Is Your Nonprofit Accessible?

Disability impacts all of us. When professionals talk about diversity, equity, and inclusion in their workplaces, sometimes there is little or no information on the topic of the disability community. I hope reading this article will inspire you to change that.

Our consulting team has always emphasized building relationships with all of our donors because they are the backbone of successful fundraising. If you want to achieve a diverse portfolio of donors, you have to think about at least 26 percent of the overall population being people with disabilities. Below is a graphic of a few facts before I get to the big question (is your nonprofit accessible?).

Data sources: 1) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2) The 2021 Charitable Giving Report, and the table is from the Census Bureau’s 2021 American Community Survey

Demographics

Disability can be hidden or visible. A person can have a disability from birth, from an accident or illness, or become disabled as they age. People with disabilities can be your clients, volunteers, staff members, board members, or even loyal donors. In a 2020 study by the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP), researchers interviewed 243 foundations and discovered that 6% of foundation CEOs indicated that they have a disability. Additionally, CEP researchers interviewed 49 nonprofits, and 8% of the nonprofit executive directors indicated that they themselves have a disability.

It is not surprising that most organizations do not have enough disability representation and inclusion. Below are the fundamentals of how you and your team can help dismantle systemic ableism and make your nonprofit more accessible.

Educate your team

Education for and your team and yourself about the disability community is important. Be familiar with the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and relevant disability policies both on the federal and state levels. However, the disability community has often expressed that everyone should do more than the bare minimum requirements of the ADA because people with disabilities want to feel valued and belong.

A few years ago, RespectAbility, a diverse, disability-led nonprofit that works to create systemic change in how society views and values people with disabilities, published a study, “Disability in Philanthropy & Nonprofits,” that I highly recommend sharing with your team. That study includes qualitative research on the landscape of nonprofits and the disability community, and with some recommendations on what is working, what helps, and what we all can do better to improve equity and inclusion of the disability community.

Normalize disability

Normalize disability in everyday conversation and empower individuals with disabilities in leadership roles. For several centuries, people with disabilities were viewed as outsiders (or worse, as some sort of divine punishment that should be rid of or hidden from society). The civil rights movements of the 1960s helped shift that mindset and paved the way for many of the federal protections we have today. People with disabilities belong in all communities and should enjoy the same rights and privileges that everyone else enjoys.

As civil rights for people with disabilities are learned about more and more, it becomes clear that the language we used in the past is outdated and offensive. I recommend everyone become familiar with current "disability etiquette," or the use of the right language, when speaking or writing about people with disabilities. The National Center on Disability and Journalism provides a list of current and outdated terminology in its Disability Language Style Guide. That guide is my favorite, and I like to share it with professionals who are not sure what to say and do not want to offend anyone when putting together communication or marketing materials.

Additionally, empower individuals with disabilities to represent their community and include them in the planning and decision-making processes. They bring a wealth of knowledge, the lived experience of disability, and valuable insights that will help your organization be more inclusive and accessible.

Plan for inclusion

Plan fundraising strategies with accessibility and disability inclusion in mind. Now, the big question: is your nonprofit accessible? Here are a couple of factors to think about:

Events: 

In my past blog, “Planning Accessible Events for People with Disabilities,” I mentioned three different disability subgroups: hearing difficulty, vision difficulty, and mobility difficulty. They are the most overlooked subgroups to be left out at events.

Ask yourself these questions. Do your events have sign language interpreters or captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing? Do your events offer materials in braille or audio descriptions? Does the venue have an elevator or accessible restrooms for guests who need them? Are there designated seating areas for people with disabilities to have a better view of the stage or sign language interpreters?

Digital Communication:

You know it’s important to reach your donors, and putting together communication and marketing materials that comply with the ADA will help you reach donors with different needs in ways that encourage them to get involved in your mission. Is your website accessible?

The Web Accessibility Initiative updates its Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) every one to three years and provides guidance on making websites optimally accessible. Do you provide captioning or interpreters for video content? Do you include image descriptions for image files in your email and on social media for individuals who have vision difficulty? Is your content written in plain language so it can be understood or used by those who have difficulty understanding written communication (or English is their second language)? 

Organizational Culture and Policies

Communicate from the leadership team to everyone who works within your organization that all people, including people with disabilities, have value and are openly welcomed. It is always good to find training opportunities for your team members to boost their awareness and cultural confidence. Additionally, organizations are at their best when they provide customer services that welcome, respect, and involve people of all backgrounds.

Do you offer printed materials for those who need them (e.g., a person with epilepsy or in braille for the blind)? Can your donors engage with your organization by email, mail, phone, or face-to-face? If so, what accommodations do you have readily available for each contact method? For example, do you know the contact information of your local interpreting agencies that can provide interpreters for meetings and appointments with a deaf person? Do your staff use inclusive and appropriate language when speaking about and to people with disabilities?

Show welcome

In conclusion, always assume that people with disabilities will participate in your fundraising activities (as a volunteer, a staff person, a board member, or a donor). Planning your fundraising activities to be inclusive and accessible is not only the right thing to do; it makes everyone feel welcome, and they will serve as valuable stakeholders in your mission. Also, if you include people with disabilities, they will show up and bring their friends, families, colleagues, and other supporters.

This blog is not an exhaustive list of how your organization can be more accessible. There are more ways to dismantle systemic ableism and improve accessibility.

Spark Group can provide guidance on how your nonprofits can be more accessible to people with disabilities. Contact us today for a 30-minute chat to get started.