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The second revelation was that, while association leaders want to make diversity a top priority for their organizations, obstacles are standing in the way. 55% of the association executives who responded to the survey said that their organizations struggle to attract diverse applicant pools for open positions. 70% of respondents, meanwhile, stated that they have strategies in place to increase diversity, but don’t know how to measure the success of those strategies. These statistics show that, while many associations are focusing on increasing the diversity within their ranks, a sizable percentage of them either aren’t seeing the results they want to see or aren’t sure what benchmarks they should use to measure those results.

While the research identifies a few challenges that associations will have to figure out how to circumnavigate in pursuit of diversity and inclusion, both James Zaniello and David Rehr are optimistic about the findings.

“We were thrilled by the great insights and recommendations for action that survey respondents shared,” Zaniello said in a Vetted Solutions press release about the survey report. “There is dedication among association executives to see these efforts succeed.”

Rehr, meanwhile, was particularly impressed by the statistic about how 84% of survey respondents acknowledged that pursuing diversity and inclusion is “the right thing to do.”

“I interpret [that statistic] to mean that association leaders understand and appreciate that diversity and inclusion provides greater opportunities for all to be part of the American experience,” Rehr wrote in a Huffington Post article about the research and its implications for the future of associations in America.

In addition to showing that diversity is a growing priority among leaders of trade associations in the United States, the Vetted Solutions survey also asked respondents to explain what their associations were doing to be more conscious about diversity and inclusion. Authoring the report, Rehr and Zaniello distilled these key data points into several practical strategies that other associations can adopt to become more focused on diversity as well. These strategies included:

• Tweaking job descriptions or skill requirements to eliminate language and communication that may be biased for or against certain groups of people
• Expanding recruitment and outreach strategies to advertise open positions to a more diverse pool of candidates
• Recognizing and minimizing unconscious biases in the job interview script
• Assess onboarding processes to identify assumptions or policies that might make certain new employees “feel excluded or uncomfortable”
• Looking at where diversity exists within the organizational hierarchy, from entry-level positions all the way up to the CEO

The “Diversity and Inclusion” report document also noted that, by incorporating diversity and inclusion into core organizational policies and values, associations can start focusing on the five strategies listed above more organically and successfully. The study encouraged a few different strategies for emphasizing diversity as a “core value,” such as developing and publicizing in-depth inclusion strategies, creating training and awareness programs, and more.