Applying DEI Deconstructed in a Nonprofit Context: From Intentions to Impact
Lily Zheng’s DEI Deconstructed: Your No-Nonsense Guide to Doing the Work and Doing It Right offers a pragmatic, evidence-based approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion work that goes far beyond surface gestures or well-meaning intentions. Zheng challenges organizations to rethink commonly adopted DEI strategies and pivot toward measurable, systemic change rather than symbolic actions that feel good but fail to produce real results. The book combines research with frontline experience and actionable frameworks, helping leaders and practitioners understand what effective DEI work really looks like and how to achieve it in practice.
1. Create Trust Before You Change Culture
Zheng highlights trust as the foundation of meaningful change. In nonprofits, cultivating trust among staff, volunteers, beneficiaries, and community partners is essential before introducing or scaling any DEI initiative. When stakeholders feel genuinely heard and respected, they are more likely to engage deeply with the work and support transformations that challenge the status quo.
2. Focus on Outcomes Instead of Good Intentions
A core idea in the book is that good intentions alone are not enough. Nonprofits often launch DEI trainings, statements, or celebrations without clear goals or measures of impact. Zheng urges organizations to define what success looks like, set measurable goals, and hold themselves accountable for outcomes not optics. This outcome-centered mindset helps ensure efforts translate into real improvements in representation, access, fairness, and inclusion.
3. Shift From Individual Change to Systemic Change
Individual awareness and bias trainings have their place, but Zheng points out that they rarely shift organizational systems on their own. For nonprofits, this means examining policies, decision-making processes, funding practices, recruitment, program design, and governance structures through an equity lens. By redesigning systems that produce inequitable outcomes, organizations can embed fairness into the very way they operate.
4. Build Coalitions Across Differences
DEI work should not be siloed or driven by a small group of advocates alone. Zheng emphasizes broad coalition building, bringing together diverse stakeholders throughout the organization to co-create solutions. In a nonprofit, this could mean involving program participants, board members, donors, and community partners in discussions about equity goals and strategies to ensure buy-in and shared ownership.
5. Communicate as Win-Wins, Not Zero-Sum
A common pushback nonprofits face is a belief that focusing on equity takes away from mission work. Zheng suggests reframing DEI initiatives as beneficial for everyone, not as zero-sum. When diversity, equity, and inclusion are linked to mission outcomes — such as stronger community trust, better program effectiveness, and expanded reach — the value becomes clearer and more widely supported.
Conclusion
DEI Deconstructed encourages nonprofits to move past surface-level DEI efforts and adopt an accountable, outcomes-driven approach. By building trust, measuring impact, transforming systems, broadening engagement, and framing equity as a shared benefit, nonprofits can make their DEI work more effective, sustainable, and deeply aligned with mission and values. The book serves as both a roadmap and a call to action to do DEI work that’s rigorous, inclusive, and transformative.
