Associations, by definition, support targeted communities, representing and serving specific industries and professions. But, within those communities, a diverse volunteer base is critical to generate the insight, perspective, and cultural awareness required for organizations to stay relevant in the 21st century.

Your organization may have recruitment processes in place to ensure a diverse staff, but does it apply the same effort to volunteer committees? How do you think about and define diversity in the committee context? How do you recruit to create a balanced yet diverse group of volunteers?

If you make the effort to diversify your pool of volunteers, the process will provide invaluable benefits for your organization. Diverse volunteer committees yield

• dynamic discussions and a range of opinions
• role models for members who can identify with the volunteers
• access to an informal focus group whose members can offer perspectives on new programs and services
• a wider network and set of connections to use as a launching point for expanding your membership
• evidence of your organization’s commitment to inclusivity for all members

A diverse volunteer base is critical to generate the insight, perspective, and cultural awareness required for organizations to stay relevant in the 21st century.

In one example, the Optical Society experienced many of these benefits after implementing a recruitment effort to broaden its volunteer pipeline. In strategic planning discussions, OSA determined that a well-rounded corporate committee would provide the input the society needed to accomplish its goal of increasing industry participation.

“This focused change in our corporate-committee makeup resulted in a diverse volunteer committee body that reflected the community that we wanted to serve,” says OSA Chief Industry Relations Officer Melissa Russell. “The existing corporate committee consisted mostly of seasoned executives based in the U.S. After the evaluation, goal-setting, and the deliberate recruitment effort, we had a whole new dynamic at the table—exactly what we were looking for.”

Goal Setting

In thinking through what you want to accomplish with well-rounded committees, consider scenarios like these: If a significant proportion of your members are executives, do you want to mirror that proportion in your committees, or do you want to target young professionals for some committee seats to build future engagement and next-generation leaders? If your organization represents an international community but most committee members are based in one country, should you assign a predetermined number of committee seats to other nations to increase geographic diversity?

Even in an organization that serves a targeted demographic group, there is still room for diversity. For example, a women’s medical organization might ensure that committee members represent different races, locales, or levels of experience. In shaping balanced committees, consider these volunteer characteristics:

• level of work: leaders who focus on strategy versus doers who implement tasks and projects
• professional experience: early career versus seasoned executive
• demographics: age, gender, and race
• job function: varying job types in the community the association serves
• geographic distribution: U.S. or global representation

It also helps to think about why you want diverse committees: To represent the makeup of your membership? To attract more members of a particular group to your organization? To bring more perspectives to the table or to evaluate program ideas?

Documenting your goals and committee criteria in writing will ensure that staff and volunteers are moving forward together with the same vision and a consistent strategy.

Getting Started

Although every organization will have a different process, here are a few steps to get started.

Obtain internal buy-in. Depending on the scope of the change to the makeup of your committees, you may need a mini-campaign to secure internal buy-in and to justify the effort. Who is going to advocate for this change? Staff, department leads, committee chairs?

Get formal approval. If your committee scope or bylaws are affected by the changes, you will need to consider updates to or votes on these documents. How does the timing of the approval affect your recruitment plan?

Identify recruitment tactics. Map out your approach for this new recruitment strategy. Because the candidates you seek to engage may not be in your typical sphere of outreach, you may need to adopt some new communication and recruitment tactics.

Review the nomination process. Be prepared to submit new volunteers’ names for consideration at the appropriate opportunity. Is there an annual process, or is the cycle ongoing?

Don’t expect to achieve success overnight. If you make this a proactive effort year-round, it will, over time, seamlessly integrate with your committee recruitment process. Ideally, a cultural shift will also result, creating a more inclusive, diverse organization.