Recruiting a More Diverse Board
By Elaine Zablocki
As governing boards seek greater diversity in ethnicity, race, and gender, they face a significant challenge: how to successfully recruit women and minorities with pertinent professional backgrounds and governance skills, while other not-for-profits and corporations seek directors from the very same pool of candidates.
Executives and trustees “absolutely” say recruiting for diversity is difficult, explains Vernetta Walker, director of consulting for BoardSource, a Washington, D.C.-based educational group for not-for-profits. “Often, they identify ʻperfectʼ candidates based on ethnicity and skill sets, and these people are overcommitted and say no.”