Hello, everyone. I am Anthony Heaven, Vice President with Graham-Pelton, Higher Education and Practice group leader and our DH strategist for the firm. And my name is Erica Pettis. I am also a vice president at the firm and the leader of our independent school practice group. We are very thrilled to be here today to talk to you about our insight on managing diverse teams and why it's important. First, let us also say a little bit about Graham Pelton. We are a fundraising consulting company chosen by leading nonprofits worldwide. We offer a variety of services from campaign planning and feasibility study to campaign counsel, wealth screening and data analytics and giving audits, just to name a few. And as Anthony said, we are organized into practice groups. So our independent school practice group really has a depth and breadth of knowledge and experience in the field, and we're excited to be here today to talk a lot about a trend that we know is on a lot of our minds DIY in our schools and managing diverse teams. So we know that TBI is a big topic in our society and at our schools in particular. We also know it's a hot topic in our industry as fundraisers. So today we want to turn our focus more inward and talk about diversity within our development and advancement shops. Let's first talk about what it means, why it's important and how we effectively manage diverse teams. So let's start big and let's just define philanthropy and what we mean. Philanthropy is simply defined as promoting the welfare of others, contributing to the social good or exhibiting pro-social behaviors, acts of philanthropy can be small, helping out a friend or a neighbor, making a donation, volunteering, helping an old lady cross the street. Right. It's not just mega gifts we're talking about when we're talking about philanthropy. Sure, There's Bill Gates. Sure, there's the Rockefellers. But we are all philanthropists by contributing to the common good. It's big and small for the purposes of this conversation. However, we're going to be talking when we talk about philanthropy. What we really mean are charitable gifts and charitable giving. At Grand Pelton, we believe that humanity depends on philanthropy and and we also know that charitable gifts are critical for advancing your mission and the work that you do with your students, your teachers and your community. So the work of fundraising is critical, and making the ask as inclusive as possible is key. As we know by being here, we know that you recognize there's work to be done in creating inclusive organizations and inclusive advancement and development teams. And while philanthropy, like so many systems is flawed, we know and believe that there are really good people motivated to work within and to support your organization and ultimately support your mission and your impact. So with all of that said, today, we want to talk a little bit, you know, a brief discussion about the current landscape and design work, why its application is important for development and advancement teams, and really dig into how we cultivate a diverse workforce and create an inclusive atmosphere. So I love this graphic. It's a great way of breaking down those three letters that are on the top of everyone's minds. So diversity is all the ways in which people differ, right? We are all different. We have different experiences and come and come in different ways, shapes and sizes. Equity is fair treatment, access, opportunity and advancement for everyone. One's identity cannot predict the outcome, right? We know that equity means that we don't all get the same, but we get what's fair and inclusion. I love the circle here, right? A variety of people have power, have a voice and decision making authority. So we all have a seat at a table. We are part of a whole we contribute to the whole and we're able to show up as our whole self. And these are all really important concepts that I know we're all very familiar with. So why does it matter, right? Why does diversity and fundraising matter? And perhaps here I'm stating the obvious, but the big picture is that it matters to not only your school, probably you personally, but it also matters to fundraising, a lot of fundraising and a lot of the way, you know, best practices or the things that we've inherited reflects the way things used to be done, reflects really that philanthropy is based on the preferences of a lot of wealthy white men. And we really know that donors are much more diverse than that. Just a few interesting stats, right? In New York, L.A., San Francisco, Houston, San Antonio, San Jose and San Diego have become majority minority communities, right? So the places where so many nonprofit are operating are naturally diverse and so are your donors. Graham Hilton has done a lot of work on and a lot of research on women and giving and what we know is that women give more significantly online, they give more collaboratively, and they're really taking to start the lead and take really starting to take the lead in philanthropy. And as I like to say, flex their philanthropic muscles. Women are at this decision. You know, women are making decisions in 84% of high net worth households. So it's important we're engaging women, not just their spouses. And the women give differently. And the research shows that. So I encourage you to check out our check out some of that research because it's really interesting. We also know that African-American and Asian-American philanthropy represents a larger percentage of discretionary income compared with the overall population. So I think that's an important and interesting fact as well. LGBT donors are growing in visibility and prominent prominence. And when we look at different communities, we know that they have different motivations for giving. There's a difference between individualistic giving and more collective philanthropy that we tend to see more in in Asian-American communities. So it's not a monolith as we think about sort of the fundraising landscape. And we need to recognize that so that we can sort of cultivate and engage with our donors in in meet them in the right way and in the right places. So that's really big picture, right? Why does it matter? It also means that when we reflect all of those things, we are more successful and we raise more money for our schools. And isn't that what we're all here to do? At the end of the day? So I'm going to turn it over to Anthony and we're going to start talking more specifically about shops and about why we need to have and manage effectively diverse teams. Anthony, Erika, thank you so much for laying the context, such a wonderful context for why the work is important and some of the trends we're seeing. So I'm going to jump right into what do the stats say. So we know according to the World Economic Forum, diverse management teams actually have 19% higher revenue due to innovation. We know that when you have diversity and inclusion, because inclusion is the catalyst for diversity, that you have more innovation, more perspectives represented that actually enhance your processes and how you do your work. A 2020 Glassdoor hiring survey said that three out of four job seekers view a diverse workforce as an important factor when considering job opportunities. So we know that current job seekers are looking for that within the atmospheres that they want to work in. What even that reinforces the fact that it's important to send important value for people individualistic, but also for your school. As Eric mentioned, a 2015 study by McKinsey and Company showed that companies in the top quartile of ethnic and racial diversity have a 35% higher likelihood of outperforming the industry median. This is important because when we think about revenue and when we think about what that looks like for a lot of organizations, it's important that we are performing at our top, at our best, and we know that ethnic and racial diversity helps to contribute to how we do the work and again, outperforming what the industry standard is. And then lastly, fund areas. Research showed diverse teams are 70% more likely to acquire two new markets. And we know in advance that we don't really talk about our constituents as markets. But this does translate to how we engage with our constituencies and what does our donor base look like, etc.. So we know that diverse teams tend to have diverse markets and likely diverse donor bases as well. Our population is diversifying. So after our teams, when we think about what the demographics of our country look like, we know that it continues to diversify and even more so, we live in such a global economy that diversity has to be a priority in a value for us as we continue to move for it. So what everyone's been waiting for, right? What are some of the strategies for diversifying your team? And I want to say that again, we talk about diversification first, but that doesn't mean that that's the first step. Oftentimes, the first step is making sure that you have an inclusive culture and making sure that your your school is prepared to really support diversity and in strategic ways. But when we think about diversifying teams, I think is first important to identify what types of diversity you need on your team, right? So take an assessment of your office. Do you notice any glaring disparities? Do you have diverse folks represented in terms of we know there's a lot of types of diversity racial, ethnic diversity, gender, sexual orientation, diversity of thought, etc. What does your office look like and what are the needs that you have on your current team? And then utilize that to help inform your your hiring strategy and protocol? I would like to say this because I think oftentimes we want to look at the pipeline, and I've been hearing a lot of comments about there's not a lot of diversity in the pipeline and where are we going to find diverse candidates, etc.? Well, sometimes it's not just about mining the pipeline, but also about helping to create the pipeline. So thinking strategically about who you're hiring in terms of their competencies, skill sets and passion, I know that in development we oftentimes want folks with that strict development background in independent schools. We want folks who may have been who worked at independent school before. But it's important to understand that sometimes to cultivate diversity, we have to have some candidates who may be outside of the development or the independent school spectrum, but have those valuable skills that will translate into fund raising success. And so thinking is a key protocol or key question to ask yourself when you're in the hiring process is can this person be an effective development professional or do they have key skills and competencies that can crossover and help them be successful in the field? And this may require that you revamp or abandon your former interview protocol. Sometimes it requires change because some of our questions are very direct and what we're asking in terms of their experience within development. You know, another key point to think about is you're thinking through strategies for diversifying your team is that oftentimes, again, we do have we are siloed and we think about development as something we need to have someone with who who's directly in the area that we're fundraising for. And we know that that can lead to even more disparities because we know that people of color, even though they they they may not be an independent school firm raising, there's a lot of people of color who are in the field who don't have the opportunity to break into those institutions because of that type of mentality that we need X, Y, or Z to be successful. So think strategically about how you navigate that and how you continue to change what the ethos is around hiring and who you're looking for. The last thing I really want to talk about is that this is a concept I know we hear a lot and we use it very loosely. Several years ago I heard somebody describe it as being something we don't need a candidate to fill. We need a candidate who complements, who adds value to our school. And so I saw this in action. I was once on a hiring committee several years ago. And in our conversation about one of the candidates, someone said, I don't think they really fit our culture here. And of course, I spoke up and I said, Well, what does that mean exactly? Like, what does fitting into our culture mean? And so it came out that there were some biases about the the candidate's personality and the personality that was status quo for the office. Right. And so we pushed them toward a little bit in terms of how we were thinking about our candidates. And I think that it's important to have biases training for all of your hiring committee folks. Anyone who would be on a hiring committee, because we know we all come with biases and it's important for us to mitigate those and be able to know what they are and think about how to mitigate them so that we can get the best person in the seat for the job. And then lastly, be prepared to support your diversity. Right? Again, inclusion is key for making sure that we can really optimize what diversity looks like. And so you have to have that cultural competency and inclusion that we're about to talk about. And that could mean partnering with your DEI leaders to conduct an office audit so that you can understand what are your blind spots in terms of data that can mean specialized workshops and trainings as appropriate to equip your leaders to be successful in that space. And again, it's important to resource your friends too, of a more diverse and inclusive team. Next, we're going to talk a little bit about inclusion. Right. And I love this image because when you you can also take a poll of your your staff and ask them what are ten words that come to mind when they think about your school, when they think about your organization. And there should be certain words that you see come to light, maybe as belief, maybe it's values, maybe it's diversity is inclusion. I think that it tells a lot what what your internal staff are saying about your organization and tell us a lot about the culture. And we know that DIY and inclusion work can not just be a tagline or something that's temporary, but it has to be integrated into the fabric of your school's culture, right? And needs to be a part of the vision. It needs to be a part of the strategic plan. There needs to be training and resources behind supporting the work and saying that, you know, in order to create a space that does have an open culture that supports building relationships and learning and grow is important for leadership to be intentional about transparency and open to feedback. You may ask anything, What do you mean by this? And I know Erika probably has some examples too. I remember in 2020 I had a someone senior to me who was not my direct supervisor. They reached out to me and they said, Hey, let's grab lunch. And then they sent me a follow up message. Didn't say, Hey, I want to talk a little bit more about how you're feeling doing this these times. And they were referencing the racial reckoning work that was going on at that time. And so one of the first questions which I appreciated from that is not when we sat down for lunch was how are you feeling? But also is this weird to have this conversation with me? And I say, yes, it's a little weird because we we have not been in in relationship or growing our relationship. We don't have that familiar with each other. And so it feels kind of like a one off. I appreciate the concern, but I think that, you know, it does feel like a one off. This is important because I think we have to build solid relationships with our colleagues and think about in the office who are the people that we've never had lunch with or who are the people we know very little about? And when we can talk more about this inclusion. But I think it's important first to root yourself in having solid relationships, to understand people outside of your perspective, etc. I remember being on a call with a donor. They created a space for everyone to share. And one of the things that she said that really resonated with me as we talk about our work, but how many of us have somebody from a different identity than ourselves over for dinner right? She's like, How many of us have done X, Y, and Z in order to really just demonstrate that we believe it in our personal lives? So the first step is creating that space for transparency, being open to feedback as a leader and continuing to learn. I think the other step is creating learning opportunities and growth opportunities through dialog, right? Whether that be book clubs or cultural conversations where you invite an expert in to talk about a certain cultural experience or about cultural philanthropy, etc. you want to make sure you have these structure opportunities to educate folks so that the educational aspects aren't just on the underrepresented folks within your within your school I think is important. Again, one of the things I've seen done really well is to present your team with different conundrums in the fundraising space, especially as it pertains to DTI and asking them how would they handle the situation. We are in no shortage of hot topics, but then, you know, within fundraising and I had a former boss who would just say, Hey, I know you all saw this headline. What would you do in this situation or circumstance? Right now was not a right or wrong answer, but it gave us a chance to engage meaningfully about different topics. And then we want to make sure that we are supportive of GAP officers who may face challenges due to their cultural identity or due to one of their identities that they possess. Right. And we know that oftentimes organizations will bring in get officers and not be prepared for the fact that they may encounter racism, sexism, homophobia, whatever it may be. So how is your school equipped to support your gift officers? Right. Is there a protocol for if if a donor does cross that line and does do something that's discriminatory or that's harassment, how are you supporting the gift officers? What is that protocol look like? I think that institutions have these protocols, but they're oftentimes not very transparent to the staff members. I've spoken to a lot of different leaders within different philanthropic spaces, and they talk about we think it exists, but we don't know what the policy actually is In practice. And so creating that framework and thinking strategically about how you support diversity within your team, I will tell you, I've had meetings with donors who have said racist things. I've had meetings with donors who have said sexist, sexist remarks. And it's important for us to identify as the community at one point, do we start to say we don't use that language as this school community, right, and equipping your staff to be able to have those conversations and to be supported in their identities is is important. And then lastly, you know, lean into ally ship and expect challenges, right? You have to continue learning, exposing yourself to different thoughts and perspectives. And oftentimes the challenges that you see arise will help you to grow as a leader and as a colleague and as an ally. Right? So really lean into that. Talk to your colleagues. If you're not in a position of leadership about how you can be a better ally to them as a as a colleague. Right. And talk to them about how they can be, how you can support them in their work. Listen to them, amplify their voices. And I know we'll talk about some of the common mistakes that we see in just a second. But think about what allyship means to you and then expect challenges and work through those challenges for a more inclusive environment. Off the rails. What are some common mistakes that we see within this space? And we're laughing about this not because is a laughing matter, but because we see these are all too often and we know that there are some practices that we can do to eliminate some of these. So one to savior complex. We know that when you are endeavoring to have a diverse and inclusive environment, it's important that you watch your narrative in how you're communicating your work as well as the impact of your work. Microaggressions. This is another significant one, right? When and we know what microaggressions are, they're they're they're these aggressions that may not be very fragrant in terms of or flagrant I'm sorry, flagrant in terms of what it looks like. But we know there's underlying tones such as you're actually very smart, right? What does that mean? And so these microaggressions and how you can make sure that you're thinking proactively about how you're using microaggressions and how to start working your way out of that framework, harmful silence. We've seen this very often where someone in the meeting will say something that's hurtful or harmful to another colleague based off of their identities. And no one says anything. And as an ally, it's important to for you to identify when it is appropriate to speak up. But also it's important for leaders to start thinking strategically about how to handle these situations and how not to let that silence exist. Right When something harmful comes up, it's important for leadership to figure out a way to address it in the most productive way possible. Speaking versus amplifying, I will tell you, I really appreciate allies who amplify voices because often we have seen folks literally take an idea that was spoken before, whether it be months ago, and reconvene it as their own idea versus amplifying that initial voice that said this. I've been in meetings and I'm not sure why exactly my opinion was discounted, but when I had a colleague who was of a different identity say the same idea, they'll would be like, you know, they'll say it, and then, oh, that's a great idea, such and such. And they're like, Oh, I'm just repeating what Anthony said, you know, last week, right? So thinking strategically about how you amplify the voices of those around you, refusing to learn, this is a key one, right? If you just refuse to learn about the folks around you, about different cultural perspectives, about how you can improve your DTI culture, of course that will be an impediment. And then lastly, self-care and advocacy is important for people to do self-care. We know that there are a lot of issues that are arising right now, whether it's from political issues or stances of your in your school, etc. It's important for you to do self-care and to do check ins with yourself, your colleagues. I mean, the folks that you're allies for know that sometimes it's not that you have to say anything specific, but that it speaks power to knowing that you're there to support folks and that you're doing your self-care work as well, and that it's important. I think, in terms of the advocacy piece going back to the to the having the protocols in place, it's important for your community to feel empowered to set up those standards and to know that no donation is worth their dignity or worth them being harassed over. Right. And I think that that has to be ingrained within the culture of your school because if it doesn't come from leadership, people won't feel supported in navigating these types of situations. And then what we want to do is kind of recap. We covered a lot in a very short amount of time and we want to recap what we've discussed. So one is the idea in action, what does it look like evaluate from hiring through your organization or experiences? Right. It could be looking at your hiring committees, looking at who you've hired, looking at your hiring protocol as doing an audit of your organization and specifically your advancement operation, and then talking to folks who are within your operation about their experiences and learning from them and figuring out ways in which you can enhance the culture. I've been at institutions previously, and a year later I got a call from someone who says, We're working on the idea and we want to know if you experienced any of these challenges while you were here. Maybe that's helpful for you. If you saw an exodus of folks from your from your school, maybe it's helpful to call them up and to talk a little bit more about their experiences so that you can learn and then institutionalize your DTI efforts and what you learn. Right? So thinking strategically about how do we embed this into the fabric of our work, how is it a part of our strategic plan? How is it a part of our messaging? How are we being very intentional about solidifying this within our school and then create an environment that facilitates learning and growth? We talked earlier about resourcing the work. It's important to create these learning opportunities that are official, whether it be workshops, conversations for change, but also building a foundation where folks know that it's important for us to learn about each other, to share, and to build relationships as a team. Appreciate cultural expressions and celebrations. This is huge. I've heard a lot of conversation within the last few years about how our holidays don't always reflect the values in the holidays and culture of celebrations of our fellow, of our fellow work workmates. And so it's important for us to identify what are some of the expressions and celebrations that we need to incorporate within our culture and be knowledgeable about. And sometimes this is just an educational moment, but often, sometimes it involves a celebration to make sure that your colleagues know that you value their identities and know that they can bring their whole selves to work every day. And then lastly, provide support for employees. So this again, I think is key. When you're when you're institutionalizing these efforts, you have to have protocols and support mechanisms in place to make sure that your your your colleagues, your employees feel supported, to make sure that they know you value their mental well-being. As a gift officer who may encounter a number of situations in the field and mostly say again, to solidify their connection to your school. Right. They know that you embrace them, you support them, and there will be dedication to your school and it will enhance their overall experience within within the environment. And so that's a recap of what we what we've discussed. Erika, did you have anything to add? No, thank you so much, Anthony, for walking us through that. And I hope those listening at home or at work, wherever you are, find this useful. We know it's so important. I know so many of us are dedicated to this and it's helpful to just have some tools and some some really defined next steps to making sure that we are as inclusive as we want to be when we're managing our teams. Thank you for that, Erika. Let us know if you have any questions. Will include our email addresses for for reference and we can share resources on how you can help, on how you can build out a more equitable and inclusive and diverse organization. And we're here if you need anything. Thank you all so much for joining. We really appreciate your attention to this and we look forward to seeing your organization, your school, thrive and really institutionalized efforts.

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