DEI Training for Nonprofits

DEI training for nonprofits covers the same core skills as training anywhere else, such as fair hiring, inclusive management and respectful conduct. What differs is the audience and the money. A nonprofit has to reach a board, staff, managers and often volunteers, on a tight budget, while meeting what its funders now expect.

The practical answer is to start with the people who make decisions, meaning the board and the managers, and to use cheaper formats for wider groups. Since 2025, any nonprofit holding federal grants also has to make sure its training fits the certification terms in those awards. The sections below take each of those pieces in turn.

What makes nonprofit DEI training different

A company trains employees. A nonprofit usually trains several groups with different relationships to the organization, and each one needs something slightly different. A volunteer who serves meals twice a month does not need the session a hiring manager needs.

Leadership is part of the picture too. BoardSource's research on nonprofit boards, published as Leading with Intent, reported in its 2023 participant profile that chief executives in its sample were 75% female and 84% White, and board chairs 53% female and 77% White. Figures like these are often what prompts a board to ask for training in the first place.

The sector's mix of missions shapes the work as well. Here at the DEI Excellence Institute, a little over two in five of the nonprofit staff we have trained in the last two years work in human services organizations. In those settings, inclusion is as much about how clients are served as about how staff are hired.

Training the board

The board sets policy, hires and reviews the chief executive, and approves the budget. That makes it the group whose understanding matters most, and the one most often left out. A board that has not been trained tends to approve a plan it cannot oversee.

Board training works best as a short, focused session, often at an annual retreat. It usually covers a handful of topics:

• The board's own role, which is oversight of policy and results, not running programs.
• How board seats are filled, including how to widen the pool of candidates through open, merit-based recruitment.
• The legal context, including what federal anti-discrimination law allows and what the 2025 guidance names as risky.
• What to ask for in reports, so the board receives measures it can act on rather than activity counts.

One session will not change a board's habits on its own. It does give members a shared vocabulary and a clear idea of the questions they should be asking the chief executive at each meeting.

Training staff, managers and volunteers

Below the board, the groups split by how much decision-making power they hold. The table sets out what each one needs and the format that usually fits it.

Managers sit at the top of that list for a reason. They make the hiring, scheduling and promotion decisions that most inclusion work is trying to improve, and the guide to DEI training for managers explains why one-day sessions rarely change what they do.

Volunteers need a lighter touch. A few minutes in orientation on conduct, respect for clients and how to report a problem is usually enough. Employment law does not always treat volunteers the same way as employees, so a nonprofit should check with counsel how its policies apply to them in its state.

Some nonprofits have far more volunteers than staff, and a few run almost entirely on them. In those organizations the volunteer coordinator becomes a key audience, because that person recruits, schedules and handles complaints much as a manager would, and deserves the manager-level training.

For choosing between self-paced modules and live sessions, the comparison of online DEI training options sets out the trade-offs, including cost per learner.

Checking whether the training worked

Attendance is the easiest number to report and the least useful. A nonprofit gets a better picture by deciding before the training what should change, then checking it a few months later. Good measures for a small organization are simple and already in its records.

Examples include whether job postings now go to a wider set of places, whether every interview panel uses the same questions, and whether complaints are logged and answered within a set time. A short follow-up survey of staff adds the view from the people the training was meant to help. The DEI training plan template builds these checks into the plan from the start.

What funders expect since the 2025 changes

Funders' expectations have shifted, and federal funding changed most. Executive Order 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity, directs agencies to include a term in every grant award requiring the recipient to certify that it does not operate any programs promoting DEI that violate federal anti-discrimination laws.

The order also makes compliance with those laws material to the government's payment decisions. In plain terms, a nonprofit that certifies falsely could face liability, so the board and executive need to know what their training and programs actually do.

The Department of Justice followed with a memorandum, Guidance for Recipients of Federal Funding Regarding Unlawful Discrimination. Among its non-binding best practices, it advises that training be open to all, that participants not be separated by race, sex or another protected characteristic, and that nobody be required to affirm a belief or confess to bias.

Private foundations and other funders

Private foundations are not bound by grant terms written for federal agencies, and their expectations vary. Some ask about staff and board composition, some ask about training, and some have dropped those questions. The only reliable guide is each funder's own application and award terms, read every cycle.

Lawful practice is the common ground. Training that teaches fair processes, is open to everyone and does not stereotype any group serves a nonprofit well with every funder, and legal counsel should review anything that touches federal grant obligations.

Budgeting for training on a nonprofit budget

Training budgets in small nonprofits are often an afterthought, so it helps to cost a year in full. The example below is an illustration for a nonprofit with 25 staff, using assumed prices rather than market rates.

The staff time line is the one most budgets leave out, and here it is about a quarter of the total. Counting it makes the plan honest and shows the board what the training really costs. The DEI program budget calculator builds a fuller first-year budget from the same kind of lines.

Money can come from more than one place. Some foundations fund capacity building, which can cover training, and a nonprofit can sometimes fold training into a larger program grant. Either route needs the training described in terms the funder's own guidelines allow.

Where the course fits for nonprofit practitioners

The Professional DEI Certification Course covers the skills behind each section above and leads to the Certified Equity & Inclusion Practitioner (CEIP) designation. Unit 3, DEI Strategic Planning and Business Integration, covers costed budgets and external funding, including grants and partnerships.

Unit 6, DEI Education and Training Development, covers needs analysis, choosing vendors and measuring whether training worked. The Advanced DEI Certification Course adds Unit 8, Policy, Compliance and Legal Frameworks, and Unit 9 on employee resource groups and DEI councils, which suits anyone advising a board on governance.