Difference is everywhere I look. I see difference in size, shape, gender, race, perspective, background, locale, income, wealth, achievement, commitment, attitude, and age to name a few. I see difference. This difference and the work I do each day prompt me to ask myself, and now you, when does difference make a difference? When I ask myself this question in relation to my own life I’m forced to dissect the answer into the types of difference that I experience and present each time I show-up in the world.
The truth is, difference makes a difference quite often, but the extent to which it makes a positive or negative difference depends on the situation. There are times in my life when being the youngest in the organization or board made the biggest difference. At other times, it has been being the only person of color in the room. Still others it’s been being the only woman, or the only person from another state, or the only person in a certain socioeconomic class. Most recently, it seems that being a new Minnesota transplant is making the biggest difference in my life. It seems difference is always making a difference…So, what do we do about it?
Years ago, in our efforts to create a color-blind, gender-blind society, we worked to erase difference. Women wore pants, took manufacturing jobs, cut their hair short and used other tactics in order to fit in. People of color in majority environments changed the way they spoke, dressed, and styled their hair to avoid seeming different. And Caucasians in urban environments did the same again, in order to fit in.
Sometimes individuals made these changes because of perceived ism’s, and sometimes the changes were mandated. Looking back on it, we realize these changes did very little to erase difference. In fact, they perpetuated the fallacy that the only real differences were in superficial things such as clothing, hair, and dialect, overshadowing the rich and vibrant differences that actually make us who we are and contribute to stronger communities and organizations.
Today, we’re starting to realize that difference can make a positive difference, if we allow it to. Diversity of thought is a valuable asset for every organization, and when we realize that diversity of thought comes from not only diversity of educational background and experience, but also diversity in gender, race, class, geographic background, sexual orientation, age and other facets of identity, we realize that our organizations can be much more successful when we are inclusive of all of these differences.
But, even at that point of awareness, it takes more than an open door. I’m a member of a membership based organization with over 600 members, and yet less than 2% of members were people of color. Even fewer members come from low or low-to-middle income backgrounds.
The organization has an “Outreach Statement” that essentially stands as a no discrimination policy and for years the organization relied on this policy to invite and welcome in members from diverse racial backgrounds. When this noble outcome wasn’t achieved, leaders decided that women from other races were simply not interested in joining, when in fact; the perception was that that women of other races were not allowed to join.
I assert that until the organization is actively assessing why it has not been perceived as welcoming of certain differences and made concerted efforts to thoroughly reach-out to new segments, this outreach statement should actually be called an “Open to Considering” statement.
I don’t doubt that many of our philanthropic organizations also struggle with acknowledging difference in ways that translate into inclusive practices. Successful organizations must be places where difference is allowed to thrive.
Organizational leaders must become experts at engaging all types of people and differences and at leveraging those differences for greater organizational impact. When we master this, everyone in the organization can bring their lens to the work, and we begin to see we’re all better for it. But, it’s not easy. What differences make a difference in your day-to-day work? What about in your neighborhood? What are you doing to make difference make a positive difference in your organization?
– Tawanna Black, MCF diversity fellow
Tawanna Black supports the inclusivity initiatives of MCF and its members. As a part of her fellowship, Tawanna will be sharing her insights with us on the topics of diversity and inclusion in the field of philanthropy in her bi-monthly blog posts. Stay tuned for future posts!
