Here are some sample actions that you can take at your organization right away. There are a lot of them, but try not to get overwhelmed. Pick a few to implement. Be ok with making mistakes and not getting everything right the first time. The work of equity is ongoing and iterative.
Hiring
- Disclose salary range on all your job postings
- Remove formal education requirements except for specialized positions
- Do not require vehicle or driver’s ID unless it’s an essential function
- Be thoughtful about candidates who were formerly incarcerated
- Send out job questions in advance
- Examine unwritten (and thus inequitable) rules like follow-up thank-you notes
- Do not require bespoke assignments (without pay)
- Pay job candidates for their time doing interviews
Pay Equity
- Analyze gender and race gaps in your current salaries, adjust for them
- Provide paid family leave
- Pay staff of color extra if you’re asking them to lead DEI work
- End employee giving campaigns; don’t ask staff to donate to the organization
Org culture
- Have ongoing trainings regarding racism, anti-Blackness, ableism, transgender identity, neurodiversity, etc.
- Spell out your org values and what they look like in action
- Allow flexible work hours
- Consider religious holidays (for example, have floating holidays instead of requiring everyone to take Christmas off)
Board:
- Rethink 100% board giving and give-get policies, as they tend to favor board members who have more money
- Rethink whether Robert’s Rules or other formalities are leaving people behind
- Recruit and onboard 3 board members of color at a time to avoid tokenism and isolationism
Communications:
- Add descriptions/alt-text on every image
- Add captions/subtitles to all your videos and video meetings
- Have font sizes big enough for people to read
- If you’re doing a video or podcast, provide a complete transcript
- Ensure your language is not too academic or full of jargon
- Spell out your acronyms
- Don’t use ableist terms like “tone-deaf”
- More tips at https://tinyurl.com/EquitableComms
Fundraising:
- Invite donors to conversations about race, equity, and how wealth has been built on systems of injustice.
- Create opportunities for donors to examine where their wealth came from
- Give feedback to sexist, racist, ableist, transphobic donors. Be willing to lose some donors
- Stop recognizing donors by donation levels
- Don’t apply for grants if your org is stable ad grassroots POC-led organizations could use the funds more
- Audit your materials to see if you’re engaging in “poverty tourism”
- Compensate clients if you ask them to do work such as present at donor events
- Give credit and highlight the work of other organizations
- More actions at: https://tinyurl.com/EquitableFundraising
Community partnerships:
- Pay partner organizations fairly if you’re collaborating
- Help organizations led by and serving communities of color by introducing them to your funders and partners
Data and evaluation:
- Disaggregate your data by race, ethnicity, gender, etc.
- Find and work with evaluators of color
- Compensate community members for their time answering surveys, etc.
Operations:
- Contract with women- and minority-owned businesses
- Ensure facilities are accessible to individuals in wheelchairs
- Make bathrooms gender-neutral or welcoming to people of different genders
- Ensure facilities are friendly to all parents, such as changing tables
- See if staff need private room for prayers
- See if staff need private room for breastfeeding/pumping
- Have culturally-diverse toys and books for children who may be visiting