Making All Feel Welcome

“We don’t have a diversity problem in this sector,” ABFE CEO Susan Taylor Batten told PEAK’s Satonya Fair in their CEO:CEO conversation last fall. “We have a retention problem.” For its 2014 study The Exit Interview, ABFE found that Black professionals were leaving philanthropy because of the inhospitable cultures at grantmaking organizations. Unfortunately, this is not unique to Black professionals. As we read in other studies and hear from our community and PEAK’s Asian American and Pacific Islander, Black, and Latinx caucuses, all people of color, women, and people who identify as LGBTQ+ or as having a disability have similar experiences. While people from these different demographics might be included in how their organizations do business, they might not necessarily feel like they belong—that they are truly a part of a community of peers where their contributions are appreciated and help to make an impact. We asked three members of