How Big Duck is committed to being an antiracist company
Recent murders of Black lives have put our nation’s history of structural, institutional, interpersonal, and internalized racism in the spotlight again. Protests against police brutality, alongside sustained media attention, have kept that spotlight on, and hopefully sparked a historical moment where real change must happen. Big Duck will be a part of this change. We believe that Black lives matter, stand in support of and in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, and are committed to being an antiracist company.
Big Duck commits to be an antiracist company by:
- Confronting and changing racist and anti-Black bias policies and practices in our hiring, culture, and staff retention and advancement
- Proactively and explicitly addressing racist practices, policies, and communications in our work with clients
- Training and building our staff’s capacity to identify, confront, discuss, and change racist and anti-Black practices and policies
- Working to diversify our team and leadership and embracing Black voices and lived experiences
- Creating productive forums for sharing, learning, and supporting our team in this work
- Budgeting and planning for our own antiracist capacity-building as core to our operations
- Proactively seeking out and working with businesses and consultants that are Black-led
- Proactively elevating Black voices in our podcast, blog, webinars, website, workshops, social media, and other visible platforms
- Using our visibility and influence to surface and educate about issues caused by a lack of diversity, equity, inclusion and the presence of bias in nonprofit communications and in the sector
Businesses, not just individuals, must be accountable for taking a clear antiracist position and acting on it with intention, momentum, and real outcomes. As a business that shapes nonprofit brands, we have a particular responsibility to identify, elevate, and integrate voices beyond those who hold power and ensure our own biases aren’t a barrier. We are honored to work deeply with social justice organizations and acknowledge our responsibility to be capable antiracist partners for all of our clients.
We have taken productive steps forward. These include overhauling our hiring processes, instituting mandatory training on systemic racism for all employees, creating spaces for our staff to regularly identify, discuss, and work on issues of bias and racism, working with DEI experts and Black-owned businesses, signing the Antiracist Small Business Pledge, and making donations to organizations doing antiracist work.
We have also struggled and failed repeatedly on our journey. As Ericka Hines, Lead Consultant and Principal at Every Level Leadership, says, we must “be humble and ready to fumble.” We still have a long way to go—and we will continue to share our journey publicly so you can hold us accountable. Feel free to write to me at [email protected] if you’d like to connect.