SUMMITRECAP
Survey Finds Progress in
Association Diversity
BY MATT ALDERTON
Associations have made good progress in
the last 10 years toward achieving diversity, although there is still a long way to
go to achieve a fully inclusive workforce,
according to a survey released at the 2009
Association Forum Diversity Summit.
“According to our survey results, things
seem to be pretty close to ‘status quo,’”
says Forum Director of Membership Jetaun
Mallett, CAE. “There are still a lot of associations out there that are not focused on
diversity; as a next step, we need to dig a
little deeper and find out the reasons why.”
Executed by Forum’s Workforce Development & Diversity Committee — which
is chaired by Robert Nelson, MBA, CAE,
FACHE, vice president of business development and strategy for the American Health
Information Management Association —
the 2009 Diversity Survey is the latest in a
series of three surveys conducted by Forum
during the last decade. The other two,
taken in 1998 and 2003, served as benchmarks for this year’s survey, which polled
65 associations about their organizational
diversity as part of Forum’s five-year commitment to diversity in the association
community. This survey also measured
demographics, which will be explored in a
future issue of FORUM. The survey did not
measure individual perceptions or experiences regarding diversity.
“We see this research as highlighting
opportunity,” Nelson says. “This is not
about jumping on the ‘diversity bandwagon.’ Rather, we have real, important
work ahead to connect the dots between
diversity best practices and the bottom
line for associations and the industries
and members they represent.”
KEY FINDINGS
There are several areas where associations
excel in workforce diversity. Among them:
• More than half (60 percent) of associations have a non-discrimination policy;
among them, 69 percent include gender identity or expressions, 82 percent
sexual orientation and 51 percent status
as a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces.
• 62 percent of associations try to bring
gender diversity to their leadership.
• 68 percent of associations review their
communications for offensive material.
• 63 percent of associations say their organization has benefited from diversity.
• The number of white board members
has declined from 92.1 percent in 2003
to 82.5 percent in this year’s survey.
“The Forum is very encouraged by the
findings of the 2009 survey,” says Christie
Tarantino, CAE, president and CEO of the
Association Forum. “More than ever, associations are making an effort to include
diversity in the workplace as well as when
reaching out to their members. Of course
there is room for improvement, but clearly
we are on the right path.”
The study identified some of those
areas for improvement. These include
a lack of resources, organizational size,
the homogenous nature of membership-driven organizations, and the lack of
focused efforts to provide the leadership
and visibility that experts agree are critical
to initiating change within the association
community. This year’s survey also raised
several new issues, as it asked for the first
time about multicultural training, diversity governance and domestic partnership
benefits.
The survey found these particular areas
where more work is needed:
• More than half of associations (52 percent) do not track diversity demographics; of those that do, only 35 percent
track age, 32 percent gender and 20
percent race/ethnicity.
• Just 30 percent of associations have
included diversity in their strategic plan.
• Only 30 percent of associations provide
diversity education for their members.
• Just 14 percent of association boards
have received training on leading a
diverse organization.
• Nearly three-quarters of associations
(72 percent) have not trained staff on
diversity issues.
WHAT’S NEXT?
According to the committee that reviewed
the survey, there are numerous opportu-
nities for associations to address these
issues, particularly in the areas of training and education for staff, boards and
membership; benchmarking; product
development; and industry leadership and
recognition.
To help associations advance within each
of those areas, the committee plans additional research that it hopes will explain why
associations lag in some areas. Additionally, Forum’s full Workforce Development &
Diversity Committee is considering developing case studies, whitepapers and success
stories, as well as a formal diversity training
program and an annual criteria-based diversity awards program — all of which it suggests will help the association community
adapt to a changing U.S. population.
The Forum stays committed to providing
Workforce Diversity Scholarships to individuals every year from underrepresented populations. The scholarships provide access to
education programs as well as a mentor for
each scholar, which helps build the leadership pipeline.
“The landscape of talent is going to
change,” Mallett says, “so why not position
yourself as an organization and as a community to be in the forefront of recognizing that
change? When it does become a literal
change, you won’t have to change your organization; diversity will already be what you’re
about.”
HOW THE 2009 FORUM DIVERSITY
SURVEY WAS CONDUCTED
The survey and report were prepared by
Forum Diversity Committee members
Robert Nelson, MBA, CAE, FACHE, and
Dionne Wilson, CAE, with Susan Darrow,
a consulting partner with Information Sys-
tems Consulting Group. The survey was
conducted by e-mail and has a confidence
level of 95 percent. For more information
about the survey or the Workforce Diversity
Partnership, contact Forum Workforce
Development Manager Nicholas Bailey
at bailey@associationforum.org or (312)
924-7043.
