Inclusive

Inclusive organizations are diverse at all levels . The decisions they make incorporate a wide range of viewpoints and perspectives, which promotes responsiveness and adaptability.

The Gill Foundation, like many others, has worked hard to embrace inclusivity in a deep way. They describe this quality as follows: “Inclusive organizations not only have diverse individuals involved; more importantly, they are learning-centered organizations that value the perspectives and contributions of all people, and strive to incorporate the needs and viewpoints of diverse communities into the design and implementation of universal and inclusive programs.”

Inclusive thinking benefits more than just programs, however. Communication also becomes more effective when inclusivity becomes an organizational value. That’s because strategic communications requires talking and listening; an outbound behavior and an inbound one.

Inclusivity appears in many forms, ranging from diversity and cultural competency trainings to providing opportunities for partners, peers and grantees to share feedback on your organization’s performance. When organizations invest in growing the skills and systems required to truly solicit, hear and embrace a diverse set of internal and external opinions, they also expand their communication capacity.

Believers in top-down, command-and-control communications sometimes fear that too much inclusivity may dilute message potency or make an organization risk averse, but our research suggests otherwise. Time and again we see that organizations whose communication strategy is shaped by a multitude of opinions tend to be more precise, honed and focused at telling their story.

The result: greater clarity and impact.

by the numbers

85%

Percentage of respondents who agree that effective communication is essential for engaging all of the people the organization works with.
SURVEY

180

Number of foundations that have signed on to Philanthropy’s Promise.
SOURCE

26

Number of philanthropic organizations in the D5 Coalition to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in philanthropy.
SOURCE

86%

Percentage of nonprofit board members in the U.S. who are white (non-Latino). A mere 7 percent are African American or black, and 3.5 percent are Latino.
SOURCE

tips and insights

Inclusive practices advance the common good, increase organizational effectiveness, and enhance impact (D5 Coalition).
SOURCE

Being inclusive means remembering that communication is as much about listening as it is about talking.

There is no hard data available on the number of U.S. foundations and nonprofits that have conducted a diversity and inclusion audit.

Voices

If we don’t tell our story about why the work we do matters in the community, people won’t know what we stand for and won’t have a reason to engage with and be excited by what we’re trying to achieve.

EXECUTIVE LEADER Community Foundation

Communication is a form of engagement. Change does not happen unless key stakeholders are engaged in substantive conversations, meaningful relationships, and practical actions that demonstrate change-making.

EXECUTIVE LEADER Private Foundation

Communication is important because the work only gets done if the people doing it and the people being helped understand what we are doing, why we are doing it, how well we are doing it, and what comes next.

EXECUTIVE LEADER Private Foundation

Exemplars

exemplar

Inclusive Workplace Toolkit

The Gill Foundation

The Inclusive Workplace Toolkit offers some useful information including suggested language for company policies and procedures, document templates, and case studies. The goal of the toolkit is simple: it should allow your organization to take equality to the next level.

exemplar

Understanding New Orleans, One Neighborhood at a Time

Greater New Orleans Foundation

The Greater New Orleans Foundation uses these neighborhood tours to engage donors in the work being done through foundation grants by small, grassroots organizations.

exemplar

Diversity Audit

The California Endowment

The California Endowment conducts and publishes an annual diversity audit as part of its commitment to inclusivity.

exemplar

Philanthropy’s Promise

National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy

Each foundation that has signed on to the initiative is committed to providing at least half their grant dollars for the intended benefit of underserved communities, broadly defined, and at least one quarter of their grant dollars for systemic change efforts involving advocacy, community organizing and civic engagement.