When Richard Lapinski took over as executive director/CEO of the Indiana United Methodist Children’s Home (IUMCH), it quickly became apparent that he wouldn’t be there to win over friends. The Lebanon, Ind.-based facility was facing serious challenges, including a significant cut in referrals from the Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS) — the primary source of its youth resident placements. Difficult decisions had to be made.

IUMCH only had about 27 youth residents, down from an average of 75 to 80 — more than a 60 percent reduction, Lapinski recalled. However, the facility still had more than 110 employees on its payroll — functioning with an infrastructure that had become outdated with the loss of residents. “And that number was rapidly decreasing for a number of reasons,” Lapinski said.

With awareness increasing about best practices for caring for troubled youth, many of whom had been abused or neglected in their previous homes, IUMCH wasn’t measuring up as a preferred placement facility. “Our organization didn’t really have the structure or appropriate behavioral models in place to care for the kids properly,” Lapinski said.

Since placements were being drastically cut and, consequently, revenue from the state, the facility had resorted to using $4.2 million from its endowment to cover operational costs, Lapinski noted. “They (IUMCH) have a very healthy endowment but that was not going to last long if we stayed on that track,” he said.

Lapinski, with the board’s approval, set in motion a series of recommendations that included investing in the construction of new facilities, training of employees under a new model of care, eliminating 55 positions and, eventually, boosting the salary of its house parents to a combined $100,000 — up from the $50,000 they were paid when he first arrived in 2010.

While the internal changes sent ripples throughout the organization, the decision to boost the salary of house parents made many other organizations take notice nationally. “It was sticker shock, in a positive way. You can get a lot of people’s attention,” Lapinski said of the significant salary hike, which was designed to address IUMCH’s challenges with attracting experienced house parents and retaining them. At the same time, it sent an unmistakable message about the critical role house parents had in delivering quality, caring services to youth on behalf of IUMCH.

The strategy worked. Highly qualified house parents, many working at larger, well-known institutions throughout the country, suddenly took interest in relocating to Lebanon for the opportunity to work at IUMCH. “We, at one point, didn’t actively recruit,” Lapinski said of the surge in interest.

Despite good intentions, there is still much diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work to be done in the nonprofit boardroom. A June 2021 report from BoardSource indicates that while boards may be getting slightly more diverse, they are far from representing the communities they serve, and recruitment practices too often lack alignment with diversity goals.

At Hedges, we are challenging ourselves to question traditional board governance practices and identify new ways for organizations to create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive board culture. Resulting from our learnings, we share three practices for nonprofit leaders to consider:

1. DEI work should be grounded in an organization’s “why.” Too often, the purpose of recruiting diverse board members is to “check a box” provided by funders on a grant application. This narrow approach misses the opportunity for important board-driven conversations that can identify how diversity in representation, lived experiences, and perspectives can unlock greater potential for the organization. By taking time to uncover the reasons “why” an organization needs more diversity in the boardroom, boards can identify the specific purpose for board-led DEI efforts and create a collective responsibility to move these efforts forward.

To get started, BoardSource offers specific questions boards can ask themselves to explore an organization’s purpose for having a more diverse boardroom including:

Once the board can formulate responses to these types of questions, it will gain clarity as to “why” board diversity matters and what the organization has to gain.