The nonprofit boardroom has traditionally been a space of power and privilege. For organizations committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion, however, the board represents both a challenge and an opportunity. How can governance structures designed in earlier eras serve missions centered on equity and justice? The answer lies not in superficial adjustments but in fundamentally […]
The nonprofit sector has made significant progress in diversifying board composition over the past decade. Organizations proudly announce when they achieve demographic milestones and cite representation statistics in grant applications. Yet many of these same boards struggle with high turnover among diverse members, watch their meetings dominated by the same few voices, and find that […]
Read More… from From Representation to Inclusion: Equity in the Boardroom
Should your organization have centralized leadership or use a distributed leadership model? With all the buzz today around distributed leadership for nonprofits (also known as “shared leadership” or “co-leadership”), it’s easy to get caught up in the trend without fully analyzing the needs and implications associated with this kind of leadership model. But while distributed leadership may work well […]
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It has been almost a year since we published an article about effective strategies for dealing with racism to address these issues in a meaningful way, as opposed to just wringing hands, so that your organization can also continue to focus on its mission in the community. I have heard from several of you about the importance […]
Read More… from DEI: Where are We Now? An Update for a New Era
At a recent Valtas team meeting we discussed an important topic – the generational differences we’re seeing in the workplace and the impact each generation is having on the nonprofit world. The goal was to understand what’s important to employees at various stages of their lives and careers so that we can lead better and […]
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In August we published an article titled Successful Anti-Racist Leadership in Nonprofits that was based on a presentation we gave for the Washington State Nonprofit Conference. After publishing that article, we received the following comment: I like the focus on racism vs. DEI. I’ve always felt the DEI approach was too squishy and had way too many […]
In the last few years, we’ve all experienced a long overdue social reckoning with racism. To address it many nonprofit organizations have implemented diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and tried to hire more BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) staff. While this is important work and more needs to be done, unfortunately there is […]
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Strategies and Tactics for Supporting Diversity in Hiring What is performative diversity? Performative diversity is when an organization advocates and affirms a commitment to DEI but takes no practical actions towards achieving it. Moving past affirmations and into action requires thoughtful, proactive, and concrete steps to foster a workplace that genuinely values a broadly diverse workforce. One […]
Read More… from Moving Beyond Performative Diversity in Executive Hiring
Who are you? How do you interact with the world? When are you at your best as part of a team? These seemingly simple questions are actually landmines for many, perhaps most, of us when we think about our participation in life, and more specifically the workplace. Employers are not unique in raising the issues […]
As we approach the national holiday that celebrates the life and ministry of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. it seems appropriate to revisit the reason we NEED a National Holiday to reflect on his legacy, and what we, as nonprofit leaders can and should DO with such a holiday. Obviously, Dr. King stands as an icon of the Civil […]
Read More… from The Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. – Reflections for MLK Day