Building Diverse, Equitable, & Inclusive Boards
If diversity, equity, and inclusivity are your organization’s values, it is essential to have a diverse, equitable, and inclusive Board of Directors. The community and funders are paying attention to your Board of Directors, and they want to see that the board reflects those values. A diverse, equitable, and inclusive Board of Directors can also lead to a more creative and effective governance body. The key to building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive Board of Directors is to analyze your organization’s recruitment, requirements, responsibilities, and recognition of board members.
Recruitment
The first step is to analyze the recruitment process of your organization’s board members. You need to look at how you recruit board members. If you only recruit board members from other board members’ networks, you must expand the search. You can get stuck in recruiting from the same circles. You can expand your search by recruiting beyond your regular networks. You can recruit former clients from other sectors of industry or college students. These are just a few examples of how that you can expand your recruitment process. You could also have an open recruitment process, where potential board members self-nominate by filling out a form on your website.
Requirements
The second step is to analyze the requirements of board members. Look and see if your current requirements are too restricting and limit the diversity of your board. One limiting requirement could be education. You should have people with different educational backgrounds on your board. Another limiting factor could be the skills that board members need. Nonprofit organizational skills are usually a requirement for board members. It is important to have board members with nonprofit skills, but other skills might also benefit your organization. Look at the current skills required for board members and create a list of additional skills needed for the organization to expand your possibilities. Another limiting requirement might be the time and location of board meetings. Analyze the time and location of board meetings and see if they are inclusive and equitable for a diverse board. The last limiting requirement could be stewardship. Your organization’s policy for board members to donate could be a limiting requirement. Look carefully at your stewardship policy and see if you need to make changes.
Responsibilities
The third step is to look at the responsibilities of board members. You want to make sure that the responsibilities are inclusive and equitable. One way to do that is for board members to share responsibilities fairly. You should strive to match board member skills to their responsibilities. Make sure everyone plays a part, big or small, in the board and committee meetings. Consider having rotating, short-term, or shared board member terms. Consider
having co-chairs for the board. Make sure at every board or committee meeting everyone gets to speak and to have input.
Recognition
The fourth step is to analyze how your organization recognizes board members. Your organization has to remember that board members are volunteers. It is important to recognize all board members for their work. Put together a board member recognition plan for your organization. Take into consideration the personal and cultural preferences of board members and show recognition regularly.
You can take steps to build a diverse, equitable, and inclusive Board of Directors by examining your board recruitment, requirements, responsibilities, and recognition. Your organization can better serve the community by creating a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive board.
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