2020 Civic Engagement: Make Your Impact Through Census and Elections

The many challenges of 2020 have reminded us that our actions and choices are inextricably linked to the wellbeing of our communities. Nowhere is this more evident than in civic engagement. Just as every individual’s choices impact the wellness of the community, every individual’s voice impacts the outcomes of elections, the census, and referendums. We truly are a nation of the people, by the people, for the people.

This year’s general election will take place shortly after the 2020 census ends. The census determines how resources and representation are allocated; an accurate census builds the foundation for a healthy democracy. The decision to end data collection on September 30th, 2020 has led to concerns about underreporting and inaccurate data collection. With COVID-19 complicating data collection efforts, supporting community efforts to get census forms completed is critical. For more information, visit the 2020 census website.

Last September, our National Voter Registration Day blog highlighted the importance of civic engagement. With the general election coming up in under fifty days, making sure you are able to vote is paramount.

With this in mind, we are collaborating with TurboVote (of Democracy Works) to augment our platform, connecting our community to additional resources that will make voting easier.

You can start planning now to make sure your voice is heard! In this post, we break down:

Steps to safely vote, absentee or in person
The integration with TurboVote
Pledging to vote, its importance — and following through

Get Ready to Vote!

*COVID safe! Our GivePulse team member Skyla, pictured left, dons a mask and provided finger protection to vote*

On July 14, 2020, our Austin-based GivePulse team took the opportunity to safely practice civic engagement by going to the polls. But this was not a one step process — in order to make sure our voices were heard, we had to make sure we took the following steps.

Step 1: Make sure you are registered to vote

In the 2016 national election, about 25% of eligible voters were unregistered, and these numbers are even higher for underrepresented communities. Voters may be unable to vote if their registrations are outdated or if they miss the deadline to register. You can register to vote and check on your registration status through the United States government website, or by pledging to vote using the Turbovote and GivePulse integration! Learn more below.

Step 2: Confirm the dates of upcoming elections

The U.S. Vote Foundation can help you determine any upcoming elections in your state. In addition, it shares deadlines for registration, changes to party affiliation, and absentee ballot requests. You should also double check whether or not your state allows early voting, and if so, when early voting begins. On GivePulse (through our collaboration with TurboVote), you can make a pledge to vote and keep track of important dates using the following link. With this augmentation, TurboVote will automatically provide SMS text and email reminders with important election information, key dates, and deadlines.

Step 3: Learn about the candidates and issues being voted on

Learn as much as you can about the candidates and issues to make an informed, conscientious vote. Ballot Ready offers information about the candidates and issues based on your home address, with clear and peer-reviewed information to help you decide who the best candidate is. In addition, talk to and listen to friends and family and review multiple news sources to gain insight into new, different and changing viewpoints. And most importantly, always verify any information that you read or hear using peer-reviewed, fact-checked sources! Be particularly thoughtful about information you glean from social media and online sources.

Step 4: Determine your polling location (or request a mail-in ballot)

Websites such as USA.gov will help you locate your polling place or request an absentee ballot. Vote.org can also help you find your polling place. Note that if you are going to request an absentee ballot, you should leave ample time before the deadline, which you can find out through our collaboration with TurboVote. For both in-person and absentee voting, you will likely need some form of ID. You can learn more about what you need through your State or Local Election Office Website. The National Conference of State Legislature offers an interactive map; hover over your state to learn about your identification requirements.

Step 5: Vote!

Absentee:

Depending on your state, the coronavirus pandemic may have updated the absentee ballot policies to allow for greater flexibility in using this secure and beneficial voting option. Learn more through vote.org. Once you have requested your absentee ballot, follow all instructions very carefully to make sure your vote is counted. Our civic engagement platform can also help you plan when you need to request your absentee ballot. Remember that once you have voted absentee, you can no longer vote in person. Decide which will be the best choice for you, and only vote once. Voting more than once is against the law.

In person:

Our team members were able to vote in-person in Texas — and one in Connecticut as well (#WFH)! These voting experiences were entirely safe and secure. When they reached the voting booth, each of our team members was met with masked and shielded poll workers, hand sanitizer options and socially distanced polling booths. In Connecticut, our team member was offered a pen to fill out the ballot that could be taken home after voting. In Texas, small finger coverings were offered to press the buttons on the ballots. Remember, voting early may mean a shorter wait for voting, so check to see if your state allows early voting today.

TurboVote Integration

As you can see from steps 1-5, there is a lot to consider when it comes down to voting. The collaboration between GivePulse, a comprehensive community engagement platform, and TurboVote, a tool to help people vote, pairs the knowledge and abilities of both to reach a broad audience and provide the rules and steps for absentee, vote-by-mail, and voter registration.

This integration will encourage registration, education, and participation in the upcoming election this November. To this end, we have implemented the following:

A platform-wide banner on GivePulse to encourage users to pledge to vote
Those who pledge can then register for election reminders powered by TurboVote
After the November election, users who pledged to vote will receive an automated email confirming their voter engagement

Our team knows that this partnership can make all the difference in this year’s election. Our democracy only works effectively if every citizen is able to make their voice heard.

Pledging

Our TurboVote partnership utilizes pledge functionality to encourage voting, but you can also make your own pledge event, as an individual or an organization, to encourage your own community to vote! Our new Pledge Event functionality allows anyone to create a Pledge on the GivePulse platform to ask friends, group members, and others to commit to a specific action. In this case, that action might be voting! Check out our example Pledge Event below. For help creating your Pledge, email support@givepulse.com. And join the other users on the GivePulse platform pledging to vote through the link here.

Other Forms of Civic Engagement

Voting is just one of many crucial aspects of civic engagement! Volunteer in your community, whether virtually or in-person; phone bank, send letters to congresspeople, and share information with your peers. And again, don’t forget to also fill out the 2020 census if you have not done so already!

Higher Ed Resources

Our higher education partners may also want to learn more about the impact that can be made by groups of voters, especially students, in this year’s election. Learn more through these excellent resources from our partners:

Pledge to help students vote: Our partners at Elon shared the Faculty Network for Student Voting Rights, which is currently seeking to recruit signers for its Faculty Pledge for Student Voting Rights. Making sure that students across the country are able to participate in this year’s election is of the utmost importance. We encourage faculty members to learn more about this network and to consider whether they want to sign the pledge.

Learn about the imperative of this year’s election: The Institute for Democracy and Higher Education at Tufts University has released Election Imperatives 2020: A Time of Physical Distancing and Social Action. Read and share to learn about recommendations to encourage voting given the current social, political, and cultural context.

Learn about student voting realities on your campus: The National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE) allows campuses to learn about student registration and voting rates, and make decisions and plans accordingly.

Survey results reveal young people’s voting interests: The Center for Information and Research based on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) has created a comprehensive survey of young people to learn more about their voting interests, and how this translates to efforts to Get Out The Vote.

Recruiting student poll workers: Given the anticipated shortage of poll workers for this November’s election, the Council of Independent Colleges encourages college students to power the polls in order to both meet this need and learn more about critical civic processes. Note: faculty can use the Council’s additional resources to help augment student experiences.

We hope that these resources will help all of our partners get out the vote. For more information about our partnership with TurboVote, pledging to vote, or just how to find more information, contact civic@givepulse.com.

7 Steps Toward Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

A diverse workplace not only recognizes and fights against the pervasive systemic racism underlying discrepancies in everything from hiring decisions to wage gaps; it also has been proven to help organizations succeed. According to a 2017 Boston Consulting Group study, diverse management teams lead to a 19% higher innovation revenue than average. The Harvard Business Review reported in 2019 that nearly 95% of directors agree that diversity brings unique perspectives to the boardroom.

For our partners in the community engagement sector to better meet the needs of their communities, a diverse organization made up of volunteers, donors, and board members that reflect the diversity of the region with which they work is a must. Yet all of these indicators continue to underperform in critical equity factors. For example, according to information shared by BoardSource, 90% of nonprofit CEOs and 84% of nonprofit board members are white. If organizations want to fight inequity, this must be an internal process as well.

While many organizations have sought to actively increase their diversity and inclusion, they may be unsure of immediate steps they can take to ensure they are successful, such as how to update policies to incorporate dedication to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Here, we share seven key steps to creating a more diverse organization and workplace.

1. Assess your organization’s current structures and policies

Before you can create a diversity and inclusion plan, you will first need to determine whether your organization has any policies and practices already in place, and if so, how these are being implemented. From there, you can assess your current resource allocations, as well as examine buy-in from the board, staff, volunteers, and other stakeholders.

In addition, examine the big picture: look at the composition, structure, culture and dynamics of your organization, as well as the current communication, mission and strategic direction. If necessary, update these to reflect recognition of the importance of your diversity and inclusion efforts, and start laying the foundation to have it better represent your constituents.

2. If you don’t already have one, designate a specific leader for diversity and inclusion efforts

In their 2019 survey, Weber Shandwick found only 34% of respondents had diversity and inclusion leadership positions in their company, while only 28% reported positions dedicated solely to diversity and inclusion. This signposts that diversity is considered tangential to other jobs, rather than a critical area of focus in its own right. Make sure that your organization doesn’t fall into this trap. If possible, create a full-time paid leadership position for diversity and inclusion efforts, and make sure that this leadership position reports directly to the CEO or executive director. For smaller organizations, DEI should be core elements of the leadership composition, and a designated responsibility for one of the executives to take ownership of. Management and top-level promotion of diversity and inclusion will trickle down, improving equity throughout the organization.

3. Communicate and educate stakeholders on importance of diversity and inclusion

For any diversity and inclusion plan to work, it will need to involve buy-in from all stakeholders. You will have to communicate your plan clearly and effectively — which means making sure that you have clear definitions and plans. Make sure your organization knows, agrees with and understands your definitions of diversity and inclusion, as well as your expected goals. Determine who this message needs to be tailored to, and use these elements to develop your diversity and inclusion policy. As always, reinforcing and creating opportunities for ongoing learning and improvement are of the utmost importance.

4. Update hiring policies to instill diversity from the top down

Hiring is one area where implicit biases can play an insidious role in slowing diversity in your company. As mentioned in the previous step, reinforce the education of DEI with the entire team, including the existing hiring team. Technology is not necessarily protective against bias; algorithms are only as unbiased as the humans who create them, so it is important to test for biased technology. Implicit bias training and reminders to HR staff of the importance of diversity and inclusion can go a long way in improving diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Beyond the actual hiring steps, make sure available roles are flexible, with options for part time and remote work. During the hiring process, emphasize concrete steps for recruitment, job training, and leadership opportunities. Once hired, onboarding should offer opportunities for long term growth.

5. Factor diversity and inclusion into day-to-day policies

There are various ways that you can involve diversity and inclusion into day-to-day policies. The keys are to relate diversity and inclusion to the organization’s success, to tackle the culture of the organization, and to maintain a focus on growth. Mentoring programs that pair underrepresented individuals can show sensitivity to the ways in which the organization may negatively impact underrepresented groups, while also promoting community and partnership.

You can also consider changing your HR and complaints system. The Harvard Business Review shared innovative alternatives from sociologists Frank Dobbin from Harvard University and Alexandra Kalev from Tel Aviv University. Dobbin and Kalev suggest “changing leadership mindsets from seeing complaints as threats to valuing them as insights that can spark positive organizational change.” Make clear that this is how reports are viewed to encourage crucial feedback that will help identify areas for improvement.

6. Avoid tokenism

Merriam-Webster defines tokenism as “the practice of doing something (such as hiring a person who belongs to a minority group) only to prevent criticism and give the appearance that people are being treated fairly.” Whether or not you believe that you are engaging in tokenism, hiring one or few members of underrepresented groups can lead to employees associating their presence with tokenism. Feeling like a token can be draining on employees, especially if they’re the only (for example) female, African-American, or millennial in their department. Do not pigeonhole employees from underrepresented groups into roles or conversations related to diversity and inclusion. Recognize and applaud everyone’s strengths, and if possible, connect individuals from underrepresented groups through mentoring as described in point five.

7. Monitor and measure often

Creating and implementing a plan are crucial first steps, but they are not the end of the process! Prioritizing diversity and inclusion is a cycle. You are investing in a new way of thinking and a new culture, a process that does not end when you meet your first goals. Set a timeline to check in on hiring procedures, training protocols, promotions, wages, terminations, and other markers to see if there are any patterns that need to be examined. Remember, there is always room for improvement: make sure that you are listening to the voices of underrepresented groups in your organization or company for feedback and concerns.

Ongoing Effort

These steps will go a long way toward improving your organization’s diversity and inclusion. However, it is important to recognize that there is no silver bullet — this will be an ongoing, rather than one-time, effort. Over the course of updating diversity and inclusion policies, you may face uncomfortable conversations and situations. These are crucial to building emotional intelligence and supporting marginalized identities in your workspace.

As a technology company providing a service to the community, the GivePulse team constantly aims to learn and grow as we work toward creating the inclusive organization we are striving to become. To do so, we will continue to regularly review the above steps, just as we do with our platform’s accessibility, performance and security. We will ensure that our values are developed and reflective of our own evolving community. As of this summer, we are working to add specific language regarding DEI to our code of conduct, and will be reinforcing our dedication to radical candor. Recognizing the risk of implicit bias in hiring processes, we ensure that job candidates meet a diverse range of interviewers and evaluators. Our promotions and payscales offer regular opportunities for reevaluation for any reason, and we acknowledge and celebrate the differences that our diverse set of experiences, identities, and stories brings to our decision-making processes.

DEI will look different for every organization, city, and region. But true diversity efforts will also extend beyond the workplace. Being truly open to dialogue and showing a willingness to have conversations around issues of discrimination, current civil rights movements, congressional bills such as HR-40, and upcoming elections are crucial to building bridges and forging strong partnerships. Engage with your community, and encourage your organization to do the same. Push yourself and lead by example.