WRLI Statement on Equity and Inclusion
The White Rose Leadership Institute is the nonprofit parent organization of the York Federal Fellows Program as well as Give Local York, the Big Give Day for York County. Founded in 2018, it is our mission to “strengthen the York County nonprofit sector with empowered and exceptional leaders prepared to transform our community.”
We stand with others in denouncing racism, bigotry, and intolerance, and declaring Black Lives Matter. Yet we also know that taking a “stand” is not enough.
About 8% of our York Federal Fellows alumni are people of color. About 8% of the 300+ nonprofit organizations that participate in Give Local York have staff leadership of color. And 0% of our own board leadership are people of color. This is a glaring discrepancy that “taking a stand” won’t change.
When we first launched Give Local York in 2018, we intentionally structured our Give Day to be inclusive: inclusive of nonprofit organizations regardless of size, history or fundraising savviness, and inclusive of donors regardless of demographics. We see Give Local York as an opportunity to democratize philanthropy and to spread the message that anyone can be a philanthropist by supporting a cause they care about.
When we formed the White Rose Leadership Institute following that first Give Day, we created our organizational values: advocacy, being a catalyst, collaboration, fellowship, inclusion and integrity. In reviewing those values, we must now consider what we meant when we said, “We believe leadership is exceptional when it reflects our diverse communities” and that we wanted to “champion innovative and effective solutions to York County’s most pressing social problems and the important role the nonprofit sector plays in those solutions.” What does it mean now to put those values into action?
It starts with listening to the voices of people of color, listening to the historic context, and educating ourselves about the system of oppression that has killed so many Black and Brown people in America through violence, through COVID-19, and the many underlying systemic inequities that have been quiet killers all along. But listening and learning is not enough.
We will actively recruit nonprofit leaders of color to apply for the York Federal Fellows Program and we will listen to people of color on how to make that program more accessible.
We will actively recruit nonprofit leaders of color to register their organizations to participate in Give Local York and we will listen to people of color on how to make participation more accessible.
We will require all organizations that apply for Give Local York to verify that they have an anti-discrimination policy regarding staff and population served in place in order to participate or we will help them adopt a policy if they do not have one.
We will build our board to be more representative of the York County community and include voices of color.
We will offer more educational programming on equity to our nonprofit leadership community.
We know this is just a start and that there is much work to be done. But we also know that York County is an amazingly generous, caring, and diverse community that is absolutely worth the effort.
We thank you for your support of our programs and ask for your continued support as we strive to do better by all—and for all—York Countians.