As Nonprofits Face the DEI Wars, Can a Prohuman Approach Help?

Nonprofits were eager and early adopters of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. They’re now having to reckon with the backlash against DEI.

A version of this article was published previously in Blue Avocado, a platform dedicated to helping nonprofit leaders. Blue Avocado is sponsored by Nonprofits Insurance Alliance.

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Recent sweeping actions by the Trump administration have brought Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training programs and policies into the headlines, with implications for both government and the broader workforce — including nonprofits.

The nonprofit sector has long been committed to being a place where people from diverse backgrounds and identities can thrive and contribute.

Nonprofits were early and eager adopters of the language and professional community that grew up around DEI, because of the persistence of negative experiences and injustices that even many of the harshest critics of DEI would admit are real.

But over the past few years, many people — even within the sector — have become disillusioned with common institutionalized approaches that fall under the DEI label.

Ironically and tragically, DEI’s most passionate proponents — and most passionate opponents — are both reacting to the same root cause: Something is broken in how Americans encounter each other across differences.

Repeated Cycles of Overreach and Backlash

The 20th Century saw tremendous progress for America’s pluralism, with advances in equal treatment for women and people racialized as minorities, and unprecedented interreligious harmony.

Yet, as that progress triumphed in law and turned towards culture, it led to repeated cycles of overreach and backlash — think of the “politically correct” conflicts of the 1990s and the “woke” / “anti-woke” dynamics of the past half-decade.

How Can We Get to Someplace Better?

The answer begins with a black man sitting down with a Klansman in a Maryland bar.

The man is Daryl Davis, whose efforts to build bridges with KKK members — and talking dozens of them into giving up their robes and leaving hate behind — have become legendary. (If you’re unfamiliar, watch Daryl’s TEDx talk and the documentary “Accidental Courtesy.”)

Davis is among the co-founders of a new organization aiming to help America remember how to listen again.

The Prohuman Foundation seeks to break through demonization and division by lifting up the individuality and shared humanity of every person.

In a world of bitter fights between “antiracist” and “anti-woke,” the Prohuman Approach is focused not on either of these “anti” directions, but on the “pro-” that renders both unnecessary.

The Prohuman Approach works on three layers: The individual, the relational, and the communal.

• Individually, it asks us to adopt a growth mindset, committed to practicing gratitude, optimism, and grit. Sometimes, before attempting difficult conversations with others; we need to work on ourselves first.

• Relationally, the Prohuman Approach teaches curiosity, courage, and compassion. Having solidified our individual selves, we’re ready to be truly open to the full individuality of others.

• Communally, the Prohuman Approach aims for fairness, understanding, and embracing our common humanity — all of which create strong communities.

Can the Prohuman Approach Help?

I’ve spent the past five months learning about the Prohuman Approach in their Prohuman Ambassador program, and the experience has been inspiring and uplifting. It has changed how I think about my local community, my nonprofit workplace, and the nonprofit sector.

At a time when many nonprofit professionals are looking for ways out of the dead end of DEI controversies, can the Prohuman Approach help?

The Prohuman curriculum is not yet offered officially for workplaces; the foundation’s initial focus is on K-12 schools. But I believe we in nonprofit organizations can still begin to ask ourselves questions inspired by the Prohuman Approach — questions like:

1. How can we create that growth mindset as individual employees by leveraging gratitude, optimism, and grit?

2. How can we create positive social relationships in our organizations with curiosity, courage, and compassion?

3. How can we create social harmony in our organizations and communities, with fairness for all, mutual understanding, and recognition of our shared humanity?

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Dodging the Dogma Trap

Let me be clear, however: I’m not calling for everyone to adopt this, or any one approach. What we need is this model’s emotional and relational skills, not a shared commitment to any one set of vocabulary.

Indeed, for those of us who find this model useful, we should heed the lessons of the model itself in how we advance it.

We should be grateful, gritty, humble, and hopeful enough in our individual convictions that we can advance Prohuman goals even without others being on board.

We should be committed in our interpersonal relationships to being curious, courageous, and compassionate — even toward those who would rather ground themselves in other, “rival” models.

And we should work towards building communities — workplaces, houses of worship, neighborhoods, and more — that foster fairness, understanding, and respect for everyone’s humanity, no matter what buzzwords people reference in making it happen.

Talking about either DEI or its alternatives has become fraught in ways it didn’t used to be. But if Daryl Davis can walk into a literal Klan rally, then all of us in the nonprofit sector can dig deep and find the courage to open up a conversation with our colleagues — and the even greater strength it takes to actually listen, with an open mind and heart.

Seth Chalmer is a Prohuman Ambassador candidate and Vice President of Communications at Leading Edge, but the opinions expressed in this article are his own. A graduate of NYU’s dual Masters in Nonprofit Management and Judaic Studies, his writing has appeared in Stanford Social Innovation Review, The Los Angeles Times, and Quillette.

Opinions expressed by guest authors do not necessarily reflect those of the Prohuman Foundation. We value diverse perspectives and invite submissions from those who can enrich our understanding of topics close to our mission: to promote the foundational truth that we are all unique individuals, united by our shared humanity.