Bridging the Disconnect: Moving Beyond Performative Allyship in Nonprofits, Philanthropy, and Politics
A Broken System
Shad Hagan, M.S.
Photo by Max Bender on Unsplash
Many in non-profits, philanthropy, and politics claim to champion diversity, equity, justice, fair chances, inclusion, and other such narratives. It boils down to including the “other.” However, these claims fall short, leading to frustration among marginalized populations who experience systemic barriers firsthand. The marginalized communities know these barriers remain unchallenged, even by those who position themselves as allies. Authentic allyship has requirements.
Authentic allyship requires a willingness to listen and adapt. It demands action and accountability, and sometimes, it involves dealing with people who make you uncomfortable, people you think are too radical, and people simply telling the truth. It requires stepping outside an echo chamber and dealing with unapologetically impacted people.
Performative Allyship
Organizations often use symbolism to display allyship. Groups and organizations will display rainbow flags, blue bracelets, cuffs, bars, etc. I have witnessed many items used to signal support for marginalized communities. The gestures, without doubt, raise visibility but all too often need follow-through.
Organizations may craft diversity statements but fail to hire or promote impacted individuals from underrepresented groups to leadership roles. They may also only hire from within their programs and exclude voices that challenge the status quo.
A better approach would be to align external messaging with action by investing in marginalized voices, including ones you disagree with. You may learn something from them. Excluding opportunities to qualified people is oppressive.
2. Privilege Blindness
Leaders in these spaces are often not from a marginalized background and operate from a position of privilege. They may unintentionally overlook systemic challenges marginalized groups encounter. They may engage more with what resonates with their network, leaving the urgent needs of the communities they aim to serve unaddressed.
They may be addressing the building of community centers but neglect to engage with impacted communities to address the systemic issues of poverty that may leave those centers underutilized.
A better approach would be to work directly with impacted communities, listening to their needs and priorities to address root causes rather than surface-level issues.
3. Policy vs. Practice
Policies designed to promote Justice can backfire when not informed by those with lived experiences—a diverse group of people with lived experiences, not just those in your echo chamber or those you approve of. This is called inclusion, and in Oklahoma, Democrats receive a failing grade for non-engagement. Republicans fare slightly better, receiving a C. While I disagree with many Republican policies, they are much more willing to engage with constituents than Democrats, which I appreciate. Politicians can do better in criminal justice with less talk and more collaboration and action.
Lawmakers often highlight justice-impacted individuals in their rhetoric, but tangible actions remain lacking. Criminal Justice is frequently a topic on party platforms but never seriously addressed. If lawmakers want to address the problems in the justice system seriously, they can assemble a group of primarily formerly incarcerated people with a few participants who are justice-impacted but have not been incarcerated.
The panel should include individuals who have been out of custody for varying lengths of time, represent diverse political affiliations & racial demographics, and bring a range of lived experiences and educational backgrounds.
A group that can discuss the system at every level, from expertise in custody to experience out of custody. Unlike the Governor's panel, this panel would be the real experts, elevated from performative politics and fear of discussion. I am not talking about the Governor and his token people in place or his previously handpicked panel for optics, but authentic voices that speak about the past and the present challenges and work on presenting meaningful, scalable solutions.
4. Gatekeeping in Advocacy and Decision-Making
Gatekeepers maintaining “safe” voices diminish the chances of real progress from ever happening. Advocacy spaces prioritize these voices that are in alignment with the status quo. Marginalized people are dismissed or strategically canceled by those in power as “too radical.”
While a non-profit may have certain people on its boards, they may be excluded from key decisions, and only a compliant person will be invited to this board, not someone who will spark honest discussion or accountability.
Nonprofits have half-implemented a solution to this problem but need to refine their practice a bit. While most of these agencies have inclusive hiring policies, they must implement them honestly. Agencies still screen out people known to challenge the status quo, effectively silencing them before they even have a chance to contribute.
Changemakers—the people willing to push boundaries are critical to transformative change. If agencies deny them the opportunity, they stifle innovation and perpetuate more harm to the demographic they serve. Denying people opportunities based on their background or willingness to challenge the status quo perpetuates the systemic barriers you claim to oppose. The agency has inadvertently become a helper and a barrier to justice, harming the population it serves.
5. Tokenization
Tokenization is widespread in philanthropy, non-profits, and politics. Marginalized people are used as props for ads asking for money, to increase engagement, and to sit on boards to show they are included, but they lack any fundamental power dynamic. They are placeholders, valued only for their business utility. These practices send a message: We can use your pain to generate funding or stick you on a board for appearances. The problem is that real change does not come from engaging in these performative practices. We need genuine allyship and real action. Tokenization has been an ongoing practice for a long while.
I know some agencies even use formerly incarcerated people as speakers to share their stories at unpaid events, but the man with the PhD, psychologist, or other speakers are paid. Why is it acceptable to ask someone to share their expertise gained from their trauma without being paid? Do we ask a Psychologist to share his educational knowledge from grad school for free? It is all experience, but since you are an “other,” it is deemed okay. If you are in someone's program, it is just fine to have someone's story at a gala to solicit donations and pay everyone but the token. If you want people to speak, work that in your budget, just like you would for anyone else. Of course, this perspective is rooted in my lived experience, which I hope provides valuable insight. Please remember this with your program participants: if you are a non-profit, they do not have the same resources as you, and a little can go a long way.
Conclusion
Partnership is the foundation of being an ally! By embracing diverse lived experiences and engaging in uncomfortable conversations, we can work to dismantle barriers more effectively within our communities and create an equitable system that serves the entire community, not a select few. The capability exists to make our communities more equitable and build a future where people can thrive, where voices are heard, and equity is real.
Let us commit to honest actions that build authentic partnerships and empower people rather than hold them back. We must move past performative gestures and begin taking actual actions to create a society where inclusion is normalized and equity becomes something people feel, not just a policy promise.
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