This week on the Nonprofit Jenni Show, listen to the second part of Jenni’s interview with thought leader and advocate Jon Royal about how to bring up the topic of equity and race with your nonprofit’s leadership team. (Check out last week’s episode to hear Part 1!) We continue talking about how to be sensitive and respectful while still approaching the conversation with bold and inspirational courage.
How to Advocate for Racial Justice (And Actually Be Effective)
This week’s podcast episode continues my conversation with Jon Royal from last week, and I highly recommend you listen to Part 1 of our chat because we discuss crucial guidelines to frame a healthy, appropriate conversation about race at your organization.
Here are some tips for success as you advocate for racial justice at your nonprofit:
Find like-minded people and build a community with them.
In Part 2 of our conversation, Jon and I talk about how nonprofits can promote equity and racial justice. It’s easy to feel discouraged as you push for equity because we are working to dismantle a system of white supremacy which has been built up and reinforced for centuries. Organized group efforts, such as building coalitions and engaging in cooperative work with other nonprofits, can help your racial justice efforts gain more visibility and leverage with lawmakers.
Prepare well in advance before hosting any sort of event or campaign.
As a consultant, I get the opportunity to see a lot of nonprofits plan awareness campaigns all the time. Here are some ways to plan a successful campaign:
Make sure your leaders all feel educated and prepared to have hard conversations about race before you even start planning the event. Racism is a difficult subject to talk about, and your leaders need to feel prepared to answer questions and defend your position before you go public.
Be able to concisely describe the problem, solution, and justification of the solution your organization wants to promote. You should be able to quickly and easily grab someone’s attention and educate them about your nonprofit’s efforts. The longer it takes to explain your position, the more likely you are to lose your audience’s attention.
Have at least one call-to-action ready to go for your audience. After someone has bought into your message, be ready to activate their generosity and energy with at least one specific call-to-action. For example, “Donate $25 or more to support our racial justice program”, “Sign our petition”, or “Sign up for our e-newsletter to learn about volunteer opportunities”. It’s fine to have more than one call-to-action, but try to limit yourself to a maximum of three to avoid overwhelming your audience.
Prepare educational resources for those who need more information. It’s important to have a concise version of your nonprofit’s mission, but you also need to have resources ready to go in case someone is looking for more information. These could include your nonprofit’s website, easy-to-read articles to provide context for your program, research articles showing evidence of the problem, and research articles showing evidence that your solution is likely to work.
Be prepared to challenge the underlying beliefs and assumptions of your nonprofit and programs.
Talk about the systems which perpetuate systemic racism, and talk about how to dismantle those systems and build new, stronger ones. For example, Jon describes your nonprofit’s budget as a statement of your organizational values. Do your budget’s line items reflect values like Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)? Here are some other examples of systems which may need to be challenged at your organization:
Your board initiation process
Your recruitment and retention practices
Your compensation and benefit plans for employees
Your development (fundraising) practices
Inevitably, dismantling racist systems will feel like a loss to some people. Some may feel like they are losing a position of power and influence, or like their long-held beliefs and assumptions are being insulted.
Jon’s advice is to start internal conversations about race by explaining how racial justice is in everyone’s best interest. For example, racial justice is in your CEO’s best interest. Racial justice is in your board chair’s best interest.
Your leaders may feel empathy about racial inequities, but it can be difficult for them to feel motivated to take real steps toward racial justice if they don’t feel like they are personally impacted by the inequities.
Remember that racial justice work will require consistent, incremental change.
Don’t be discouraged when you can’t dismantle systemic racism within a month or two! Jon explains that racial justice will require glacial change, which doesn’t happen overnight.
Break your mission into bite-sized, actionable steps. This way, your team and supporters can celebrate small victories along the way toward systemic change and have manageable tasks to keep them focused on the future.
Ready-Made Resources to Help You Start Conversations About Race and Equity at Your Organization
Since my last podcast interview with Jon, a lot of tragic, racist events have occurred which have sparked new conversations about race and equity in the nonprofit sector. In an effort to support nonprofit leaders through these discussions, I created a Racial Injustice Awareness Kit with ready-made communications resources.
However, the national conversation about race has quieted recently. Many people feel uncomfortable talking about race again. They’re afraid of saying the wrong thing and becoming the subject of fiery criticism, or simply don’t feel educated enough about racial injustice to continue advocating for change.
This is why I asked Jon to review my Racial Injustice Awareness Kit so I could appropriately update the information, imagery, and specific verbiage of the included resources. You can hear all of his feedback in this week’s podcast episode, and download the newly updated version of the awareness kit. There are two options to choose from:
1. The free version of the Racial Injustice Awareness Kit, which includes:
A flyer, infographic, and image album breaking down the topic of racial injustice into manageable, bite-size pieces of information
Space on all three resources to include your logo and ask for donations
2. The full version of the Racial Injustice Awareness Kit, which costs $49 and includes:
Editable versions of all three resources listed above, so you can update them with your nonprofit’s preferred colors, fonts, and more
Instructions on how to edit the resources, in case you need suggestions
Sample copy to use in your social media posts, email newsletters, and blog posts alongside the visual resources
Additional Resources to Help Educate Yourself About Racial Injustice
Jon offers recommendations for a few resources you can use to learn more about issues related to race and equity:
Chenjerai Kumanyika’s Twitter feed
Richard Rothstein’s The Color of Law
Get Professional Help Deciding Your Next Steps
Do you feel like you need one-on-one support to strengthen your nonprofit’s team and processes? Schedule a free initial consultation call to chat with me about your challenges. I would love to help you figure out the best next steps to take to promote your organization and mission. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to the Nonprofit Jenni Show for free so you won’t miss any new episodes about nonprofit management, marketing, and development!
Also, I want to thank Little Green Light for sponsoring this episode! Little Green Light is my favorite donor management system because it was built by nonprofit development professionals who know what features and metrics nonprofits really need for their fundraising and relationship building. LGL is also extremely affordable for small nonprofits and offers free fundraising resources for my podcast listeners! Visit www.littlegreenlight.com/jenni for free ebooks like “How to Retain Donors After Your Giving Day”, “Six Steps to a Successful Appeal”, and more.