ACEVO and IoF urge charities to prioritise increasing diversity in their workforces in order to prevent groupthink, generate more income, operate more creatively and attract the best talent. In order to create stronger, more resilient charities the two membership bodies are asking charity leaders, and leaders from wider civil society organisation that want to improve diversity and inclusion, to sign up to eight leadership principles:
- Acknowledge that there is a problem with racial diversity in the charity sector and commit to working to change that.
- Recognise the important role leaders have in creating change by modelling positive behaviour and taking action.
- Learn about racial bias and how it impacts leadership decisions.
- Commit to setting permanent and minimum targets for diversity that reflects the participants, donors, beneficiaries and the population of the area that my charity operates in.
- Commit to action and invest resources, where necessary, in order to improve racial diversity in my charity.
- View staff as the sum of many parts rather than a single entity and recruit to build a diverse group of talented people collectively working towards a shared vision.
- Recruit for potential, not perfection.
- Value lived experience, the ability to draw from one’s lived experience and to bring insights to an organisation that can develop its work.
