New initiative looks to add diversity to local charity and non-profit boards of directors

Beisan Zubi says now is the righttime to get more Black, Indigenous and people of colour to joinboards of directors for charities and non-profits in Waterloo region.

It's a good time because there are active conversations in theregion about how to fight racism. It's also a good time, Zubi says, because many organizations hold annual general meetings in June and appoint new boards of directors.

She says local boards need to do a better job of reflecting the makeup of the community in the region.

"Now's the time to walk the walk on that," Zubi said during an interview on CBC Kitchener-Waterloo's The Morning Edition with host Craig Norris.

It's why she has launched KW Get On Board, a section on her websitethat allows charities and non-profits to submit board positions and allows Black, Indigenous and people of colour interested being on boards to submit their qualifications and say what kinds of organizations with which they'd want to work. Zubi, who runs The New Rules, which encourages social responsibility for small businesses and consumers, then helps match up the boards and applicants.

Boards are echo chambers

Zubi, who lives in Waterloo and sits on three boards herself, says she's been approached by a number of boards specifically looking for a "diverse vote."

She said that experience is not uncommon.

"Boards of directors kind of work through an echo chamber, right? Like a lot of times, even new board openings aren't posted on a website, they're not posted to the public. A lot of times it's, 'Do you know a good person? Can you recommend someone to sit on the board?'" she said.

"I understand that you would want somebody with references or somebody with a personal connection, but it also means that there's this huge group of people in our community that are being left out of this process."

She says volunteering on a board of directors can be beneficial for people to gain experience as well as make connections in the community. It can be hard for Black, Indigenous and people of colour in the community to find those opportunities and that lead to gaps in their resume.

But she says boards need to not only have diverse members they really need to listen to what people are saying.

"I don't want you to just go on a board for any reason, tokenism, not be heard. That's not what this is about," she said.

"There's always going to be that fear of being a token and it's always going to be a challenge to change people's ideas and the way things that they've done things, and they've always done things, but this is the time and this is the time for change."

Listen to the whole interview with Beisan Zubi: