Building cultural competence for nonprofit leaders with Danielle Marshall

11/28/2023

I just came back from a conference where equity was at the forefront. It was a wonderful conference, great sessions, amazing people. And yet I kept hearing throughout the day people say things like I’d love to lean more into this whether it’s their DEI work or it’s cultural competence broader strokes, but where do I find the time?

I wanted to offer five steps that I think could be helpful for listeners:
1. Establish your starting point
2. Set your vision
3. Set your goals and learning plan
4. Identify your resources
5. Monitor and evaluate your progress
— Danielle Marshall

In episode 86 of Nonprofit Mission: Impact, Carol Hamilton joins with Danielle Marshall for another learning out loud episode where we do a deep dive into a topic.

Today we focused on cultural competence or cultural humility and talked about ways for nonprofit leaders to work on and enhance their cultural competence. 

Danielle defines cultural competence as the ability to navigate interactions effectively across diverse cultures, emphasizing the importance of valuing differences and recognizing that no social identity is a monolith.

While it is easy to think that finding the time to improve your cultural competence is too hard, Danielle offers a practical five-step approach:

  1. Assess your starting point, 

  2. Set your learning goals, 

  3. Creating a learning schedule, 

  4. Identify learning resources

  5. Continuously monitoring and adjusting the learning plan.


​Both discuss the significance of accountability partners and participating in both affinity and multicultural groups. They stress the need for ongoing self-monitoring and adaptability in the pursuit of cultural competency.

Highlights:
- [00:07:16] Definition of Cultural Competence; Cultural Competence/Cultural Humility
- [00:17:16 Five Actionable Steps for Nonprofit Leaders in Building Cultural Competence
- [00:23:16] Cultural competence learning plan 
- [00:33:16] Accountability partners and affinity groups 
- [00:39:16] Continuous learning journey

Guest Bio:
Danielle is an inclusive leader focused on strengthening collaboration among teams, leaders, and stakeholders to foster problem-solving, create solutions, and improve culture. She finds her inspiration in leading systemic change work that promotes equity and inclusion. 
Danielle founded Culture Principles in response to a persistent need to operationalize Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion metrics, centering REDI goals and creating accountability systems. She supports clients through her Mapping Equity Framework focused on Unearthing Knowledge, Elevating Strategy, and Transforming Sustainability. She centers her work around organizational assessment, racial equity learning intensives, and the development of racial equity action plans. Understanding that each organization arrives at this work from different perspectives, she utilizes assessment in building a customized strategy for each unique partner. Previously Danielle served as a non-profit leader for 20+ years and today works on strategy development that enables nonprofits to achieve equitable mission-driven results. Danielle holds a Master's degree in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Louisiana Tech University and draws on her background as an I/O psychologist in applying a racial equity lens to organizational policies, practices, and programs. She is a Certified Diversity Professional (CDP)/ Executive Coach (ACC).
During her playtime, you can find Danielle traveling, knitting, and kayaking in all 50 states.

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