In 2017, a call for volunteers for a prospective ANPD Diversity Taskforce had been sent to membership. The overarching goals were: (1) identify underrepresented audiences and enrich understanding of the perspectives of those members, and (2) lead ANPD toward embracing cultural, racial, gender, and generational diversity as the organization develops supportive processes and practices. The Taskforce was formed and completed a variety of valuable charges.

In 2020, the Taskforce was re-commissioned to develop, to oversee, and to design the diversity and inclusion member survey. It was essential for ANPD to survey members to assess progress, identify any opportunities to continue to grow and improve, as well as to serve our membership. The Taskforce remained passionate and diligent throughout a tumultuous time and didn’t lose sight of their vision and charge. In the fall of 2021, the Taskforce discussed stakeholder priorities, conducted a literature review, and incorporated findings into a draft survey. Next steps involved finalizing the survey, developing communication, and designing a pilot process. In the winter of 2022, the Taskforce was able to make additional edits to the draft and began piloting the survey. They then analyzed metrics and finalized the survey. The survey was open to members from October 4 - October 30, 2022.

The survey was designed to collect relevant demographic information to evaluate diversity and inclusion efforts at an organizational level and provide external benchmarking on institutional engagement. The survey was broken down into three sections. Questions were sectioned by: (a) demographics, (b) engagement and involvement with ANPD, and (c) agreement on five-point Likert scales related to organizational progress relative to diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

There were 467 total responses to the survey. ANPD leveraged a statistician to analyze results in order to locate any statistically significant results and correlations.

I want to recognize the work of all of the Diversity Taskforce members throughout the years. Without the passion, vision, and commitment of the Taskforce members, we would not have this honor to communicate and present the results of the survey. Now that we have the results and statistical analysis of correlating components, we will disseminate results incrementally through written, verbal, and audiovisual methods. The results are rich and full of critical information. Parallel to dissemination is the planning and design of education and strategies to address any gaps. The results will also be used to better understand the composition of our members, identify targets and desired outcomes, and measure the impact of future initiatives.

We look forward to sharing the detailed results with ANPD members through ANPD’s NPD Forecast podcast and a webinar that will live on the ANPD website.