In mid-June, Cincinnati City Council queried 44 human services nonprofit agencies that received city money last year. Collectively, these organizations received almost $3.5 million. The objective of the study was to identify what percent of the clients served are Black, and what percent of the staff and boards are Black.

Councilmember Chris Seelbach said of the results, “While African American board participation triples the national average, it’s an area all organizations in Cincinnati must continue to improve on.” Through dialogue with our BOLD faculty about this report, one faculty member mentioned partially agreeing with the Councilman. She poignantly shared while African American board participation is above the national average, we must also consider the work to do around inclusion. We sent the Councilman information about BOLD and our purpose to make it easier for nonprofits to recruit diverse board members.

Leadership Council believes that a first step to developing racial and ethnic diversity amongst the leadership of nonprofits is to diversify boards. In the last month, BOLD has heard from various community leaders who want to think more intentionally about their boards.

While we are proud to be a part of the solution, we also want to acknowledge amidst these challenging times when good news seems hard to find; There are leaders in our sector who want to inspire change and build bridges.

Boldly,

Jack FitzGerald

Program Manager, Leadership Council for Nonprofits

Mark Perry of the Marathon Petroleum Company and BOLD 1 graduate shared a small world story with the BOLD team. Mark and Joe Brunner of Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP and BOLD 1 graduate both joined the Education Matters board this year after meeting Executive Director, Mary Delaney through BOLD. When Education Matters applied for the Paycheck Protection Program, Joe volunteered to help them since he was doing work on the Paycheck Protection Program for his firm. Mark also serves on the Winton Place Youth Center board. When Winton was applying for the loan, they had questions no one could answer. Mark said, “I told them I know someone that could probably help. I called Joe and asked if he could help. He said that he grew up in Winton Place, and would be more than happy to help out.”

What BOLD board story would you like to share? Send them to us here .

BOLD 3 class had 52 applications. We were able to accept 42 individuals representing 35 different organizations into the upcoming August 20th to September 24th class. Please send us an email to wish them well or share any advice as they begin their journey.

Are you a BOLD alumnus interested in getting connected to your passion?

Send us an email.

BoardConnect event on August 12th from 5:00pm to 6:30pm via Zoom. Connect with leaders from dozens of area nonprofits for fun, quick conversations to learn more about joining their boards and committees.

Tim Bath (BOLD 1) has joined the board of DreamChasers

Joe Brunner (BOLD 1) has joined the board of Education Matters

Emily Curry (BOLD 2) has joined board of Girls on the Run as Secretary

John DiTullio (BOLD 2) has joined the board of Magnified Giving

Peter Engelhard, Jr. (BOLD 1) is on the board of Lindenwald Kiwanis of Hamilton

Isabella Frueh (BOLD 2) has joined the board of Public Allies’ Cincinnati Advisory Board. She is still serving on the board of Ohio Association for the Education of Young Children.

Olivia Greer (BOLD 1) has joined the board of Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services

Alison Kaufman (BOLD 2) has joined the Program Committee of A Voice for the Innocent

Sheryce Mundy Goodwin (BOLD 1) has joined the board of Nyra Shaw Scholarship and the BOLD Steering Committee

Mark Perry (BOLD 1) has joined the board of Education Matters and Winton Place Youth Center

Are you a BOLD alumnus and want to share where you are leading, email us today.

Where does a nonprofit organization that wants to prioritize diversity and inclusion begin? 

Sue is the new CEO of a nonprofit arts organization. One of her first actions as CEO was to review their board composition and governance practices. She created a dashboard to track term limits, demographics, and diversity metrics. Alarmed by the results, their makeup was 13% minority and 33 % female. For their organization, diversity and inclusion are critical to those they serve through their mission to advance the arts throughout the community. Sue realized they have the same problem with their staff. Sue identified that these two problems stemmed from recruiting from within their established networks. It was clear her organization needed help to make meaningful strides towards building inclusive and diverse leadership. As she began to think through this issue, she proposed that her organization search outside their own networks and establish partnerships with other organizations to build intentional relationships. The organization started by having an intentional conversation around what type of composition they wanted to have on their board. Through this conversation, they identified a composition more accurately reflective of the community. Sue, key staff, and board members identified the census as a productive guide to benchmark metrics. Although it seemed like there had been meaningful progress towards intentional change, Sue has begun to notice some of the long-standing board members become resistant to looming changes. Sue knows her organization needs to prioritize diversity and inclusion, but she doesn’t feel this new direction is fully supported by several influential members of the board.

What does the research say? Click Here to read the full article

How might you handle this? Submit your thoughts here.

Like BOLD on Facebook!