Diversity and Inclusion Are Everybody’s Business

By Richard Potter

Take a look at my picture and you might ask why someone like me is writing an article on diversity in the fundraising profession. Aren’t I part of the problem? Yes, I am, and that’s why I’m writing.

I grew up in a small town in Iowa. The first person of non-European descent I ever met was Maddy, an African-American woman who worked as a housekeeper Mondays at my best friend’s house. It was 1963 or ’64, and if she had been Caucasian I probably would have called her Mrs. Ross. I can recall one or two African-Americans in my high school and perhaps a handful of Latinos, but I knew none of them personally.

My perceptions of race and ethnicity were formed mainly by popular culture: television shows like All In The Family, movies like Sounder and Blazing Saddles and comedians like Richard Pryor and Cheech & Chong. However, the reality of racial prejudice hit me square in the face about 20 years ago, just as I was starting out in my career as a fundraising professional. I worked as a project manager for a telemarketing firm. Our division focused on fundraising for higher education, and most of our sales staff had previously worked in resource development for colleges and universities. One of the newer sales reps had been struggling to secure clients and was at risk of losing his job. At the eleventh hour he closed a deal with a national fraternity. The project was assigned to me and I began to pull together the team that would call members of the fraternity to ask for capital campaign contributions.

Most of the prospective donors to be called had graduated from college between 1950 and 1980. All were Caucasian. Looking back, it would have been wise to take this into account when assigning callers to the team (see Birgit Smith Burton's Thought Leader column in the Winter 2007-2008 issue of Kaleidoscope). The first night there was a number of African-American callers on the team and it wasn't long before one of them asked to be transferred to another project. Apparently one of the fraternity members had reacted to his dialect, saying, "I ain't going to give no money to no n-----."

After a quick consultation with the client, we shuffled callers so that only Caucasian males were calling for the fraternity. African-American callers were assigned to other projects. The next day, the sister of one of the callers who had been removed from the fraternity project visited my cubicle.

"Those racial slurs make my brother and every other black caller feel like less than a human being," she said. "Some of them are planning to quit ... maybe even sue. Why isn't the company canceling the contract? If they don't, it's as good as putting a stamp of approval on racism."

I brought her concern to the attention of my boss and we struggled with the dilemma. The project’s sales rep was also a friend; canceling the contract would likely take money out of his pocket. It was a large contract; canceling it could lead to layoffs. Ultimately, we felt there was nothing more we could do.

With 20/20 hindsight, I realize we could have done a lot more. We could have acknowledged the emotional distress caused by the project and facilitated a forum to discuss it. We could have provided individual counseling for callers. We could have asked if the fraternity had a written policy on discrimination and if so, shared it with our employees. If not, we could have encouraged the fraternity to start the process. We could have worked within our own company to develop corporate cultural competencies to ensure that everyone would be treated with dignity and respect.

None of this would make up for what the African-American callers had been put through, but implementing even one of these options would have been better than sweeping the situation under the rug.

As bad as it was, the situation did cause me to be more sensitive to the impact of racism and more committed to being part of the solution for inclusion. One of the things that attracted me to my current position at American Humanics is its organizational commitment to diversifying the pipeline of college graduates pursuing careers as nonprofit professionals. Now in my 12th year, I am proud to say that students of color consistently make up 35-40 percent of the American Humanics student body. This is a rich resource for recruiting next-generation fundraising professionals! American Humanics also facilitates the Nonprofit Workforce Coalition, a national alliance of organizations engaging the nonprofit sector in critical workforce issues. A top priority of the coalition is nonprofit workforce diversity, as described in the article “Diversity and the Future Nonprofit Workforce” published in the Jan. 11, 2007, issue of The Chronicle of Philanthropy and written by Michael Watson, vice president of human resources for Girl Scouts of the USA and founding member of the coalition.

What are you and I going to do the next time we are faced with the reality of racism? Or homophobia or age or gender discrimination? If your organization doesn’t have a written policy, draft one for the board’s consideration. If you do have a written policy, dust it off and make it a discussion item on your next staff meeting agenda.

We are nearing the sesquicentennial of the Emancipation Proclamation and still our country wrestles with diversity. Early in 2007 I volunteered to convene a panel of experts to discuss diversity in the fundraising profession. My first calls were to invite the chief development officers from the United Negro College Fund and the Hispanic College Fund to serve on the panel, assuming they would be people of color. Not only were they both Caucasians, but neither colleague could direct me to fundraisers of color to serve on the panel! The irony of the situation provided an excellent illustration for the workshop.

How would you grade your organization in terms of diversity? Do you have written goals for diversifying your staff and your board? When was the last time you checked your progress toward those goals? Many donors are paying close attention to these statistics, and the trend promises to continue. It is wise to be prepared. As fundraising professionals, we have the opportunity—and the responsibility—to influence our organizations, our volunteers and our donors to create a more just and fair society.

Richard Potter is vice president for development for American Humanics, a national alliance of colleges, universities and nonprofits that prepares and certifies next generation nonprofit leaders. His recent achievements include securing a $5 million grant to support the NextGen Leaders program, which provides internship stipends to a diverse group of American Humanics college students pursuing careers as nonprofit professionals.