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Jim Taylor

As vice president of leadership initiatives and education, Jim Taylor focuses on leading BoardSource’s efforts to position nonprofit boards for stronger leadership on diversity, inclusion, and equity. This includes leading the organization’s work to spark and support understanding, action, and change at the board level on these issues; serving as an external representative, speaker, and writer; developing new resources and programming; and partnering with peer organizations around the country.

Prior to joining BoardSource in December 2018, Jim held several leadership roles in community development and diversity, inclusion, and equity. As vice president of multicultural leadership at AARP, he developed partnerships to create greater access to health, wealth, and “quality of life” programs and information for African Americans of age 50+. At Capital One, in the roles of director of community relations and director of community development, Jim developed and implemented impactful national and local strategies that leveraged the organization’s philanthropic, volunteer, and programmatic resources to serve lower-income populations. As director of product innovation at Fannie Mae, he developed several successful first-time homebuyer programs targeted to multicultural audiences. And most recently, Jim was the corporate relations program officer at the Fairfax County (VA) Office of Public Private Partnerships, where he was a key member of the strategy team for the county’s racial and social equity policy, “One Fairfax.”

Jim has served on boards of directors and advisory boards of various local and regional nonprofits, including Carpenter’s Shelter, the Latino Economic Development Center, the Housing Association of Nonprofit Developers, the Affordable Housing Conference of Montgomery County (MD), Shelter House, and LearnServe International.

Jim is from Long Island, New York and earned a MBA from the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School and a BA from the University of Virginia.

It’s Time to Heal

Posted by Jim Taylor on Jan 18, 2022 11:00:35 AM

“Time heals all wounds” is one of the most widely known and generally accepted expressions in our popular culture, but I’ve always felt that this statement – although not false – was incomplete, at best. I believe that time is necessary but not sufficient for healing. Time facilitates the healing...

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Topics: Board Diversity & Inclusivity, Recruitment, Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity

What Boards Can Learn from the Story of Nikole Hannah-Jones

Posted by Jim Taylor on Aug 24, 2021 11:00:00 AM

We live in an age where it can be challenging to keep up with the increasing speed of news cycles while managing our own busy day-to-day lives. There’s a vast amount of news available to us every day – but we may not have enough time to consume it, and we often have even less time to reflect on it...

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Topics: Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity

The March Continues

Posted by Jim Taylor on May 4, 2021 11:00:00 AM

I believe I’ll remember the images of last summer’s racial justice marches for the rest of my life – largely for a reason that I didn’t expect. It wasn’t just the number of protests around the country that inspired me, or even the size of the crowds (impressive as they were). It was the rich,...

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Topics: Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity

Getting to the “Heart” of Racial Equity

Posted by Jim Taylor on Mar 2, 2021 11:00:00 AM

There’s a lovely expression that many of us in the Black community use when we want to repair strained relationships with each other; it’s an expression that always moves me when I hear it. Whether the cause of the disagreement is related to something we’ve done (or not done), or something we’ve...

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Topics: Board Diversity & Inclusivity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity

Facing the Challenge of Racial Inequity — or Avoiding It

Posted by Jim Taylor on Oct 30, 2020 10:30:00 AM

There’s an old saying that every great victory is the result of many smaller victories that went unnoticed. As we undertake our individual and organizational racial equity journeys, I would suggest we slightly modify this adage. I think it's essential that we do notice the small victories –...

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Topics: Board Diversity & Inclusivity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity

Recruiting for Board Diversity — Without Disrespecting People of Color

Posted by Jim Taylor on Aug 31, 2020 2:22:19 PM

As a Black man who has worked with or for nonprofits for most of my career, I’ve become very familiar with how nonprofit boards recruit for board diversity; by my count, I have been actively recruited by the boards of 13 organizations. 

I can divide 11 of these 13 board recruitment experiences into...

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Topics: Board Diversity & Inclusivity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity

The Value of Lived Experience

Posted by Jim Taylor on Aug 4, 2020 10:54:47 AM

A couple of years ago, I attended a national conference of government officials focused on advancing racial equity in their communities. The conference began with a number of local government leaders engaging in an informative but rather conventional panel discussion about their local strategies to...

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Topics: Board Diversity & Inclusivity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity

Now That We Know Better

Posted by Jim Taylor on Jun 10, 2020 12:57:35 PM

I am a long-time admirer of the late legendary poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou.  In addition to appreciating the genius of her lovely, powerful poetry ("Still I Rise" is my personal favorite), I’ve always marveled at the wisdom, inspiration, and insight about life that I find in her most...

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Preparing for the Journey – and Remembering Their Names

Posted by Jim Taylor on Jun 2, 2020 4:01:07 PM

Amadou Diallo.

Freddie Gray.

Philando Castile.

Alton Sterling.

Walter Scott.

Tamir Rice.

Michael Brown.

Eric Garner.

Botham Jean.

Breonna Taylor.

And most recently: George Floyd.

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Topics: Current Events

Reflections on Trust and Its Relationship to Racial Inequity on Nonprofit Boards

Posted by Jim Taylor on May 21, 2020 2:16:23 PM

One of Stephen M.R. Covey’s fundamental beliefs about leadership is that progress happens “at the speed of trust” —  that organizational work gets done with and through people, and that trust is the basis for every transaction and relationship. 

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Topics: Board Diversity & Inclusivity

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