Running head: CULTURAL RESPONSIVENESS IN NON PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS

Cultural Responsiveness in Non Profit Organizations

Katherine Roberts
University of North Texas

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Cultural Responsiveness in Non Profit Organizations

Cultural responsiveness is a crucial piece to understand when working with non-profit
organizations because all cultures have various needs and requests. Being culturally responsive
means to be knowledgeable and respectful of the language, cultures, and past life experiences of
different cultures that are involved in non-profit programs. Cultural responsiveness affects
everyone, simply because everyone is part of a culture. Non-profit organizations must shape their
values, goals, and expectations around their targeted audience as to not step on anyones toes or
ruffle any feathers with how they choose to conduct their businesses. When a multitude cultures
customs, origins and traditions are understood, more people are likely to participate in the
activities offered by specific programs.
As the United States becomes more culturally diverse, all people must work to be more
culturally responsive to make new citizens more comfortable. When people feel comfortable and
accepted, they are more likely to ask for help. A study done by Gallardo revealed that
multicultural patients seeking therapy were more likely to benefit from sessions if the therapist
was of the same race and religion as the patient themselves (Gallardo, 2009). If not the same
race, they also benefitted from having a well-studied therapist that was very familiar with their
clients cultural needs. When the therapist could include cultural references and work around
cultural holidays, the patients felt more accepted, therefore feeling safer in the environment and
allowing the client to open up. At the end of the study done by Gallardo (2009) at Pepperdine
University, patients were asked to detail their experiences. All clients reported that when
therapists exhibited cultural competence they felt better about speaking to someone who
understood where they were coming from. Gallardo (2009) and his other researchers used their
findings to begin transforming the ethical guidelines for therapists and therapy sessions.

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It is well known that people thrive when they are surrounded by others that are of the
same culture, simply because that is where they are most comfortable. A study done at Marquette
University found that most therapy patients do not feel as if their therapists or therapy
supervisors were multiculturally competent enough to deal with their issues having to do with
tradition or cultural norms (Burkard, 2006). Upon reading client responses, researchers found
that when clients were placed with therapists who did not share culture or express knowledge of
the culture, the clients felt that their cultural issues were completely ignored and that their
feelings were discounted rather than addressed. Researchers in this study found that when
supervisors of therapeutic offices were knowledgeable about multicultural society, their
subordinates were better suited to deal with multicultured clients just from being lead by a
culturally responsive leader (Burkard, 2006). In a way, cultural responsiveness resembles
inclusion. Inclusion deals with special needs, but cultural responsiveness also deals with special
needs of functioning individuals and including them in society rather than excluding them.
Minority groups are benefit when they are surrounded by other groups who are socially
accepting. Minority groups are often at high risk for mental illness because of their lack of health
care due to costs and feeling unsafe when speaking to people of different origins. In a study done
by Colucci, researchers found that mental health professional often lack cultural responsiveness
when in fact, they should be some of the most culturally responsive people in the workforce
(Colucci, 2014). Mental Health professionals deal with very diverse groups of people throughout
their careers and some of their training should include studies of other cultures. In Australia, all
mental health organizations employee a Cultural Portfolio Holder who deals primarily addressing
needs of individuals and families of different cultural backgrounds seeking help with their
agencies. The Cultural Portfolio Holders are well trained in the different needs of various

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cultures and are able to apply their knowledge to everyday situations so that the clients benefit
from the care they receive (Colucci, 2014). The roles of Cultural Portfolio Holders have proven
to benefit multicultural clients, which is reflected in the findings of Coluccis (2014) study.
Clients had nothing but positive responses when asked about their times in the programs where
they were understood by a knowledgeable professional who could convey their needs to the
mental health professional. Research continues to show that when mental health organizations
offer a culturally inclusive program, clients make better progress because they are understood
and accepted. These successes should be a wake up call to health care programs everywhere to
include trained individuals so that people from all backgrounds feel welcome to seek care or
assistance from whatever program they wish.
In the Womens Empowerment program, we will aim to include all cultures to better the
work experience for all women. Since we deal with lower income or struggling women, it is
likely that we will primarily deal with races other than Caucasian, which bring many cultures to
light for us. We will need to have staff that is knowledgeable in the different traditions of
Hispanic and African American cultures, as these are the races that primarily use services at the
YWCA, where we will be housed. If we have a racially diverse staff, our potential clients could
feel better about coming to us for services and aide. Women of all cultures need help in one form
or another, but because not all cultures okay asking for help or receiving help from outside
sources, it will be extremely beneficial to us to have a culturally diverse staff who know the in
and outs of traditions, customs, and rules.
To better include multiple cultures and languages, we will be sure to have staff members
who can speak languages other than English. It would be preferred that the staff be fluent in the
languages that they can speak, but knowing enough to hold a conversation with the client or to

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translate for other staff members would be helpful as well. Since an objective for Womens
Empowerment is to help women get better jobs, or to simply get a job, we will work with
employers who comply with our cultural guidelines and help our clients feel comfortable in their
new found careers. If we include multicultural employers, our cultural responsiveness will be
enhanced and our brand will be promoted as a culturally accepting organization.
By offering discounted high quality child care, our women will be able to focus on their
career rather than worrying about leaving their children with unreliable child care that probably
isnt an environment where the child will thrive and learn. While certain cultures prefer home or
family care for their children, they will likely feel more comfortable that other children of
different cultures will also be involved in the YWCA/Womens Empowerment child care. Our
program is inclusive in that we are a womens program that focuses on bettering career
experiences for local women. We include all women who would like to get a job or to get a
better job, and will not discriminate either way. If a client needs help dealing with stresses, in
the workplace or within their culture or in home life, we can place them with a culturally
responsive counselor employed by our organization. We will also ensure that we are inclusive by
reaching out to the community to bring in new clients and to spread the word about what our
program does. We will print our pamphlets and brochures in Spanish and English, and could
even have our business cards printed in various languages. We will include multiple languages
on our website and in our informational videos and commercials. Our program will also market
out in the community with our multicultural staff to promote our culturally responsive program.
Cultural Responsiveness is an absolutely necessary part of non-profit organizations,
especially organizations that are aiming to promote to a multicultural group. Programs that
include all cultures and races are going to be more successful than organizations that do not take

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the time to consider all cultures. When everyone is included, potential clients will feel welcomed
and when people are comfortable, they will be more apt to accept help and advice and apply it to
their lives. Cultural responsiveness makes for a better community attitude all around, which will
in turn better the perception of non-profit organizations.

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References

Burkard, A. W., Johnson, A. J., Madson, M. B., Pruitt, N. T., Contreras-Tadych, D. A.,
Kozlowski, J. M., & ... Knox, S. (2006). Supervisor cultural responsiveness and
unresponsiveness in cross-cultural supervision. Journal Of Counseling Psychology, 53(3),
288-301.
Colucci, E., Chopra, P. K., McDonough, S., Kouzma, N., & Minas, H. (2014). Improving
cultural responsiveness in mental health services: development of a consensus around the
role of cultural portfolio holders. International Journal Of Culture & Mental Health, 7(3),
339-355.
Gallardo, M. E., Johnson, J., Parham, T. A., & Carter, J. A. (2009). Ethics and
multiculturalism: Advancing cultural and clinical responsiveness. Professional
Psychology: Research And Practice, 40(5), 425-435.