I love my work as an executive coach. Sure I add value, and I like to think I am helping to build thriving nonprofits. I feel so very lucky that I get to do that for a living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I often get so much more out of it than I give.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My clients are terrific leaders, and they are smart, strategic, innovative, and creative. They share their new ideas with me, and what is pretty swell is that I can share those ideas with you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve got a really good one today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ready to hear about the most creative move any of my clients have made to bring racial diversity to life in their organization?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s really good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And it has nothing to do with how racially or ethnically diverse your board and staff is or isn\u2019t (the most common conversation we all have).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s about $$…<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s the conclusion Executive Director Brian K. Bond reached. He looked deeply into how to bring racial diversity to life in real and powerful ways in his organization. Brian leads PFLAG National, the first and largest organization dedicated to supporting, educating, and advocating for LGBTQ+ people and the people who love them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brian\u2019s idea preceded 2020 when American society faced a racial reckoning with the murder of George Floyd. Brian\u2019s career spans decades (he won\u2019t like this phrase), and it\u2019s not his first E.D. rodeo. That said, much of his career has been spent in politics, most recently as the Deputy Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, known by many as the front door to the White House, through which everyone can participate and inform the work of the President. Through this role, he worked with, listened to, and learned from a diverse population of people throughout the country, and his political background infused in him a real understanding of the power of local communities. This made him a natural to lead an organization with hundreds of thousands of members in communities across America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s the idea Brian brought to life. But first, some backstory:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So there was this finance committee meeting about investing cash reserves. At this meeting, Brian\u2019s diversity and community DNA were front and center. \u201cI\u2019d like to explore investing our reserve in minority depository institutions \u2014 these institutions close the gap on the unbanked, they support home ownership in minority communities. These institutions need money to support their communities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brian\u2019s idea was prescient. As it turned out, it was these very minority depository institutions that went overboard and worked triple time in 2020, during the height of the pandemic, outpacing other banks in advocating to ensure that PPP loans found their way into their communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The finance committee began to look at their work through a different lens (more broadly than simply high-yield opportunities). They got it. And approved the idea. They agreed to invest $1mm of their $4mm reserve into minority depository institutions. With $250,000 as the threshold (a floor amount to be sure the money would be insured), they agreed to focus on four communities: Black and African American, Native, Hispanic, and Asian and Pacific Islander.<\/p>\n\n\n\n