FRDNY: An Interview with Cecilia Clarke
By Pinky Vincent, Police Athletic League
Cecilia Clarke, President & CEO of Brooklyn Community Foundation, will be presenting at Fundraising Day in New York on a hot-button topic in philanthropy – “The Double Bottom Line: Diversity, Inclusion and the Future of Grant Funding.”
Last year, Cecilia was also part of AFP-NYC’s panel titled Diversity Deadlock? – where she and other panelists discussed lack of diversity in nonprofits' internal structures and boards as well as ways to promote equity and inclusion.
In a wide-ranging interview with Pinky Vincent of Police Athletic League, Cecilia offered a glimpse of the topics that will be discussed at the FRDNY session on June 22nd.
From your vantage point, why is diversity and inclusion becoming so important to funders such as Brooklyn Community Foundation?
As a community foundation that represents the borough of Brooklyn – where 70 percent of residents are people of color – we need to have an understanding of racial justice in all the ways that it impacts our work. We are taking a holistic view - from staffing to how we write our RFP. It is a long journey and we are just at its beginning. We don’t necessarily have the solutions but we are working towards smarter grantmaking by supporting community groups that are closest to the ground and are closest to the solution.
How can fundraisers demonstrate that their nonprofit is also beginning a journey towards diversity and inclusion as a core value – either through conversations with a program officer or through an RFP?
Sincerity and honesty always wins the day. I ran a nonprofit (Sadie Nash Leadership Project) and I am also a fundraiser. We are interested to hear that you are willing to have the imagination of what could be different.
Just because we have the money does not mean that we have the knowledge. This is a path that grantmakers and nonprofits can forge together. For example, the foundation’s Spark Prize is an opportunity for nonprofits to start thinking about racial justice and inclusiveness. And this grant is an opportunity for us to represent the values of Brooklyn. But it is a reciprocal relationship – we are also learning. Through this grant, someone out there may share a beautiful story about their journey toward racial justice that then shapes and informs our own work going forward.
One of the reasons often given for the lack of diversity on nonprofit boards is that members primarily have fiduciary and fundraising roles to accomplish. Does this current model need to change?
It’s a great question. That’s why I used the word “journey.” Dismantling power structures is hard work. We have a business model that is functioning but we also have to take ownership of the values we want to have – that’s where you start thinking differently about the board, our fundraising. This binary view that a “white” board is a fundraising board and that a “non-white” board is a non-fundraising board is anachronistic. It also demonstrates a lack of imagination which is astounding in 2018. We need to be questioning and finding solutions when things are not working.
At the AFP-NYC panel last year, tokenism came up several times during discussions. When nonprofits take on diversity and inclusion initiatives, how do they avoid tokenism?
When we are still talking about tokenism then I guess we are quite far away from change. It is not enough to say that a person of color is on a board. It has to be a board that is welcoming to all different viewpoints and welcoming to a person who is representative of a group. In some instances, while doing the work of diversity and inclusion things might superficially look as tokenism but it is actually a road to fairness and integration. Because the alternative could be that we don’t even include a person of color on the board for fear that it will appear as tokenism.
What about diversity and inclusion initiatives within a nonprofit’s staffing structure? How is this influencing foundations such as Brooklyn Community Foundation?
It is incumbent on a nonprofit organization to create a space that is welcoming to all kinds of diversity, and investing in the leadership of people from traditionally marginalized groups. We should question certain structures – such as why are development salaries higher than that of program staff, traditionally staffed by people of color?
Even businesses such as Rent the Runway are questioning such power structures.
As a nonprofit, we are obligated to do more work. If we want to improve the world, let’s start at home.