Sarah Ryan, Ph.D.
When it’s time to give the talk about “increasing diversity” to staffers, volunteers, donors, or board members, it can be tough to find the words. Drawing upon social science research and best practices from the public sector, I suggest the following talking points…
1. Humans seek comfort in sameness; public servants seek justice through diversity.
For a host of reasons, we tend to gravitate toward the people most like us. Communication scholars call this the principle of “homophily” or sameness. Homophily can help ease tensions, minimize misunderstandings, and make people feel more comfortable (e.g., when they don’t feel the need to explain their cultures to colleagues). We seek homophily without even thinking about it most of the time. But when we do stop to think, most of us realize that we also value diversity, complexity, and the productive discussions that arise out of misunderstanding and explaining. We want our nonprofit organizations, our volunteers, and our donors to be diverse. So, we cast out our nets for heterophilous, or diverse, people. Still, attracting and retaining diverse volunteers, staffers, and donors is difficult. We need to start by inviting them…
2. Diverse people must be invited to participate or they won’t know they’re welcome.
The idea of inviting in diversity comes from renowned arts marketer Donna Walker-Kuhne. She is perhaps most famous for assisting George C. Wolfe in transforming New York City’s Public Theater into a multicultural destination for the arts. George wanted the audiences at The Public to be as diverse as the folks waiting for trains at subway stops. Donna articulated the steps that enabled him to reach his dream. She wrote down her activities, methods – even to-do lists – in “Invitation to the Party: Building Bridges to the Arts, Culture and Community” (2005, New York: Theatre Communications Group). In a nutshell, Donna argues that people must be invited to participate in cultural events and volunteer work, or they will think they’re unwelcome. She suggests transforming institutions around the practice of inviting…
3. Inviting is a strategic, thoughtful activity that requires dedication and follow-up.
When we commit to increasing the diversity of our organizations, we realize that we must extend invitations to people who have not traditionally donated, volunteered, or supported our events. The good news is: we usually know who these people are! A quick comparison of a donor list with the local phonebook is a great start. From the research, we also know that African Americans and Hispanics are frequently overlooked as donors and volunteers. The marginalization of these or other groups of people arises from a number of misunderstandings and stereotypes. These assumptions are rooted in subconscious homophily, translated into “people like me will give time and money to the organizations and activities I value.” We need to consciously shift this line of thinking to “people different from me might value and support the same things I value and support.” We need to test out this idea by inviting diverse people to participate in our activities and following-up with them regularly.
Invitational campaigns can begin at any time. But, they require a deep commitment to cultivating diversity. Still, as Donna Walker-Kuhne suggests, if we invite people to the party, they will come. And it will be a much better party!
Sarah Ryan, Ph.D., is from the Department of Communication at The University of Texas at El Paso and is a guest blogger.
