Season 7 Episode #9 Engaging Diverse Stakeholders in Nonprofit Decision Making: Strategies for Inclusive Leadership

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"Real change doesn't happen from the top to the bottom—it happens from the center out." This powerful principle sits at the heart of transformative nonprofit leadership that genuinely serves communities through authentic inclusion.

Most nonprofit organizations face a critical disconnect: leadership boards often look drastically different from the communities they serve. This gap undermines effectiveness and perpetuates systemic inequities. When marginalized community members aren't at the table for key decisions, organizations develop blind spots that no amount of good intentions can overcome.

True diversity extends beyond race and ethnicity to include age, ability, language proficiency, gender identity, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status. Tokenism—repeatedly approaching the same individuals from underrepresented groups to serve on multiple boards—creates burnout while preventing organizations from accessing the full breadth of community wisdom. As one nonprofit leader shares, "I don't want to be the token Black woman on this board. I want to be included for my contributions and expertise."

Creating psychologically safe environments where diverse stakeholders feel empowered to share honest feedback, including disagreement, transforms organizational culture from the inside out. This means normalizing constructive criticism, welcoming opposing viewpoints, and abandoning the limiting "this is how it's always been done" mindset that stifles innovation.

Ready to build more inclusive decision-making processes? Start by meeting communities where they are—attend cultural festivals, patronize local businesses, visit different places of worship, and connect with affinity-based leadership pipelines. Evaluate who's in the room when decisions happen and who's missing. Remove participation barriers by ensuring meetings are accessible in time, location, and language. Balance power dynamics so everyone has an opportunity to contribute meaningfully.

Take one bold step today toward more inclusive, community-centered decision-making. The future of effective, sustainable nonprofit leadership depends on it. Share this conversation with colleagues who are ready to transform their approach to community engagement and create governance models where everyone truly has a seat—and a voice—at the table.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey friend, welcome back to the Cultural Curriculum
Chat.
I'm Jeva Edmonds and your guidefor all things diversity,
equity, inclusion and belonging,as well as cultural competency.
So, whether you are in theclassroom, the boardroom or
anywhere in between, you havecome to the right place.
Today we are looking into acrucial topic for anyone in the

(00:24):
nonprofit world how do we ensurethat diverse voices are not
just heard but actively shapingthe decisions we make?
We're talking about engagingdiverse stakeholders in
nonprofit decision-making withreal-world strategies for truly
inclusive leadership real-worldstrategies for truly inclusive

(00:49):
leadership.
So why do we need diversestakeholders and why does that
engagement matter?
We have heard about thetraditional non-profit
leadership model how it oftenlooks.
Usually, it's a lot differentthan the communities that they
serve.
You see, the majority cultureis on the board and other
leadership and the communitythat they serve.
You see, the majority cultureis on the board and other
leadership and the communitythat they serve are from people
from marginalized groups andoppressed groups.

(01:10):
I want you to think about whyengaging diverse stakeholders
leads to a better, moresustainable outcome, and that's
by inviting and including thecommunity members that we're
serving so many of us from thosemarginalized groups.
Don't get asked.
Or there's that same personthat is spread too thin, doing

(01:35):
multiple board seats, multipleengagement, which to some it's a
passion, which is amazing, butto others they feel like they
keep getting asked because theyfeel like there's nobody else
that looks like them to join.
And a lot of the times when yousee multiple people that are

(01:57):
approaching you to be involved,if you are of a different
identity, some of the peoplethat are asking are too scared
to engage with other members ofour community that doesn't look
like them or think like them oract like them, and so you tend
to see that pattern of the samepeople holding multiple board

(02:19):
situations and board seats andboard seats.
So just stepping out of thatcomfort zone and being around
and engaged with diversitygroups ie going to festivals,
going to their businesses andpatronizing there that will help
you become more engaged and getmore diverse stakeholders to

(02:44):
your organizations.
I always say meet us wherewe're at, and you have to do
that by taking that first step.
So again, who are thosestakeholders?
Those are the folks that areour board members, our staff,
our volunteers, our donors andthe communities that are being
served.
You know there are so manypeople in our places around us

(03:06):
that we can have thatinvolvement and outreach.
I want you to think about goingto certain sites that you
haven't traditionally gone tobefore to recruit and retain new
staff, new volunteers, newdonors.
When I'm talking aboutdiversity, it doesn't
necessarily just highlight raceor ethnicity.

(03:29):
It also includes age, ability,language, gender identity,
sexual orientation andsocioeconomic status and, trust
me, there's so many moreidentities that I haven't even
mentioned.
So keep that in mind.
When I'm talking aboutdiversity, it's not just mainly

(03:50):
race and ethnicity, and I wantyou to think about when you are
trying to step outside of yourcomfort zone, going to community
events, going to differentplaces of worship.
I want you to think about who'sin the room when decisions are
being made and who's not, andyou can do these things

(04:13):
authentically without beingperformative.
You know, if you've got acampaign for fundraising for a
particular thing in yourorganization, don't just wait to
the last minute.
You need to be strategic in howare you going to get the word
out, how are you going to marketthe need for help and how are

(04:36):
you going to be there as thattrue advocate for your community
.
I want to give you another tipthat has been really helpful
when I am recruiting anotherboard member or I'm recruiting
another volunteer.
Go to networking events.

(04:56):
Yes, some of us feel a littleintimidating, but when you are
going to these networking events, open up that dialogue and say
you know what?
You've got this awesomefundraiser campaign and I feel
like you would be a great fit.
Would you like to set up acoffee date or a Zoom meeting to
talk more of recruiting andgetting new people interested in

(05:24):
your organization?
And again, I want you to goahead and find those
affinity-based leadershippipelines Black Chambers let's
Next Chambers Even organizationsthat are specializing in
helping children andspecializing in helping our
veterans.
Go to those organizations andsee how you could collaborate

(05:47):
together.
And I also want you to thinkabout psychological safety.
People can't contribute theirskills, their innovative ideas,
if they don't feel safe todisagree with what is proposed
when it comes to a new idea orrevamping an old procedure.

(06:09):
And so I want you to understandthat if somebody might feel
standoffish, you can just see intheir nonverbal communication
that I don't know if this is aspace where I can really give my
two cents or my opinion.
Maybe you could just normalizeit as if somebody is sharing
that it's only feedback and it'snot going to.

(06:34):
I wouldn't say take itpersonally, but just to
normalize that it is feedbackand also welcome opposing views,
to say you know what.
We might not all be on the samepage here, but that's why I'm
inviting you here, because maybeI'm not seeing it at a angle
that everybody else is, and sowe really need to get away from

(06:56):
that.
Oh well, this is how it'salways been and you know, kind
of get right with the program.
That really can be off-puttingfor others.
And I want you to also thinkabout your community advisory
panel.
Who's there, who's missing, whocan we invite into our space?

(07:17):
Again, we need to avoidtokenism.
I can't tell you how many timessome people have come up to me
and said, oh Jab, you are soawesome, which I feel good
because you know, I feel like Iam Thank you very much.
And then they come into thenext line oh, my God, you'd be
great for our board.
We need more Black people andexit stage left, right.

(07:38):
It's like I don't want to bethe token Black woman on this
board.
I want to be included andinvited on my contributions to
the community that I'm living in.
I want to be invited to theboard because of my expertise in
education and my experience asan educator and a classroom

(08:01):
teacher.
Those are the kinds of thingsthat will make me excited to be
a part of your board ofdirectors or your organization
and share and donate to yourcause.
So when you're approaching me asa person, that does not match
your identity, so, jeb, how canwe be the best person that can

(08:33):
help engage those diverse folksthat are coming into our spaces?
You need to remember ourdiverse groups goes beyond the
surface.
We need to acknowledge that.
We have blind spots, groupthinking.
You know the majority rulesWell, does it really?
You know we need to build thattrust and legitimacy of your

(08:55):
organization.
Have people heard about you inyour local community?
Can they tell you what you do?
Can that be reflected on you?
How are you putting out yourorganization and your board of
directors with the majority ofthe folks that you are serving?

(09:16):
And again, how does thatcontinue to be equitable in our
spaces?
How can we be aligned with ourown nonprofit values of justice
and community empowerment?
Are we being transparent withthe folks that we serve?
Are our decisions up for input,like I talked about before?

(09:38):
Are we allowing feedback?
Are we allowing dissent and ourtimelines.
If we've got a project or afundraising campaign, who's
helping in that decision makingof those timelines and our
constraints?
You know what kind of nonprofitconstraints have we been facing

(09:59):
and how can we mitigate thatconcern for the folks that we
are serving?
Again, this might mean havinglistening sessions or trainings
for your staff.
It could be prepping sessionsor giving stipends to community
members.
How can we be creative ingetting the word out and using

(10:21):
the tools that we have tocontinue to make this work
prosper when we are continuingto center our equity?
That means to remove thoseparticipation barriers.
Are our meetings accessible intime, location and even our
language that we're using?
Are our cultural norms evenwritten out and respected?

(10:45):
And are we balancing our powerdynamics?
Is there somebody that's justconstantly speaking for others?
How can we make sure that allof the voices are heard?
To be clear, when we are gainingmore diverse voices and folks
into our spaces, you need tomake sure that not all decisions

(11:07):
need full scale engagement.
A lot of us look at the bigpicture and we get so
overwhelmed.
Well, how can we be that forcefor good and focusing on the
quality of the work that we'redoing with fewer and more
impactful engagements ratherthan the quantity of it all.
We don't want it to get toowatered down, if at all.

(11:30):
So if you are a nonprofitprofessional, especially in the
arts or cultural space, and youare ready to dive deeper into
this work, I've got somethingspecial for you.
I am launching the CulturalCompetency Arts Nonprofit Lab.
It's a new digital course thatyou can purchase right now and
it is designed to equipnonprofit leaders with the tools

(11:54):
and the templates andframeworks to build inclusive
governance models, facilitatepowerful community-led decisions
, create that center of equityand cultural humility in every
step, which also helps avoidtokenism and truly honor all the
voices.
So if you are an arts nonprofit, this is for you.

(12:15):
Let's build nonprofit systemswhere everyone has a seat and a
voice at that table.
And if you'd like to learn more, I've got the link in the show
notes below.
I'm telling you we dove deepy'all, and that's just skimming
the surface.
There's so much we can do byharnessing the power that we

(12:39):
have within to havetransformational, positive
change with the communities thatwe are serving.
Again, I want us to be crystalclear Real change doesn't happen
from the top to the bottom.
It happens from the center out.
So if you are a leadingnonprofit working in one

(13:01):
supporting one, you, my dear,have the power to push for more
inclusive, community-centereddecision-making.
So here's your challenge forthis week.
I want you to pick one of thestrategies I shared from today's
episode and I want you to bringit to your next meeting,

(13:21):
whether it's advocating forcommunity members or reviewing
who's on your decision-makingteam, ie your board of directors
or your leadership.
Just take one bold step forwardand, as always, if you found
value in this episode, share itwith a colleague, leave a review

(13:42):
and let's keep thisconversation going.
You can find all the resourcesthat I shared with you in our
show notes.
Thanks again for listening tothe Cultural Curriculum Chat
podcast, where inclusion isn'tan add-on darling, it is the
assignment.
I'll see you here same timenext week.
Bye-bye.