An Update on WID’s Diversity and Inclusion Task Force
June 18, 2020
Dear WID Community,
It is with great joy that we distribute the final report of WID’s Diversity and Inclusion Task Force.
In 2018, Brooke Bryant and I, in close cooperation with WID Board Member, Chantal Bonitto, embarked upon the journey to incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives at WID. We, along with a dedicated team of Task Force members, experts, and eventually the Task Force Chair, Wendy Sealey, worked hard to make WID a more inclusive and welcoming place for the fundraising community.
The attached report gives more detail on our process and what we accomplished over the past two years. As the Task Force’s work draws to a close, I am very happy to say that its work will continue— albeit in a different way— as the WID IED (Inclusion, Equity, and Diversity) Committee.
I am also very happy to share a recent article I authored for The Chronicle of Philanthropy about why we created the Task Force and encouraging other organizations to enact change, from the inside out.
We did our best. We accomplished a good deal, but we couldn’t have done it without the support of the WID Board of Directors and WID Community. So thank you for joining us in the journey and may each of us do our very best to move racial equity forward in fundraising and philanthropy. Now, more than ever.
With hope,
Yolanda
Yolanda F. Johnson, President
Women In Development, NY
***Yolanda’s letter was first published for WID communications and is now available here on YFJ Consulting.
