Join these organizations in signing The Nonprofit Partnership's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Pledge:

• A Hand Up Erie
• Achievement Center
• All Aboard Erie
• All About Character Inc.
• American Cancer Society
• Americans for the Competitive Enterprise System, Inc. (ACES)
• Autism Society of Northwestern Pennsylvania
• Bayfront Eastside Task Force
• Brevillier Village
• Career & Dreams Inc.
• Child Development Centers, Inc.
• Community Access Media
• Community Country Day School
• Community of Caring
• Community Shelter Services, Inc.
• Compass Reading Center
• Compton's Table
• Crime Victim Center of Erie County
• Dafmark Dance Theater
• Edinboro Legion Pool Inc.
• Emma's Footprints
• Erie Art Company
• Erie Arts & Culture
• Erie Cancer Wellness Center
• Erie Center for Arts & Technology
• Erie City Moms
• Erie County Law Foundation & Attorneys and Kids Together
• Erie DAWN
• Erie Dance Conservatory, LLC
• Erie Downtown Partnership
• Erie Family Center
• Erie Homes for Children and Adults (EHCA)
• Erie Philharmonic
• Erie Playhouse
• Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership
• Erie Regional Library Foundation
• Erie Together
• Erie Zoological Society
• expERIEnce Children's Museum
• Family Services of NW PA
• Film Society of Northwestern Pennsylvania
• Foundation for Erie's Public Schools
• Foundation for Free Enterprise Education
• French Creek Council, Boy Scouts of America
• Functional Performance
• Goodell Gardens & Homestead
• Greater Erie Community Action Committee (GECAC)
• HANDS
• Harborcreek Youth Services
• Harvest912
• Hope on Horseback Therapeutic Riding Center
• Inner-City Neighborhood Art House
• Inter-Church Ministries
• Iroquois School District Foundation
• Jefferson Educational Society
• Julia Hospice and Palliative Care
• Lake Erie Food Rescue
• Lake Erie Sports Alliance
• L'Arche Erie
• Maggie Knox Western
• Mental Health Association of NWPA
• Mercyhurst Preparatory School
• Mercyhurst University
• Multicultural Community Resource Center
• Multicultural Health Evaluation Delivery System
• National Alliance of Erie County (NAMI)
• Northwest Institute of Research, Inc.
• Northwest Pennsylvania Area Health Education Center
• Northwestern Community Education Foundation
• Northwestern Community Youth Center
• Northwestern Legal Services
• OpenedEyes
• Our West Bayfront
• Parkinson Partners of Northwestern PA
• Pennsylvania Equality Project
• Perseus House
• Presbyterian SeniorCare Network
• Presque Isle ProMusica
• Project Love, Inc.
• Safe Journey
• SafeNet
• Sarah Reed Children's Center
• Seiche Dance Collective
• Sikh Cultural Society of Erie
• Sisters of St. Joseph Neighborhood Network
• Stairways Behavioral Health
• St. Patrick Church
• The Erie Community Foundation
• The Presque Isle Light Station
• The Script Project
• Trinity United Methodist Church
• United Way of Erie County
• White Pine Center for Healing
• WQLN PBS/NPR
• Young Artists Debut Orchestra

Only members of The Nonprofit Partnership can sign the pledge. Non-members can access a modified PDF version of the pledge here. 

Read and sign The Nonprofit Partnership's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Pledge below.

The nonprofit sector is a significant moral and economic force in our country and community. The sector, from the smallest start-up to the largest social service provider, employs millions of Americans. It is imperative that we ensure diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplaces that reflect the good work done by mission-serving organizations.

Not only is diversity, equity, and inclusion the right thing to pursue and foster in our sector, it has been proven that it improves our ability to be great at our work. Building organizations that are diverse, equitable, and inclusive creates more functional and productive organizations.

In order to be successful in this realm, we recognize that effective DEI initiatives go beyond just rhetoric and are founded in very practical considerations regarding how we do business. Without effective processes and practices, DEI initiatives will flounder which ultimately hinder our ability to increase our impact.

Therefore, we commit to the following practices to ensure diverse, equitable and inclusive workplaces in the nonprofit sector:

Planning & Policies

• Our organization pledges to prioritize DEI in our planning processes by identifying specific DEI goals, along with timelines for accomplishing goals and key performance indicators used to measure, monitor, and evaluate progress toward goals.
• Our organization pledges to make a public commitment to DEI by adding a DEI component to our mission, vision, and values statements, or by publishing a separate DEI statement.
• Our organization pledges to identify staff, volunteers, and/or Board members to focus on DEI work within the organization and empower them to communicate recommendations, challenge assumptions, and champion DEI health.
• Our organization pledges to commit financial resources to DEI work.
• Our organization pledges to ensure that all of our policies, procedures, and practices are consistent with our DEI statements and strategy.

Board Operations & Governance

• Our organization pledges to collect and analyze demographic information on Board members in order to monitor Board diversity relative to the community and nation.
• Our organization pledges to create and uphold formal policies to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in Board recruitment and operations.
• Our organization pledges to have regular Board-level conversations around DEI and the organization’s successes and failures in this realm.

Programs & Services

• Our organization pledges to ensure that diverse communities’ perspectives and needs are considered in the planning, development, implementation, delivery, and evaluation of programs and services.
• Our organization pledges to collect and analyze demographic information on clients/constituents and to use this information to inform our activities.
• Our organization pledges to accurately represent our diverse clients/constituents on our website, in printed collateral, and elsewhere.

Organizational Culture & Human Resources

• Our organization pledges to offer DEI training to staff, leadership, Board members, key volunteers, and key partners, at least once per year.
• Our organization pledges to create an environment in which is it possible to have difficult conversations about DEI topics by sharing clear expectations and rules of engagement for such conversations.
• Our organization pledges to collect and analyze demographic information on employees in order to monitor staff diversity relative to the community and nation.
• Our organization pledges to adhere to equitable hiring practices, including: publishing salary ranges in job listings for transparency; refraining from requesting salary histories from job applicants; and refraining from including degree requirements for open positions unless a given degree is materially important to the day-to-day responsibilities of the role.
• Our organization pledges to routinely assess compensation, comparing employee salaries to industry, community, and organizational benchmarks.
• Our organization pledges to ensure that all employees are given equitable access to professional development opportunities.
• Our organization pledges to ensure that a formal annual review takes place for each and every staff and leadership position; that a standardized rubric is used to evaluate performance, determining promotions and merit-based raises; and that this process results in a written report that is stored in the employee’s personnel file, along with a customized professional development plan based on the employee’s goals and aptitudes.

The Nonprofit Partnership’s Pledge

The Nonprofit Partnership recognizes that in order to effectively instill these practices in our member organizations, that we must be a partner in this effort. Therefore, the Partnership pledges to:

• Ensure, through education, training, and sharing of best practices, that all member organizations and their staff have access to information that builds the foundational knowledge of DEI in order to strengthen member DEI initiatives. Where NPP cannot provide those resources, NPP will direct organizations to consultants and other external parties who can assist them in this realm.
• Provide governance training to Board members in areas of DEI and help to create pathways to Board membership for diverse populations.
• Provide research and information related to competitive and equitable pay for salaried positions.  Relatedly, NPP will only post positions on the NPP Job Board that 1) include a salary range and 2) do not require a salary history from job applicants.
• Assist nonprofits in understanding and interpreting demographic data of the community and provide resources to help organizations reflect the communities they serve.