Good governance is essential to the work of museum trustees and directors, providing the very foundation for the museum’s success. Together the board and the director set the direction of the museum, obtain and manage the resources needed for it to fulfill its mission, and ensure that the museum is effectively serving its community. Museum boards and trustees are the connective tissue that link the museum and its mission to the community it serves. AAM’s 2022-2025 Strategic Framework calls us to engage, convene, and equip museum trustees, leaders, and changemakers with case studies, assessments, and benchmarking resources to build DEAI skills and lead more equitable and anti-racist museums.
The following are resources and tools that trustees can use to inform their work in museums and that museum leaders can use as a starting point for deepening the engagement of their boards. As a part of the Facing Change: Advancing Museum Board Diversity & Inclusion initiative, this space will be continuously updated as new resources become available.
Start Here
Racial Equity and Inclusion Plan Primer
Advancing racial and ethnic diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion on boards can be a daunting task for any institution. No matter where you are in your journey, questions arise when doing DEAI work, and it’s hard to know where to start or what to prioritize. It is critical to embed racial equity into every stage and all facets of museum operations in order to effect lasting change. To do this, though, we must start from wherever we are in our learning journey, with the people we have on our boards, on our staff, and in our communities right now.
Many of you might already have group agreements under which your museums and boards operate. As a best practice, whenever engaging in DEAI or Race Equity work, these are the agreements we try to live into at the American Alliance of Museums.
Board Member Recruiting and Onboarding Guide
Finding and recruiting senior-level diverse leaders to your board can be a daunting proposition. Check out this guide to recruiting, onboarding, and retaining diverse board members.
The Adaway Group DIA Resource Guide
With over 25+ years of experience, the Adaway Group supports sustainable diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work reshaping organizations on the personal and institutional levels. Check out their resource guide and learn more about what they do here.
ArtStuffmatters Social Justice Resources for Museums
If your museum is interested in engaging in social justice work, check out this robust list of resources curated by Artstuffmatters. Led by La Tanya S. ArtStuffMatters explores advocacy and organizing of public culture in the arts. She focuses on public art, photography, landscapes, museums, and more. You can find Artstuffmatters on WordPress, Twitter, Instagram, Flickr, and Pinterest.
The Role of Race on Board Recruitment
To succeed in an increasingly diverse world, nonprofit organizations need to remain relevant and connected to the communities they serve. Check out this resource from BoardSource that articulates the need to represent diverse points of view.
How do nonprofits see diversity as relevant to their goals? How do they want their foundation funders to be involved in their diversity efforts? In discussions about diversity at foundations, it’s essential that the perspectives of grantees be included in the conversation. That’s why The Center for Effective Philanthropy turned to its Grantee Voice Panel of nonprofit leaders to learn more about how nonprofits are thinking about diversity — and how foundations can be most helpful to their grantees, if at all when it comes to this topic.
Boards are Broken, So Let’s Break and Remake Them
Nonprofit theatre boards are unrepresentative, out of touch, and more often oppressive than supportive. We can and must do this better. Check out this article by Michael J. Bobbitt on what he believes can be done to address concerns around board service.
Grant Making with a Racial Equity Lens
In this guide, grantmakers explain why a focus on racial equity gives them a powerful “lens” for understanding and advancing their work. Drawing on firsthand experiences, the guide offers advice on promoting and deepening your foundation’s commitment to racial equity, both internally and in the programs you support.
Leading with Intent – A National Report on Museum Board Leadership
This Museum Board Leadership 2017 Report, commissioned by AAM, grades boards on a wide variety of policies, practices, and performance. The survey was conducted in partnership with BoardSource and Northern Trust.
