What you can do to make sure your non-profit organization is inclusive

The non-profit sector is considered a vital part of any thriving country and is built to meet the needs of society and contributes to social change effectively. Organizations and non-profits can play a big role in combating any form of bias by working on best practices, at both the leadership and employee levels.

In pursuit of the goals of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, which emphasizes the role of inclusive non-profits in the community, the Prince Mohammed bin Salman non-profit city, which is the first non-profit city in the world, have catered to this sector with numerous features. Its office space is estimated at more than 306 thousand square meters, and the number of its employees is expected to reach 20,000. This expansive and aspirational project solidifies the impact of the non-profit sector not only in Saudi Arabia, but also worldwide. 

The establishment of this unique city stems from the principle that non-profit organizations are institutional pillars and lifelines for a successful society, due to their educational, charitable, spiritual, religious and service role. We won’t elaborate much about the greatness of this city, but we’ll talk about the non-profit organizations that can operate in this city or in other regions of the Kingdom, and specifically how they’re taking an approach based on the celebration of human diversity, cultural difference, and inclusion.

Challenging institutional biases

Several global studies have demonstrated that diversity and inclusion improves outcomes in non-profit organizations. Building a diverse and inclusive team of people across a wide variety of demographic, racial, gender, religious and cultural factors can help organizations increase success and avoid the many problems that a group of like-minded individuals can cause.

When non-profits suffer from a lack of diversity, it’s often due to institutional biases, whether intentional or not. But it ends up as a homogenous workforce that thinks and behaves the same way. The Saudi leadership always emphasizes that there is no place in our local and national institutions for bias, but nevertheless, the non-profit sector has not been immune from these problems and needs more diversity and inclusion at all levels.

Important questions

To reveal the diversity and inclusion within your organization, you should ask a series of questions, such as:

• How diverse and comprehensive is our leadership in the organization today?
  
  
• How are employees selected, is it based on gender, race, religion, background, or experience?
  
  
• Is the existing structure within the organization serving the community for which it works for in the best way?
  
  
• How good would it be if a diverse team were involved in running the non-profit organization?
  
  
• Is there anything in the organization's culture that gives the impression that team members are underrepresented?
  
  
• Will employees be proud of working in the organization? Do they want to work hard to reach leadership positions within the organization?
  
  
• Do your employees represent your organization, your community, your mission, or the country as a whole?
  
  
• Do your employees feel that you appreciate them for who they are and that they can do their best at work every day?
  
  

How do you promote diversity and inclusion?

1. Establish a strategy for how to communicate with a diverse and inclusive group of potential board members prior to beginning the hiring process.
   
   
2. Create a well-thought-out plan, stick to it, and review it periodically.
   
   
3. Focus on your leadership path and the leaders you will need in the next 5-10 years. It’s important to realize that the leaders of tomorrow need to be developed and trained today.
   
   
4. Reconsider the workflow and performance reviews by setting strategic plans for change and adaptation, and by keeping pace with developments.
   
   
5. Benefit from the experiences of successful non-profit institutions. Information about many of them can be found on the website of the National Center for the Development of the Non-Profit Sector, which was originally established in connection with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.
   
   

It’s crucial to emphasize that non-profit organizations face many challenges, but to overcome them, we must realize that we live in a world that is constantly changing, a world in which technology brings us closer to each other. To achieve your organization’s goals, it’s important to ensure that your leadership is established in a way that can best serve the community’s present and future needs, and most importantly to successfully find your own place within the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Non-Profit City.