Our Commitment to Inclusion & Belonging

PLEDGE OF INCLUSION

We need everyone’s help; we help everyone.

STEM Gift Drive is committed to creating a program in which donors, volunteers, collection hosts, community partners, charitable beneficiaries, youth, and families are treated with dignity, respect, and equity and can participate without concealing or compromising who they are. Authenticity is welcomed here.

Inclusion is not limited to characteristics protected by law. Our intentional inclusion encompases all identities, visible and invisible, such as race; color; ethnicity; national origin; ancestry; culture; language; citizenship or immigration status; age; sex; sexual orientation; romantic orientation; gender identity; gender expression; sex characteristics or intersex status; disability; neurodiversity; physical, sensory, intellectual, developmental, cognitive, or mental health status; religious, secular, or spiritual identity (RSSI); marital or relationship status; education level, family structure; pregnancy or parental status; socioeconomic status; housing status; educational background; body size or appearance; military,veteran, or police service status; and other lived experiences.

The STEM Gift Drive team seeks and welcomes partnerships with minority and diverse communities, businesses, and organizations including

  • BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color)
  • LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, asexual, aromantic, nonbinary, gender-expansive, and other sexual, romantic, gender, and sex identities.)
  • RSSI – all Religious, Secular, and Spiritual Identities including minority faith and spiritual identities (e.g., Muslim, Jewish, Wiccan) and AHoSI – Atheist, Humanist, and other Secular Identities

Specific Pledges:

  • STEM Gift Drive respects every person’s Religious, Secular, or Spiritual Identity (RSSI), including minority religious and spiritual traditions and Atheist, Humanist, and other Secular Identities (AHoSI). Secular identities may include atheist, agnostic, humanist, freethinker, secular, nonreligious, unaffiliated, skeptic, and other terms or identities. Participation in STEM Gift Drive activities, receipt of gifts, volunteer service, or access to programs will never be conditioned upon prayer, worship, profession of belief, religious instruction, proselytization, conversion efforts, or participation in a religious observance. Religious expression by an individual is respected; imposing religious belief or practice on another participant is not. No one should have to pray to or defer to someone else’s God/s in order to participate or receive help from the STEM Gift Drive.
  • LGBTQ+ youth, families, donors, volunteers, and partners are entitled to equal dignity, access, participation, and treatment in every STEM Gift Drive activity. Names and pronouns are to be respected, and no participant should be expected to conceal, defend, or change their identity in order to participate.

Accessibility and Participation

We seek to make STEM Gift Drive activities, communications, volunteer opportunities, events, and resources accessible and welcoming to people with disabilities and diverse communication, sensory, mobility, and cognitive needs. We encourage participants to tell us when an accommodation or alternative method of participation would improve access.

Representation Matters in STEM

We intentionally encourage STEM gifts, books, games, and educational materials that allow young people to see the diversity of people who discover, invent, engineer, research, build, code, and lead.

We especially welcome materials that highlight women, Black, Indigenous and other people of color, LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, and others historically underrepresented in STEM.

Organizations participating as official STEM Gift Drive beneficiaries, branches, collection partners, and program partners are expected to uphold this commitment in their participation with the STEM Gift Drive.

If there is any way we can make this initiative more welcoming for you, or if you experience or witness conduct associated with a STEM Gift Drive activity that is inconsistent with this commitment, we want to know – please Contact Us.