Many associations struggle to discuss diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and articulate a clear stance within their organizations. However, leaders must embrace DEI principles and empower the staff and members in their association, especially as 71% of association professionals seek to develop and improve DEI efforts, according to the Momentive Software Association Trends Study.
A straightforward method to ensure you avoid common DEI mistakes at your association is to establish a volunteer group dedicated to DEI initiatives. Empowering your volunteers to take the lead will provide an authentic connection to the DEI initiatives, ensuring all are focused and sustainable. It also offers an opportunity to promote inclusivity within your association’s volunteerism efforts.
Read on to learn more about the benefits of creating a diverse volunteer group for DEI initiatives at your association.
The benefits of DEI initiatives at your association
Diversity is a vital component of recruiting more volunteers because it strengthens your volunteer program by offering a highly skilled volunteer base. Having a diverse group of volunteers provides a broad perspective of opinions and philosophies to your association, bolstering your DEI initiatives and positively impacting your members and community.
Before forming a diverse volunteer group, take a moment to consider what diversity truly means. Diversity is often defined as qualities or traits that make people unique. Here are some ways in which diversity can manifest:
- Race
- Gender
- Sexuality
- Age
- Marital status
- Individuals with a disability
- Culture or ethnicity
- Socioeconomic status
- Educational background
- Employment information
There’s no doubt that every member brings value to your association. Emphasizing diversity strengthens your association by enriching your learning program, developing your cultural competencies, and fulfilling your mission to provide the best member experience.
Create your DEI initiatives volunteer group.
Ensuring your DEI volunteer group is both diverse and inclusive should be a priority as you begin to recruit members to volunteer. After you’ve created the group, you can move into training and engaging your volunteers.
1. Recruit a diverse group of members.
To support your recruitment efforts, consider surveying your members and include questions that gather basic demographic data. You’ll also want to cover association-specific details, such as availability and scheduling, professional interests and skill sets, and motivations for volunteering. After you’ve gathered the survey results, you can review the information and determine which members would be the best fit for your diverse and inclusive volunteer group.
2. Train your volunteers.
Once you’ve assembled your DEI volunteer group, it’s wise to train and orient all members about your association to ensure they understand their role. Your association may already have a volunteer orientation manual—if so, consider expanding it to include relevant details about your DEI volunteer group. In the manual, you’ll also want to include your association’s mission statement, goals and long-term plans, a directory of staff and volunteers, a list of Board of Directors and other committees, the reimbursement policy, and the termination policy.
Keep your volunteer training engaging by making the orientation content interesting. Try using icebreakers, gamification features, videos, a slide deck, breakout discussions, group activities, or roleplay to ensure the session is memorable. Providing immersive content will also encourage your volunteers to connect and engage outside of volunteer hours.
Simplify volunteer training by utilizing learning management software. Design a DEI volunteer module with engaging content, such as videos, graphs, and gamification elements, to provide comprehensive information about your association and specific details on their role.
3. Connect your DEI community.
To provide an outlet for volunteer engagement, try offering a subgroup or channel in your online member community. Online communities are a fantastic platform for individuals to discuss relevant volunteer experience or industry information. Providing an easy way for your DEI volunteers to communicate will help them exchange ideas for upcoming initiatives or events.
Use Nimble Communities to not only connect all your members, but also engage your various volunteer committees and groups with each other and your organization.
Empower your DEI initiatives volunteer group.
Once your volunteer group is onboarded and working together, the exciting part can begin—generating DEI initiative ideas for your association. Here’s how to energize your volunteers, guaranteeing they’ll feel appreciated and want to continue investing their time:
4. Be open to new ideas.
Your volunteers are likely already implementing successful DEI initiatives at their organizations. Based on their backgrounds and skill sets, they’ll have a wealth of experience, resources, and helpful ideas for your association. Additionally, any DEI program ideas coming from volunteers will feel more authentic because your members have a better grasp of the current issues in their industry.
Now it’s up to your staff to be open to executing the ideas at your organization. Try not to get stuck in the past with old initiatives; instead, follow up on your volunteers’ suggestions.
5. Credit your DEI volunteer group.
If a volunteer has a viable DEI idea and your staff decides to implement it at your association, ensure you acknowledge their work. Yes, volunteers are offering ideas freely, but you should still credit them accordingly for their thoughts. Respectfully ask a volunteer if it’s okay to use their idea for a blog or whitepaper. Likewise, consider developing an initiative into a webinar or offering continuing education credits. After gaining permission, consider tasking your volunteers to create a DEI resource center of content.
6. Recognize your DEI volunteer group.
Ensure your volunteers feel recognized for their hard work and valuable contributions to DEI—host an event that celebrates their efforts. During the program, offer awards for each volunteer who has contributed to DEI initiatives. Let volunteers share how they generated the idea and their hopes for the reach and impact of their initiatives.
Encourage higher-level staff and leadership to attend the event and share their personal thanks. When you publicly acknowledge volunteers for their work and ideas, they’ll want to continue investing in your association. After the event, don’t forget to follow up with a thank-you note.
Use Nimble Create to design personalized email campaigns and automate your volunteer thank you process. Apply easy-to-use templates to deliver information-rich content to acknowledge your outstanding DEI volunteers.
