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Can we include a call for minority candidates in our trustee ad? (Anonymous post 🤫)

Ocean King Staff Senior Community Executive at CharityConnect Posted 1 year ago

This question is from a member of our community that wishes to remain anonymous:

Can we put the following in our advert for trustees?

We are particularly keen to broaden the diversity of our Board Members to ensure we have a range of perspectives at meetings and would particularly encourage people who come from non-white backgrounds or are members of the LBGTQ+ community to apply for these roles.

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Robb Masters Staff PANEL

Former charity Chair; current volunteer (and commercial MD) at various. 1 year ago

Yes, you can. And if you're thinking about doing so, you probably should.

While cisgender, heterosexual, white folk such as myself may sometimes assume such measures would discriminate against us, that perspective ignores both that society as a whole still discriminates in our favour, and that charities benefit from such diversity. Well, they do as long as such inclusion is genuine anyway, and not mere tokenisation. Here's a good article on that:

https://medium.com/the-nonprofit-revolution/8-ways-people-of-color-are-tokenized-in-nonprofits-32138d0860c1

As a white person myself, I'm keen not to speak for those who are racially marginalised. However, I would suggest investigating alternative terms to "non-white", as this is often seen to centre whiteness (which obviously isn't what you're trying to do!) For example, I note that NCVO is now using (people of the) "global majority".

https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/ncvo-adopts-term-global-majority-instead-of-bame-or-ethnic-minorities.html

If you haven't already, you may also like to reflect on any other groups that are not represented on your board (e.g. disabled trustees, neurodivergent trustees, young trustees…) The nine protected characteristics are a good start, but not fully comprehensive (e.g. they omit anything along the lines of class, status, or wealth.)

https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/equality/equality-act-2010/protected-characteristics

I'd also suggest checking out initiatives such as Uncharitable (formerly BAMEOnline), CharitySoWhite, CharitySoStraight / QueerTrustees, Young Trustees Movement…

All the best,

Robb

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Mike Preston Staff PANEL

Between Roles at Between Roles 1 year ago

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You certainly can, this has been best practice In staff recruitment for a number of years.

This website has some great examples of what you could say, dependent on the context.

https://www.equalityni.org/Employers-Service-Providers/Small-Business/Hiring-new-staff/Hiring-staff-Factors/Recruitment-advertising

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David Head Staff PANEL

Charity Consultant at Change is the Only Constant (consultancy) 1 year ago

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Always a VERY interesting debate and somthing that has to be handled with care. As a Whammy (white heterosexual able-bodied middle-aged male) I've found myself disadvantaged at times by this kind of action, frustrating when I can see that I have the skills and experience to offer but know I would not be interviewed.

If you have genuine NEED for a particular perspective then of course that is important. If you are trying to "tick boxes" then it's more problematic and your emphasis should switch back to skills and experience.

Hope that this (maybe slightly controversial) input helps

:-)

David

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Rose Cruickshank Staff PANEL

Performance Marketing Manager at CharityJob 1 year ago

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David Head Hi David, if you were better than other applicants but not being called in for interview due to your demographic, that would count as positive discrimination – not positive action – and is unlawful in the UK. It's important for employers to understand the difference between positive discrimination vs action to ensure they are only using demographics to sway a decision on an appointment when candidates are of equal merit. See the links I shared in my comment below.

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Rose Cruickshank Staff PANEL

Performance Marketing Manager at CharityJob 1 year ago

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You are absolutely able to include a line in your job description to say that you welcome minority candidates – and you are able to detail which minority groups you would particularly welcome in order to better diversify your board. This falls under the remit of 'positive action'. Here is the government's guidelines on positive action vs positive discrimination and here is UCL's very practical guide of how you can use positive action in your recruitment. Hope this is helpful!

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