The topic of diversity has become increasingly relevant to the sector and to me personally over the past few years. Not just because I am from an ethnic minority group but also because how increasingly frustrating it is working with leadership teams that fail to link their diversity strategy to business critical problems they are facing in their organisation.

The case for a more diverse and inclusive workforce are pretty indisputable, and the charity sector is not immune, despite its best intentions charities fail to recognise how a more effective diversity policy can be a competitive advantage and enabler for other parts of the corporate strategy.

Third Sector recently shared an update to their comprehensive report a few years back which shows the dire lack of diversity as you go up the leadership chain, apparently worse than the private sector. As a senior manager and interim executive in a number of these organisations it is not through lack of desire in leadership teams, most have diversity and inclusion policies, strategies and even board champions. The problem lies in recognising its impact as a catalyst to solving other problems and thus lack of priority and poor implementation. Below are some tips on how to make the case for diversity in your organisation that may actually help you realise the transformational change you seek;

Introducing a diversity strategy with multiple work streams across the organisation requires significant change management and resource and thus competing for these at the board table with other executives can be difficult. Especially when unlike other strategies being presented, there may not be a clear tangible outcome in the short term. Instead, find a suitable diversity champion in the directorate that has a problem to solve (see below examples) and co-create a business case or strategy that incorporates the need for relevant diversity activities as an enabler to overall success.

Find out what data is currently is collected and available and which areas of the organisation are particularly un-diverse. Combine this knowledge with the corporate strategic objectives to evidence your proposals to the relevant management teams. Depending upon the state of this data, your first point of call maybe to help put in better processes and systems to collect and report useful data. This could open up productive conversations with IT teams who manage HR systems to explore technical opportunities.

This will not only help you evidence your proposals to other executives but is likely to help HR make its own business case for diversity or measure the effectiveness of current guidelines.

The demographics of the western world have changed and continue to change at an alarming rate with the US and most of Europe expected to have a non-white, non-native majority population by 2050. In contrast the oldest and largest charities in the west have done little to address the impact and perception of their brands to this changing demographic. Branding, marketing and communication strategies can increase their chances of success when taking into account the changing cultures that now interact with their messaging. The number of times I have to explain to Muslims that the red cross in the Red Cross is not a representation of Christ and Islamic Relief cannot and do not ask recipients of aid about their religion.

The perception of your brands not only impacts the talent and donors you can attract but could be vital in keeping your organisation sustainable and relevant to those around you.

I have not worked or consulted with a charity, large or small, that does not have a challenge attracting and retaining volunteers. Volunteers by their nature are always looking for opportunities to do ‘more’ good and that contribution of time and effort is now increasingly changing with life style choice and access to social media. Volunteering strategies should include clear actions as to how diversity can help increase and retain volunteers. This includes

Better Representation of diverse groups in volunteer representation and committees.

Recognition and reward systems adjusted to cultures and communities you operate in.

Better use of social media and collaboration technology to receive feedback and promote better service design.

The World Giving Index places Myanmar as the most generous country in the world but the top 10 countries are still dominated by western states…the United States, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom etc. What this statistic fails to show is WHO in these countries is actually giving money and how fundraising campaigns continue to miss the boat in attracting these donors. Just Giving reported in 2013 that Muslims donated more on average than any other religious group in in the UK and in 2016 donated over £100 million in the month of Ramadan alone. Yet mainstream charities do little to promote their work in Muslim countries or investigate developing a Zakat policy that would attract the donations of professional Muslims. As the larger charities continue to compete over the same audiences, real growth lies in developing new business models for giving through better understanding of these new giving communities.

Bangladesh and Mexico receive more remittance from their respective diaspora communities in the west then they do in foreign aid yet our programme strategy rarely involves any sincere attempt to involve the representatives from the recipient communities in the programme design or executive decision making processes. The lack of investment in remote collaboration technologies often leaves those based in the field feel isolated and unheard. Co-locating and rotating programme staff, better collaborative technology and a more diverse board can transform how country teams engage in the decision making process.

To promote any change in an organisation, you have to promote and reward what you’re looking for people to imitate. Good practice should be shared and when it is, it is recognised at the highest levels. Diversity statistics are presented in quarterly and annual reports like all the other Key Performance Indicators and performance reviews, not just a HR statistic. Include diversity objectives in performance reviews and train managers to treat them seriously. You cannot guarantee a more diverse team but you can show you have tried when recruiting, what channels were used and if you tried anything different then last time.

Better diversity in our sector is not the answer to all our problems, but an effective diversity policy can pay dividends if taken seriously as an enabler to other corporate strategies such as fundraising, volunteering, innovation and insight and give you competitive advantage. For most organisations the place to start is to remove diversity as a separate agenda item/problem child and challenge each team member to incorporate diversity thinking into their business proposals. Only by executing holistically across the organisation are you likely to see the intended benefits.