How not-for-profits can lead the way to more accessible board rooms

Accessibility plays a critical role in an organisation's ability to secure expertise from a diverse range of backgrounds, and as organisations strive to mitigate more of their own risks and weak points, they must ensure that all their processes and communications are fully accessible, end-to-end.

Following conversations and surveys over the course of 2022, we, in the Not For Profit practice at Odgers Berndtson, have produced our new report: How not-for-profits can lead the way to more accessible board rooms, investigating the causes of, and some of the remedies to, hidden inaccessibilities in not-for-profit board work.

With more than a hundred survey responses and a dozen follow-up interviews, we have found that conversations about accessibility and adjustments can reach significantly more people if framed with broader language than just the word 'disability' and that proactive initiation of these conversations would greatly ease the burden individuals currently face to getting the adjustments they need.

This is true for both the board work itself and during the recruitment process, meaning that search firms have a unique opportunity to facilitate stronger and more equitable board relationships between individuals placed on boards and the organisations they partner with.

How not-for-profits can lead the way to more accessible board rooms

Creating fully accessible board rooms should be a strategic priority for any not-for-profit board. Read the full report here.

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To view an accessible, plain-text version of the report, please click here. 

View accessible version of the report here

The Not For Profit practice at Odgers Berndtson would like to extend the deepest and most sincere thanks to all the individuals that contributed to this process and paper. Without their willingness to share their experiences and stories, this report would not exist. In particular, we would like to extend an extra special thanks to the input provided by David Grayson CBE and colleagues at Leonard Cheshire, who lent their time, expertise, and guidance to help shape this report.

To get in touch with Odgers Berndtson's Not For Profit practice, contact Derek Wilkinson, Head, Public, Not-for-Profit, & Education Practices, get in touch with us here or find your local Odgers Berndtson contact.

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