Dr. Liz Shay, Senior Grants Development Consultant
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), also known as Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) in Canada (and occasionally with other organizations), is a framework for promoting the full participation and fair treatment of all people. Although race is often at the forefront of current media discussions about DEI / EDI, the framework is focused on a much broader goal of human rights regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sex, sexual orientation, age, disabilities or abilities, family or caregiving status, educational background, experience in the domain, religion, and more.
Executive Order 14151, issued by President Trump on January 20, 2025, aims to remove all DEI-related programs and preferences from the United States federal government. In practice, this has been complicated to enforce and often directly contradicts legislation, leading to sometimes confusing requirements for grant seekers. The Canadian federal government has taken a different approach, where it is very common for EDI to be embedded in grant programs. Applicants must often include EDI statements in their submissions.
Outside of the federal government, many states, provinces, and territories require DEI / EDI considerations in their funding strategies. Foundations may also include these requirements as part of their grant-making activities as well. In these cases, DEI / EDI statements are often incorporated into application materials to help reviewers better understand how potential projects will address DEI / EDI topics. Developing strong DEI / EDI statements is key to successful grant seeking in these cases and is useful for developing well-rounded projects of all types.
Top Categories to Consider When Developing DEI / EDI Statements
DEI / EDI statements should be multifaceted and consider all the components of your project. You should consider everyone involved in the project, both in the design and implementation and the participants. Discuss all five components below as you develop your project plan.
Compliance
Although this is the bare minimum requirement for any DEI / EDI statement, it is important to make clear that you are aware of required activities and policies. Many organizations, including grant funders, have their own policies. For example, the Government of Canada uses its Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus) framework across its entire organization, with some agencies building additional components on top of this structure. Your organization may also have a policy or a code of conduct that should be referenced and utilized during the creation of the DEI / EDI statement.
As you develop your project plan, consider what activities or project components you will implement to align with these required policies. This process may include considering various DEI / EDI topics now. It may also include explicitly noting how policy frameworks will be used during the implementation process.
Community Involvement
Ultimately, your project is about serving your community. Considering who that community is and who will be most impacted is important. In many cases, marginalized communities see the most effects from things like climate change impacts or utilities projects. Projects have both direct and indirect outcomes for communities, and both are important to discuss.
During your project development process, evaluate your community and your target population, both directly through participants and indirectly through the broader outcomes. Ensure that your plans incorporate these impacted communities into the project design and implementation phases. If you do not already have representatives from that community on your project team, discuss how you will develop those relationships as part of your DEI / EDI statement!
Recruitment of Team Members and Participants
Recruitment processes are often at risk of impacts from unconscious biases. Finding the right people to be both team members and participants in your project may be done through a variety of methods, but it is likely largely driven by processes your organization (or similar organizations) has used in the past. Expanding and updating your approaches to recruitment can open new potential team members and participants and will allow you to develop a more well-rounded group for your project.
During your project design and implementation phases, consider where you are posting information for recruitment, both for team members and project participants. Explore additional places to post information that will reach a more diverse audience. Utilize your network to aid in this outreach process. Once you have your applicant pool, consider your decision-making processes. As much as possible, utilize competency-based, blind review to make sure that you are getting the best team members and participants for the specific project roles. Involve DEI / EDI champions, people with specific interests and knowledge for DEI / EDI topics (and ideally appropriate training), in your decision-making team. They should help ensure that DEI / EDI considerations are taken into account appropriately throughout the hiring or selection processes.
Training for Team Members
Explicit DEI / EDI training for project team members is important to ensure that they have awareness of issues that may arise and are empowered to address them. This training should be done early in their involvement with your organization, and you should have policies and practices in place for furthering knowledge for longer-term team members.
During your project design phase, develop plans to ensure that every team member is trained in the basics of DEI / EDI. They should understand what DEI / EDI is, any organizational or grant maker compliance policies, and unconscious bias training. Determine ways to encourage team members to go beyond this basic understanding and gain the knowledge and skills to be DEI / EDI champions. Develop components where more experienced team members and participants can train newer project colleagues. Also, demonstrate to the grant maker how you will be customizing training across all project topics based on the backgrounds and interests of each team member. If you are training participants, such as in an educational project, incorporate these types of training practices into those project components as well.
Barrier Reduction
Your goal for any initiative is to ensure that all team members and project participants can fully partake in all applicable project components. Barriers to this participation, whether health, family, religious, cultural, or other constraints, should be limited.
Like with other risk assessment items during project design and implementation, consider barriers to participation for team members and participants. In a DEI / EDI statement, discuss how you will reduce those barriers. For example, flexible environments where everyone can participate from anywhere and at any time can reduce conflicts for individuals with competing priorities. Consider the strengths of individuals on your team (and amongst your participants) and incorporate them into their project involvement so that everyone can contribute fully.
Importance of DEI / EDI Statements
DEI / EDI considerations help to ensure that everyone can participate fully and contribute to projects according to their skills, knowledge, abilities, and situations. Required or optional DEI / EDI statements in grant applications are an opportunity for your organization to demonstrate that you have thought about these topics and ways to address challenges. Even when not required, discuss the topics listed above with your team during every project to make sure that you are maximizing the impact of your project for your entire community.