As a Quaker organization, FCNL endeavors to embody the belief in the inherent dignity and equal worth of each person, and in each person’s unique access to the Divine. FCNL’s staff, leadership, and governance bodies are committed to ongoing transformation as we work to bring into being the world we seek.

As a Quaker organization, FCNL endeavors to embody the belief in the inherent dignity and equal worth of each person, and in each person’s unique access to the Divine.

In seeking a society with equity and justice for all, where every person’s potential may be fulfilled, FCNL recognizes our shared responsibility to redress the United States’ long history of slavery, genocide, discrimination, and oppression and their ongoing consequences. We are working to create the type of “beloved community” described by author and social activist bell hooks as being “formed not by the eradication of difference but by its affirmation, by each of us claiming the identities and cultural legacies that shape who we are and how we live in the world.”

Through our internal systems and practices as well as our lobbying and other activities, FCNL intends to identify, expose, and eliminate white supremacy, patriarchy, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of oppression and discrimination. FCNL must actively challenge the laws, systems, mindsets, policies, and practices that lead to institutionalized racism and injustice to avoid being complicit in it.

While acknowledging these responsibilities, FCNL has not always lived up to our aspirations, internally and externally. As an organization, FCNL has caused members of our community to feel marginalized and excluded because of their race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, faith, age, ability, or lack of status. FCNL has overlooked the needs of people in our community, remained ignorant of their perspectives, and diminished their contributions to our work. Such harms must not be tolerated, and for these wrongs, we heartfully apologize.

To remedy past wrongs and build a just and equitable future, FCNL commits to treating anti-racism, anti-bias, justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion as central pillars of our work. We recognize not only the moral imperative but also the practical value of incorporating the voices and visions of people from a wide variety of backgrounds and with a broad range of lived experiences, particularly those who have been historically discriminated against or oppressed.

To remedy past wrongs and build a just and equitable future, FCNL commits to treating anti-racism, anti-bias, justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion as central pillars of our work.

Through our recruitment practices for staff and governors, outreach to community members, professional development opportunities, advocacy programs, and lobbying efforts, FCNL seeks to build an organization that reflects and includes the diversity of the United States. We will continue our internal and external work to understand the reasons why some doors remain closed to certain segments of the population and find ways to open them. We commit to identifying, exposing, and eliminating systems of oppression and discrimination within our own operations as well as in the policies for which we advocate.

FCNL welcomes, values, and respects the needs, perspectives, and contributions of all people who hold a stake in our work and witness. We embrace the importance of deepening our partnerships with organizations leading the fight against systemic racism and injustice and ensuring we are listening to and led by those most impacted by the policies we seek to change. We see it as a priority to address the ways that racism shows up in our community and our systems and to confront it with courage and determination.

To hold ourselves accountable to these commitments, we are developing clear, ambitious, and meaningful goals, establishing systems for reporting and responding to instances of harm, and identifying procedures for measuring progress.

We affirm that our ongoing process of becoming the beloved community that we seek is a reflection of our Quaker values and helps hasten the world we seek.

Approved as a living document by the FCNL and FCNL Executive Committee on May 21, 2022.