they are involved in health care, the arts, civil rights, religious activities, or any other worthwhile charitable cause, nonprofits influence the quality of life for people in the communities they serve.

People, by their very nature, experience many aspects of life, from health care to the arts, differently. One of the primary reasons that people experience life differently is because they have different cultural backgrounds. Therefore, when developing their programs and services, nonprofit organizations must take these cultural backgrounds and experiences into consideration in order to have a positive influence on the communities they serve.

Creating an Inclusive Workplace is Good for Business

Demographic shifts currently taking place in the United States are changing the makeup of the communities nonprofits serve. By the year 2050, it is expected that the Hispanic and Asian populations will triple, and that approximately half of the U.S. population will be people of color. (See Bibliography: U.S. Census Bureau) The term “people of color” is used in The Denver Foundation materials to refer collectively to African Americans, American Indians and Alaska Natives, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Hispanic/Latino Americans, multiracial individuals, and all other persons who are not categorized as white by the U.S. Census.

In general, this means that many nonprofits will need to become more knowledgeable about how communities of color experience their work. If nonprofits continue to base their plans and decisions on unexamined assumptions about their communities that may no longer be accurate, chances are high that their work will become less effective and less relevant, given demographic changes.

Many corporations have discovered and a great deal of research has proven that creating an inclusive workplace is good for business. This adage may even be truer for nonprofits than for corporations. Nonprofits generally have lower pay scales than their corporate counterparts. The staff and volunteers of nonprofits join because they receive personal satisfaction from working with nonprofits. When financial incentive is removed as a key factor in staff and board retention, then creating a healthy work environment becomes even more important.

Some of the benefits of creating a more inclusive organization include (See Bibliography: Cox):

• Higher job satisfaction, especially among staff of color.
• Lower turnover.
• Higher productivity.
• Higher employee morale.
• Improved problem solving throughout the organization.
• Increased creativity and innovation.
• Increased organizational flexibility and ability to learn from people at all levels.
• Improving the quality of personnel through better recruitment and retention.
• Decreased vulnerability to legal challenges.

Other business-related reasons to become more inclusive include the potential to tap into new donor pools, improve program delivery, and reach out to new clients or audiences.