The majority of nonprofit organizations serve clients from vulnerable, marginalized communities. These people are more likely to be racialized clients who experience complex challenges and issues related to racism, poverty, mental health, the criminal justice system, and domestic violence.
 
It is imperative that volunteer leaders are reflective of these populations served. Specifically, it is important that racialized individuals, and internal racialized volunteers, are provided with opportunities in paid volunteer management leadership positions.
 
When racialized individuals are provided opportunities to be in leadership positions in organizations, where volunteer management is of primary concern, the organization and its members experience innumerable benefits. For this reason, we need to intentionally look for and recruit people who are racialized.

Some of the benefits include:

1. Diversity of leadership thought—this can help with the increase of diverse volunteer programs and services. This may very well increase the recruitment and retention of racialized volunteers, as they “see” themselves reflected within the organization, thereby fostering a sense of belonging and an attraction to the organization.
2. Culturally relevant lens—this provides a lens in which organizational structural change and strategic direction has the potential to drive organizations towards (more) equitable policies and practices.

Volunteer management leaders, in collaboration with nonprofit management, are the main point of contact for volunteers and racialized individuals. As such, we should ensure that racialized individuals are recruited into volunteer management positions.
 
To recruit racialized individuals, it is important that an intentional, strategic and action-oriented recruitment plan be developed. For this plan to be effective, the following questions need be included and answered prior to recruiting racialized individuals:

1. Why do we need to recruit racialized individuals in volunteer management positions?
2. What values, principals and practices do racialized individuals bring to these leadership positions that individuals who are White do not?
3. What cognitive biases do we as an organization and individual leaders have about racialized people that may impede our “good” intentions of recruiting racialized individuals in these paid positions?
4. Where will we recruit these racialized individuals from?
5. What are the methods that we will use to recruit racialized individuals?
6. How do we evaluate that the hiring methods and practices were successful?  

In addition to the intentional, strategic and action-oriented recruitment plan there are various factors to consider when looking for racialized volunteer management leaders:

1. Incorporate inclusive, non-discriminatory language that signifies community building and belonging. Individuals from racialized backgrounds are more likely to be community oriented and have been informally volunteering with their own communities in various capacities (Volunteer Match Blog, 2018). Other terms such as supporting, caring-for and helping are used in these communities to describe informal volunteering (ibid). Ensure that both volunteer management and nonprofit leaders are educated on these terms so that they are not using “good” intentions to inflict harm on already stigmatized and marginalized communities.

2. Build inclusive and meaningful relationships to connect and actively engage with the racialized community that you want to recruit from. This may involve collaborating with racially specific organizations to learn more about the individuals in their communities. Ask the leaders of these organizations how best to approach and build trusting relationships from the communities targeted for recruitment. Be sure to include the reason that you are seeking individuals from these communities. Ensure that as volunteer management leaders engage with racialized communities they are continuously self-reflecting on any unconscious racial and ethnic biases they may have about these communities. Every racialized community is different. The traditional approach of community engagement and building communal trust may not work for every community. Engage in an ethical and transparent manner to build on the principles of inclusive practices. Connect with members of these communities and get to know them.

3. Recruit racialized volunteers who are already committed to and familiar with your organization. Take care and caution to ensure your intentions are honourable. For instance, do not hire racialized individuals internally or externally simply because they are racialized. Doing so suggests that you are seeking to fill a quota and it can be racially harmful—tokenism constitutes racism. Hire skill-based racialized individuals because they have valuable skills, experiences, and bring relevant culturally lived experiences, innovative ideas, and a deep understanding of the communities the organization serves. Be careful to not assume that the people you hire are somehow experts on the community. 

I believe strongly that all volunteer management and nonprofit leaders, and these newly hired racialized candidates, need to be trained on DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) matters. This will ensure everyone will gain valuable and vital knowledge and leadership skills, explore their own biases and blind spots, and those of the organization, and engage in equitable, inclusionary and non-discriminatory hiring practices.
 
Benefits of DEI Matters Training: 

• gets leaders thinking about the various meanings of diversity, equity and inclusion
• helps to provide opportunities where diverse voices, perspectives and thoughts are heard
• has the high potential to drive collaboration and innovation in the field
• helps to show how to create equitable and inclusive safe spaces where racialized volunteers can thrive
• helps to promote respect, care and concern for racialized individuals and the challenges that they experience in White dominated spaces
• helps gain greater understanding that who we are and how we think about racialized individuals and groups, both in and outside of work, directly affects how we treat others on a personal, professional and systemic level.

 DEI Training Components:   

• introduction to DEI, and its relationship to volunteer management and the nonprofit sector
• how to incorporate racialized voices, insights, and perspectives in volunteer management leadership decision making
• learning about systemic racism and White privilege
• strategies to ensure the true inclusion and belonging of racialized volunteers
• analyzing the risks of hiring for racial diversity but not including the importance of providing equitable and inclusionary spaces for racialized leaders.

 Here are some resources on the importance of DEI in the workplace and everyday life:  

1. Deborah L. Plummer book Handbook of Diversity Management: Inclusive Strategies for Driving Organizational Excellence
2. Charlotte Sweeny and Fleur Bothwick book Inclusive Leadership: The definitive guide to developing and executing an impactful diversity and inclusion strategy
3. Robin DiAngelo paper on White Fragility: https://libjournal.uncg.edu/ijcp/article/viewFile/249/116
4. Peggi McIntosh “White Priviledge: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” https://www.racialequitytools.org/resourcefiles/mcintosh.pdf
5. Ibram X. Kendi’s book How to be an Antiracist

As an expert in DEI matters, I firmly believe in the vital importance for leaders of volunteer management, and nonprofit management, to know about DEI matters and frameworks, and conceptualizations for change, and how to implement these. I also highly recommend that the intentional, strategic and action-oriented recruitment plan, and its components described above, are put together with a DEI consultant.
 
Nada Johnson is the Principal Consultant at Johnson Career Strategy Consulting. One of her passions is creating inclusive organizations where racialized individuals feel they belong, and they are meaningfully contributing to making a difference in the lives of the clients they serve. As a Registered Social Worker and Psychotherapist (MSW RSW) and a Certified Career Strategist, one of Nada’s gifts is working collaboratively with organizations and individual clients in recognizing that they are catalysts for change, both together and separately. Nada can be contacted for DEI consultation and training. For more information about the services Nada and her team offer, please visit johnsoncareerstrategy.com.