In a thought-provoking panel, AFP Toronto tackled the subject of sexual harassment in the charity sector for October Ethics Month. With the existing  research showing that a quarter of women fundraisers have experienced sexual harassment in their work, it is even more concerning that other, broad Canadian, research finds that young women believe this problem will get worse in the future.

As one speaker noted this issue is a part of our society and the charity sector is no different. What makes this particularly challenging is that our sector attracts young, idealistic women who are motivated to change the world. Then the sector hits them with this toxic environment. There are several things that are key to changing this reality and foremost is culture.

The panel issued several calls to action to attendees

- As a sector and individuals, we need to understand that women of colour experience sexual harassment and assault at 50% greater than the the rate for white women. Any systems we set up need to include this understanding. 

- As Board and staff, we need to recognize that policies and procedures are not enough. Culture is key to ensuring a safe workplace.

- As volunteer Board members, we need to regularly ask questions about sexual harassment and ensure that there is no tolerance for this behaviour. We also need to make sure there are consequences to harassers for their behaviour (and no consequences for those employees who report concerns), as well as a robust system that supports employees.

- As leadership, we need to ensure we regularly, and pro-actively, check in with staff about whether they have witnessed or experienced harassment. We need to ensure that there are multiple systems in place so that people who have experienced assault have a range of resources.

- As individuals we need to understand that harassment can happen in a public space which means that traditional advice to only meet donors in that space will not solve the problem.

- As individuals we need to understand that it is better to report or discuss concerns or raise problems about others than to be silent. It is better to be wrong than silent. (note - a statistic cited at the session was that 98% of sexual harassment statements are true.)

- As individuals, we need to recognize we all have blind spots in this area.

- As men, we need to understand the powerful role of speaking up and speaking out.

Change needs to start. If the charity sector is to truly make the difference in our society, then we need to be leaders in this area.

Thanks to AFP Greater Toronto for hosting and to TD for underwriting this panel and thanks to Moderator Susan Horvath, CFRE, President and Chief Executive Officer ROM Governors, and panelists Liz LeClair, CFRE Director of Major Gifts QEII Health Sciences Centre Foundation, Paulette Senior President & CEO Canadian Women's Foundation, and Jake Stika Executive Director Next Gen Men.  

This panel was held under Chatham House rules which means that no comments are linked to a speaker. In addition, all comments have been written to prevent connecting comments to speakers. The panelists for the presentation were ... Any errors or mistakes are solely the fault of Ann Rosenfield who compiled this piece.

Note

Hilborn Charity eNews has published over 20 articles on this topic. And we are not stopping. If you would like to submit an article - an Opinion piece, a Commentary, Research findings, a case study, information on human resources, best practices on workplace culture or similar, in this area contact Editor Ann Rosenfield at editor@hilborn.com

Resources

AfterMeToo was born within the Canadian film and television industry to activate concrete change to stop workplace sexual violence, in particular for vulnerable and precarious workers. We have been built by volunteers. AfterMeToo began with a symposium at the Globe & Mail and examined workplace sexual violence within the Canadian entertainment industry. The participants were a collection of survivors, witnesses, trauma experts, industrial and organizational experts as well as human rights and employment lawyers. From this symposium, we released a Report auditing existing policy and procedure around workplace sexual violence within the Canadian entertainment industry. The Report is a set of actions to create reform along with recommendations for ways in which the industry can improve current policy and systems.

Vesta Social Innovation Technologies was created to do what some say is impossible: eliminate rape culture. Addressing the status quo of feeling overwhelmed and alone, Vesta gives individuals the ability to take control of how and when they share their experience. Vesta combines the expertise of clinical and legal experts with the knowledge of those with lived experiences and front line advocates to create a trauma-informed, survivor-centric process that provides individuals with a tool to document their experience, and create a reliable, time-stamped record of events.