Skip to Main Content
New York State Library Logo

DEI Toolkit

New York State Office of Cultural Education

Policy and Governance

Diversity, equity, inclusion, antiracism, accessibility, and justice (DEI) must be woven throughout our cultural heritage organizations. Since our organizational policy and governance are what guide our growth over time, mapping our DEI goals to our policies and governing documents is essential.

Governing Documents

For this section's purposes, governing documents include organizational policies, bylaws, vision and mission statements, strategic plans, and committee or work group charters. These documents provide the legal and philosophical structures for our organizations and guide why, how, and what we do.  

 

Auditing for DEI

The way our organization’s policies and bylaws are written can have a significant impact on who has access to Board service. Good guidelines for policy and bylaw audits include:

  • How do Board service guidelines include or exclude people? What are the time commitments? What are the fundraising commitments? How will the Board meet (in person, over the phone, or over video conference)?
  • What processes and protocols does the Board use to run its meetings and make decisions? For instance, majority rules may not work for people whose cultural background relies on consensus decision-making.
  • How do the policies and/or bylaws address compensation and benefits for the staff? Are there commitments to a thriving wage, pay parity, and pay equity?
  • In what ways can you reorient your organization’s policies and/or bylaws to serve the needs of your customers and visitors, rather than the Board or donors?
  • Do the policies and/or bylaws use gendered pronouns or the gender neutral “they/them?”
  • Are the policies and/or bylaws written in plain language or are they difficult to understand?

Adding a DEI Statement

If motivated, Boards should follow their internal process to amend their policies and/or bylaws and add a DEI statement to that document. Below are examples.

Sample 1:

Xxxx seeks to maintain a supplier base that reflects the diversity of staff and visitors. In this manner, Xxxx will ensure that diverse businesses (i.e., those owned, operated, or controlled by ethnic minorities, women, LGBT+ people, people with a disability etc.) will have equal opportunity to become suppliers to Xxxx. Xxxx therefore expects all of its suppliers to have similar policies to promote supply chain diversity. Suppliers are expected to have policies or procedures that explicitly ban disrespectful behavior, discrimination, bullying, or harassment based on the 9 protected characteristics as set out by the Equality Act: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.

Sample 2:

As a public service broadcaster, the xxxxxx has a duty to reflect our license fee paying audiences regardless of geographic location, disability, religion, gender, age, social economic background, sexual orientation, gender identity or ethnicity. Guidelines on diversity and inclusion in relation to on and off-screen are available on the xxxxxx Commissioning Website at the following URL address: xxx.xxxxxx.xxx

Sample 3:

The Agency is committed to promoting and supporting workplace diversity and to creating an environment that values and utilizes the contributions of people with different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives. The Agency is an inclusive organization that values fairness, equity and diversity.

Sample 4:

Since our founding in 1890, Delta Chi Fraternity strives to create a culture of action where all of our members promote friendship, develop character, advance justice, and assist in the acquisition of a sound education. These values cannot be exemplified without the Fraternity actively practicing inclusive excellence at all levels of operation. We believe that the dignity and worth of all members is paramount to the fraternal experience. We affirm that our bond is strengthened by fostering an environment that welcomes, supports, and elevates members of differing races, colors, creeds or religious identity, national origin, age, marital status, ability, citizenship, or sexual orientation. We believe that the lived experience of our member’s matter. The Fraternity will not tolerate or condone hateful or discriminatory behavior by any member, Associate Member, employee, volunteer, or entity acting in our name.

Creating and Updating Statements and Policies

When your organization is ready to create or update its statement or policy consider:

  • Start with what you have.
  • Invite directly impacted people to participate in the process.
  • Decide how brave you want to be- are you going to lay it all out there, warts and all? Or are you going to work toward a full, authentic accounting of the good and the harm your collections and organization may have perpetrated through its history, policies, engagements, and research?
  • To begin building out your statement or policy…
    • Ask yourself: Who benefits from my work, my organization, and its collection? Who is my audience? Who do I think should benefit and be my audience?
    • Ask yourself: Why do we need this acknowledgment, statement or policy? What will it accomplish? How will we know we’ve succeeded?
    • Ask yourself: Besides me, who else should inform this statement or policy? Do I have relationships already or do I need to build and fortify those relationships?

Policies and Statements That Lead to Practices and Processes

Statements and policies are your organization’s springboard to developing practices and processes:

  • How will this work practically?
  • Invite feedback from your current and desired audiences whenever you can.
  • Reach out to your peers and colleagues- make knowledge about this together.
  • Be willing to continually evolve your personal understanding of this work and how it manifests in your organization.
  • Infuse DEI into your organization’s policy reviews.
  • Close read each policy for both DEI language and impact.
  • Swap out language and impact that upholds the delusion of white supremacy and sustains harmful practices and actions for language that dismantles the forces at work against DEI.
  • Consider including directly impacted stakeholders in your policy reviews.

Sources

American Bar Association. (2022). Diversity, equity and inclusion in nonprofit bylaws. Retrieved from: https://www.americanbar.org/groups/bar_services/publications/bar_leader/2018_19/mar ch-april/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-in-nonprofit-bylaws/

Board Effect. (2020). Sample Board Diversity Policy. Retrieved from: https://www.boardeffect.com/blog/sample-board-diversity-policy/

BoardSource. (2021). Taking Action On Board Diversity. Retrieved from: https://boardsource.org/taking-action-board-diversity-five-questions-get-started/

JD Supra. (2021). Six Governance Steps Nonprofits Can Take to Advance DEI Goals. Retrieved from: https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/six-governance-steps-nonprofits- can-5969876/

Law Insider. (2023). Diversity and Inclusion Sample Clauses. Retrieved from: https://www.lawinsider.com/clause/diversity-and-inclusion

National Council of Nonprofits. (2023). Diversity on Nonprofit Boards. Retrieved from: https://www.councilofnonprofits.org/running-nonprofit/diversity-equity-and- inclusion/diversity-nonprofit-boards

New York State Archives. Diversity Statement. Retrieved from: http://www.archives.nysed.gov/about/about-diversity-statement

Nonprofit Quarterly. (2020). Beyond the Board Statement: How Can Boards Join the Movement for Racial Justice. Retrieved from: https://nonprofitquarterly.org/beyond-the- board-statement-how-can-boards-join-the-movement-for-racial-justice-part-one/

State Historic Records Advisory Board. Every Voice, Every Story. Retrieved from: http://www.archives.nysed.gov/shrab/shrab-every-voice