To reduce bias when hiring, take care when setting minimum qualifications for positions. Think carefully about the skills a person needs to be successful. Sometimes the skills and experience required for jobs make it more likely that affluent — and mostly white — people will qualify. For instance, many entry-level nonprofit jobs require volunteer experience. But many low-income and minority college graduates work paid jobs while in school, reducing the likelihood that they’ll spend a lot of time volunteering. Instead of focusing on volunteer experience, she says, nonprofits might weigh relevant work experience more heavily. “Often what [nonprofits] say they need as selection criteria doesn’t actually tie to the job,” says Monisha Kapila, chief executive of ProInspire, an organization that develops nonprofit leaders. Get more advice in How to Overcome Implicit Bias in the Hiring Process. And don’t forget you can consult more than 1,150 articles and tools offering advice and shortcuts online.
How to Thank Donors — and Bring Them Closer to Your Cause
Join Our Webinar — Donors have stepped up in a big way to help nonprofits respond during the Covid-19 crisis. How are you thanking the supporters who are helping you through these tough times? We all know that showing appreciation, keeping donors involved, and sharing your results helps inspire long-term giving. But it can be hard to do that when so many regular ways of communicating are curtailed.
Don’t miss this chance to learn creative ways to thank, engage, and retain donors in a time of social distancing. Two top fundraisers will show you how to shift your donor-relations strategy, adjust fundraising expectations, and redefine success in the year ahead. Join us on July 16 at 2 pm Eastern for a 75-minute webinar. Sign up now to get a special 40% discount off the regular rate.
One-on-One: A Giving-Pledge Donor Calls for Change in a Time of Tumult
As the nation faces an economic and health crisis and calls for racial justice grow louder, one Giving Pledge donor is urging other wealthy people to do more. Join us on July 23 at 2 p.m. Eastern for a one-on-one conversation with Melanie Lundquist, who, with her husband, has appeared four times on the Philanthropy 50 list of top donors in America. She’ll explain why she supports public schools and good health care and why she:
- Urges fellow big donors to support solutions that can be copied across the nation and around the globe.
- Believes philanthropy must advance equity by focusing on and fixing the ways society fails those who are denied these basic human rights.
- Pursues advocacy and wants other donors to know that dollars alone do not accomplish what is needed today.
This conversation will help nonprofit leaders understand how to encourage other donors to give generously and wisely — and offers an opportunity for donors, board members, and others to deepen their understanding of how to respond in these tumultuous days.
Subscriber Benefit: All Chronicle subscribers will be pre-registered for this event and receive free access. Non-subscribers, sign up today a special discount of 40% off the early-bird rate.
How to Shape Your Strategy at Year’s End
Join Our Webinar — Will donor fatigue set in before this year’s giving season? What kinds of messages will be appropriate, and how can you capture attention, especially if the economy and the nation are still reeling from the pandemic? Join us for a strategy session that will offer advice on how to plan for what promises to be one of the most complicated fundraising seasons in decades. You’ll learn from a veteran fundraiser who has worked at nonprofits big and small and now oversees a team that raises more than $12 million a year through annual giving, major gifts, special events and planned giving. Plus, you’ll gain insights from a veteran fundraising consultant who also served as executive director of three nonprofits about how to adapt your strategy and fundraise during a crisis. Join us on Thursday, August 6 at 2 p.m. Eastern and get a special 40% discount off the regular rate.
Your Chronicle subscription includes free access to GrantStation’sdatabase of grant opportunities. Among the latest listings:
- Jobs. The Reimagining Pathways to Employment in the U.S. Challenge powered by MIT Solve, the Morgridge Family Foundation, and New Profit, seeks the most promising solutions that accelerate pathways to current and future employment across the United States. Solutions that focus on noncoastal states, U.S. interior regions, or racial justice are encouraged. At least five teams will be selected to receive a minimum of $100,000 in grant funding and additional support. The deadline to submit a solution is November 9.
- Arts. The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts supports curatorial programs at museums, artists’ organizations, and other cultural institutions to originate innovative and scholarly presentations of contemporary visual arts. Projects may include exhibitions, catalogs, and other relevant activities. Proposals that highlight women, artists of color, and under-represented practitioners are encouraged. The foundation has designated one of its grants to recognize the work of organizations with a deep-seated commitment to defending the First Amendment rights of artists. The next postmark deadline for proposals is September 1.
