Associations & NGO's
/ The Problem
A provincial association with over 80,000 members received criticism from their membership for not doing enough to address racialized Black and Indigenous communities. Patrons felt the organization was out of touch with the needs of its community despite the fact the special interests committee served a diverse membership base. Formal complaints about issues of racism, poor accessibility and economic barriers for members from a low socioeconomic background pointed to a history of offenses. It was clear the association’s leadership was ill equipped to address the overt equity challenges. The association launched an equity committee, but lacked the guidance to oversee the decision-making process on equity issues.
/ Our Solution
To help the association’s leadership team develop discrimination awareness, KEDZ worked to oversee the creation of the structure and governance of the equity committee. KEDZ began by developing terms of reference for the committee, including developing the organizational and operational structure. KEDZ then provided training for the association’s leadership focusing on how they could better represent the diversity of their members through management’s decisions.
/ The Impact
Upon developing new terms of reference for the committee and completing training of the leadership team, the association experienced a wealth of positive changes within their organization:
A more equitable association was established which made the members feel heard, valued, welcomed and appreciated
Assistance in establishing equity goals for the association and helping ensure the correct accountabilities and processes are in-place in order to achieve the goals
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