Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at OMNI

Why Does it Matter?

At OMNI Institute, we lead with equitable evaluation practices that amplify the voices of all constituents in our communities. We understand that our organization, which is predominantly white and female, may limit the perspectives we contribute. While our staff composition mirrors many other organizations in our field, we refuse to remain passive in this reality.

We firmly believe that fostering a diverse and inclusive team is essential to fully embody our core values. As evaluators, diverse perspectives enable us to:

• Innovate in Inquiry: Generate novel ways of asking questions and seeking answers.

• Demonstrate Agility: Adopt fresh approaches to overcoming challenges and finding solutions.

• Cultivate Connection: Deepen our understanding of our community and strengthen bonds among our staff and clients.

• Uphold Accountability: Respect and incorporate the views of our clients and communities, while bringing new perspectives to the table.

As an employer, we recognize that to truly elevate the voices of our communities, we must practice equity internally. We have centered equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) within our organization, fostering a supportive culture and an engaged staff.

At OMNI, we are committed to creating an equitable and inclusive environment that welcomes individuals of all backgrounds, without regard to race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, country of origin, disability, political affiliation, or any other dimension. This is the only way we can fully realize our team's potential and create the impact we envision within our communities.

Together, let's build a brighter future through research and evaluation that reflects and respects the diverse voices of our world.

Throughout 2022, the OMNI Institute team worked to develop an EDI Action Plan, an update to our original “Seven Commitments” we launched in 2020. Our goal with this plan is to establish more specific parameters, actionable steps, and measurable outcomes to advance our EDI work internally over the next 2-3 years. We organized our plan into three high-level areas of work, each detailing clear steps grow as a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive workplace and enhance the integration of EDI principles in our work as researchers and evaluators.

• Organizational Culture: Our focus in this area involves refining our internal organizational and operational activities. We aim to:

  • Center equity and diversity in our hiring processes.

  • Equip our staff with the tools to cultivate an inclusive culture.

  • Offer comprehensive benefits, equity-centered policies, and restorative practices to support our staff holistically.

  • Resolve conflicts through restorative and constructive approaches.

• Service Production and Delivery: In this area, we concentrate on building EDI capacity within our research, evaluation, and capacity-building efforts. Our objectives include:

  • Integrating equity principles in our responses to proposals.

  • Centering equity in study design, data collection, and analysis.

  • Ensuring report writing and presentation of findings are accessible to vested partners.

• Business Operations: Here, we focus on enhancing our relationships with clients, communities, and other vested partners by centering equity in our external activities. We strive to:

  • Advocate for EDI issues and create meaningful conversations.

  • Give back to communities through our work as a nonprofit organization.

Where Our Journey is Today

At OMNI Institute, we view our EDI Action Plan as the second phase of an ongoing, long-term journey. In 2020, we announced our seven commitments to center EDI in our internal operations and external engagement. We also began collaborating with external consultants and trainers to enhance our staff's EDI competencies.

Over the past two years, we have made significant strides on this journey, allowing us to reach our current stage:

• Establishing the internal role of Director of EDI on our evaluation team, who has led substantial efforts in this area.

• Creating the position of Director of Talent, with the explicit aim of enhancing our EDI practices internally among our staff.

• Developing internal guiding documents to center EDI in our practices and policies, such as an Accounting and Finance EDI guide and a new vendor selection rubric for purchasing decisions.

• Revamping our recruiting and hiring tools and processes from start to finish, focusing on EDI. This work led to:

  • Over 40% diversity in our application pools in 2022 (an increase from 25% in 2020).

  • Over 65% diversity in our new hires in 2022 (up from 30% in 2020).

• Incorporating restorative practices into our internal processes and tools for improvement plans, feedback, and conflict resolution.

Holding Ourselves Accountable

At OMNI Institute, we believe in maintaining accountability and transparency as an organization. We have shared our full EDI Action Plan with all staff members and established internal processes to report on the progress of key plan components. But we want to go even further in demonstrating our commitment to EDI.

We are happy to share our EDI Scorecard detailing our progress around the various objectives we have laid out to promote equity in our work. By publicly sharing our plan and progress, we add an extra layer of accountability to upholding our commitments. We plan to report on our progress regularly, ensuring we stay on track with our objectives.

We also hope sharing our action plan will encourage other organizations to develop EDI plans. Our plan can serve as a template for organizing and advancing EDI initiatives within your organization or simply as inspiration to create something similar that works for your organization.

What to Expect Working with OMNI

Prospective employees can expect…

• to be welcomed and accepted as an individual with unique life experiences and knowledge to contribute across a wide array of projects

• a culture rooted in continuous learning, with staff that acknowledge our mistakes as we grow together on this EDI journey

• a commitment to living by our organizational core values, with clarity of purpose and expectations

Prospective clients can expect…

• a team of research, evaluation, and capacity-building experts who build a connection to you and your community to truly understand the underlying challenges you’re facing

• a commitment to ask the questions necessary to make sure equity is part of every project we undertake and every action plan you implement

• a respect for your community as experts of their own lived experience with a voice that should be heard and valuable opinions and perspectives to be respected