The BBB Standards for Charity Accountability include a preamble explaining that, in addition to the specific areas addressed by the standards, charitable organizations are encouraged to adopt other management practices to further charitable accountability. Among these practices is initiating “…a policy promoting pluralism and diversity within the organization's board, staff, and constituencies. While organizations vary widely in their ability to demonstrate pluralism and diversity, every organization should establish a policy, consistent with its mission statement, that fosters such inclusiveness.”

Yesterday, BBB Wise Giving Alliance hosted a webinar on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, exploring  what it means to look at equity and inclusion for charities, how to frame and think about these issues, and how to move a charity forward in its equity and inclusion journey.

The webinar panel was moderated by BBB WGA Board Member, Pratichi Shah, the founder and CEO of Flourish Talent Management Solutions. Panelists included:, Sean Thomas-Breitfeld, co-director of the Building Movement Project, Lupita Gonzalez, founder and CEO of The Thrive Advisory and Gerald Johnson, Chief Diversity Officer of American Heart Association. Sean Thomas-Breitfeld addressed issues like the impact of race on career advancement, systematic barriers working against advancement for people of color, and the racial leadership and constituent gap in the nonprofit sector. As advised by Lupita Gonzales, the first step is to identify an organization’s position in the equity and inclusion spectrum, to then engage in an authentic journey towards equity. Part of that journey can include disarming status-quo language, for instance, by referring to “minorities” as the “global majority,” to empower rather than diminish. Sean Thomas-Breitfeld also spoke to the importance of developing clear mission-based guidance to then transform how the organization looks at equity and inclusion both as a personnel issue and also as broader outlook that informs the organization’s actions. Gerald Johnson shared the example of how American Heart Association has incorporated the matter of equity into both their internal talent systems and how they deliver programs.

While there is much to be done on the issue of diversity, equity and inclusion, deliberately internalizing equity as a matter of mission and practice can help charities achieve greater results.

A recording of excerpts of this webinar will be available at a later date. In the meantime, if you are interested in registering for follow-up discussions on these issues that will involve small groups of people, please send an email to BBB WGA’s Julie Rizzo at jizzo@give.org.

Video of the Week

The BBB Wise Giving Alliance is proud of our network of trusted, BBB Accredited charities, which are rising to the challenge of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic in innovative ways to safely serve us all. In this week's video highlight, Art Taylor is joined by Judith Cruz, President & CEO of the Treasure Coast Food Bank (a BBB Accredited Charity) located in Fort Pierce, Florida, to talk about how her organization is facing the challenge.

Recent Reports

We are always working with charities to publish or update reports for donors. Visit Give.org or local BBBs to check out any charity before giving. Our recently evaluated charities include:

• First Nations Development Institute
• Green Beret Foundation
• HealthWell Foundation

Finally, remember to let us know by going to give.org/charity-inquiry if you are interested in seeing a report on a charity not on the list and we will do our best to produce one.

H. Art Taylor, President & CEO
BBB Wise Giving Alliance