Expand Beyond Race and Ethnicity

This door provides access to ideas on how to expand inclusiveness work beyond race and ethnicity.

In addition to reviewing the content in this section, please visit Related Links to find resources on inclusiveness in areas beyond race and ethnicity.

While The Denver Foundation values all forms of inclusiveness, the primary focus of these materials is to help nonprofit organizations learn how to become more inclusive of people of color. Please read our reasons for doing so. 

The Denver Foundation's Inclusiveness Project focuses on race and ethnicity for many reasons.

(1) The Foundation wants to understand and help others understand more about how race relations specifically impact nonprofit organizations. The Foundation, in its work in the community, has received feedback that many nonprofit organizations are very interested in inclusiveness, specifically as it relates to race and ethnicity, but need tools to help them address this issue.

(2) The Foundation believes that, in light of the demographic shifts happening in Colorado and throughout the United States, many nonprofits do not have the tools necessary to deal with these rapid changes, and that there is an urgency to work with nonprofits so that organizations can better respond to the needs of their changing community.

(3) The Foundation has limited resources and wants to focus its resources on one issue, namely race, related to inclusiveness practices to make a significant impact. The Foundation values all types of inclusiveness, and believes that, as organizations better understand how to become inclusive of people of color, those lessons will help them build inclusiveness related to other diverse populations.

The Denver Foundation values all forms of inclusiveness, as shown by the Foundation's Anti-Discrimination Policy: The Denver Foundation shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status in any of its activities or operations. These activities include, but are not limited to, hiring and firing of staff, selection of volunteers, selection of vendors, and provision of services.

All forms of inclusiveness are essential. Although focused on race and ethnicity, much of the work and information presented here can be transferred to help organizations become inclusive of other traditionally marginalized groups. We do recommend that organizations focus and define what inclusiveness means for them. It can be tempting to create an expansive definition of inclusiveness, but this can make the work even more overwhelming. We've found successful organizations are those that are able to more specifically define inclusiveness.

Our workbook, Inclusiveness at Work: How to Build Inclusive Nonprofit Organizations includes numerous information to assist your organization in expanding its inclusiveness work into other areas such as gender, sexual orientation, disability, and/or age.

Access Expand Beyond Race and Ethnicity information below or by purchasing a hard copy of the workbook.  See more resources for Expand Beyond Race and Ethnicity in Related Links.

Inclusiveness at Work: How to Build Inclusive Nonprofit Organizations includes 218 pages of narrative, 220 pages of worksheets, and 35 pages of appendices.

• Download complete PDF version.
• Order $35 hard copy version. Since the workbook was published in 2005, the content has remained the same in the print version. When we launched the Inclusiveness Project Web site in 2008, we adapted that content for the Web site with only minor changes (e.g., not using the word "module"; not numbering worksheets by chapter numbers of the print version). But in late 2009, we made substantive changes in the content of Step 3 (Making the Case). We encourage you to print off the new narrative and worksheets from the Web site and insert them in your hard copy of the workbook, so that you are working with the most current content. You can find these materials at www.nonprofitinclusiveness.org/step-3-making-case. The hard copy of the workbook is still a medium that many people prefer using. And users of the hard copy can be assured that we will inform you of future content changes that are posted to the Web site.

Beyond Race and Ethnicity: Organizational Culture, Board of Directors, and Personnel

Beyond Race and Ethnicity: Training and Consultants 

Beyond Race and Ethnicity: Inclusiveness Committee, Definitions of Inclusiveness, and Costs of Not Being Inclusive 

Beyond Race and Ethnicity: Information Gathering and Building an Inclusiveness Blueprint 

Beyond Race and Ethnicity: Marketing/Community Relations and Fundraising/Membership