New web platform matches local nonprofits with diverse talent [photos]

Wade Hinton is photographed in his offices in the City Hall Annex on Wednesday, March 8, 2017, in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Wade Hinton is photographed in his offices in the City Hall Annex on Wednesday, March 8, 2017, in Chattanooga, Tenn.

After examining the strengths and weaknesses of the Chattanooga Design Studio's board of directors, Chairman Ethan Collier identified a lack of diversity among board members in regards to age, race, skill sets, length of time in Chattanooga and types of work experience.

In an effort to bring in more variety in the board's makeup, he looked outside the typical method of finding new members: recommendations from current members, which often leads to candidates from within the same social and professional networks.

In his search, Collier utilized Board Connector, a web platform founded by Chattanooga City Attorney Wade Hinton in June to help diversify the nonprofit boards in Chattanooga.

Hinton, who has served on a number of boards for area nonprofits, noticed that while Chattanooga is a diverse community, the boards on which he served did not reflect that. He felt a web platform would be a way to address the problem by connecting boards with a wider net of individuals looking for ways to serve their community.

Find out more

To register or get more information, visit boardconnector.org.The website says Board Connector gives women and ethnic minorities an opportunity to give back and help others while growing your skills and expertise.For nonprofit organizations, Board Connector gives each group a list of qualified and diverse talent to help bring different voices and perspectives on their boards.

Among the boards Hinton serves on is the Benwood Foundation, which examined the diversity of boards of organizations it works with to determine the need for the service in the community. The foundation also looked at national data to confirm the lack of women and minorities on nonprofit boards.

Hinton initially worked with six partner organizations - Benwood, Community Foundation, the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, Chattanooga Women's Leadership Institute, Urban League of Greater Chattanooga and the city of Chattanooga - to launch BoardConnector.org, originally called joinaboard.com.

Minorities and women, two under-represented groups on local boards, may register with the Board Connector site, indicating their skill sets and what types of nonprofits they are interested in serving. Nonprofits that are intentionally recruiting diverse members may also register through the site, providing information on the types of talent and skills they are looking for. Project coordinator Courtney Jenkins - Board Connector's only employee, who works part time - then matches nonprofits with individuals whose interests and needs align, and recommends individuals to the appropriate boards.

"We were able to say, 'Here's the talent we're looking for and here's what's missing on our board,' and they were able to set us up with someone who was a really great match," Collier says of the Design Studio's experience using the platform. "We were able to go outside our personal networks and into a broader network of individuals who would be a good fit. It was a really helpful tool."

The platform connected the board of the Design Studio, a non-profit organization that promotes excellence in urban design, with Dakasha Winton, an attorney specializing in government affairs who recently moved to Chattanooga from Nashville, where she had served on the boards of several organizations.

"They were looking for someone with a legal and political background," says Winton. "Also, being new to the city, I look at things from a different perspective than someone who's been here a long time."

Hinton says Board Connector has been successful in placing individuals at nonprofits including Habitat for Humanity and UnifiEd, though he declined to say how many recommendations or placements have been made. The project is funded by Benwood and the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga, along with Hinton's personal contributions.

Travis Lytle, a Board Connector adviser who serves on a multitude of area boards, says the platform is beneficial to both the individuals and the nonprofits.

"Being a minority gives another perspective to the organization you're serving," he says. "You get benefits through networking opportunities - as a minority, you may not always have the opportunity to network with the type of people you'd be on a board with."

He says serving on a board also helps prepare people for executive positions by providing experience on issues such as hiring CEOs or investigating internal scandals.

"It's a great way to use your experience to help others," Lytle says. "If you want to help your community, there's something out there for you to do, and we're trying to connect with people in the community who haven't been previously tapped for a position."

Board Connector recently unveiled a second version of its website, which Hinton says now has a crisper look and more robust interface that allows both individuals and nonprofits to create profiles and interact directly. It also offers information on leadership programs, such as the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce's Leadership Chattanooga, offering opportunities for networking and community involvement in addition to board service.

The platform has already attracted the attention of other cities that face similar challenges connecting nonprofits with diverse talent, says Hinton, and he hopes to introduce the platform outside Chattanooga in the future.

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