Join the Movement
Become a BEI Member Company
Indy's business community driving equity!
Join the movement and help increase the collective impact of BEI through its focus on People, Procurement, and Policy. BEI membership offers a FREE vehicle for your organization to take action and demonstrate to your employees and stakeholders that you take seriously the challenges faced by our community’s Black population and other people of color.
The Perks
Why Become a BEI Member?
- Demonstrate to your employees, stakeholders, and prospective talent that your organization is taking action against inequity
- Show the true return on investment of diversity and inclusion in business through implementation of best practices and reporting
- Learn best practices and find resources to support your DE&I journey
- Join a network of companies with similar goals
- Share your progress collectively with the broader BEI membership to demonstrate how BEI members are impacting the Central Indiana community
Quick Links
Two Membership Options
Gold Membership
All Silver commitments, plus:
Provide a representative on the Policy task force (if your organization lobbies)
Data Collection
The information provided will remain confidential. Reporting and dashboarding will aggregate the data so that no information, results, or analyses can correlate to a specific organization or individual.
It’s important to note that BEI focuses on serving Indiana-based communities, so please provide people, procurement, and policy data corresponding to Indiana only.
Process:
When an organization signs up for membership, a survey will be emailed electronically within 30 days to the primary contact listed to begin collecting data for the prior calendar year. Organizations are asked to complete the survey within 14 days and submit it electronically. Should you require support or have questions regarding the data requested, please contact Kristen Lampkin (klampkin@cicpindiana.com).View the metrics BEI collects in aggregate from each BEI member company and additional FAQs on the BEI Data Collection Process
FAQs
Have More Questions? Take a look at the FAQs below or view the full document below!
Who is eligible to become a BEI member company?
Any organization or institution with operations and staff located in Central Indiana (9-county region: Marion, Hamilton, Boone, Hendricks, Morgan, Johnson, Shelby, Hancock, Madison), may sign up to be a member. All organizations who opt to sign up for membership must agree to meet all requirements listed of their selected membership level (Gold or Silver), including providing data on workforce, procurement practices, and policy advocacy (if a lobbying organization).
What does BEI membership cost?
BEI membership is FREE! This is an opportunity for your organization to publicly make the commitment to advancing racial equity in Central Indiana and join like-minded businesses and institutions in taking action around equity and inclusion and removing more barriers in our community for all Hoosiers. All you need to commit it your time and talents to contribute to this collaborative effort.
What happens once I complete the sign-up form?
A member of the BEI team will contact you to confirm receipt and answer any initial questions you may have. You’ll also receive links to sign up for an information session on August 3 (optional) as well as for aBEI New Member Orientation on September 7 (required for new members).
What does orientation involve?
Representative(s) from your organization are invited to attend a 2-hour orientation on September 7. BEI will share more information about its history and mission, our three pillars of focus (People, Procurement, and Policy), how to participate and complete your membership requirements annually, and provide more explanation on the data collection process.
How is orientation different from the information session? Which do I need to go to?
Representative(s) from your organization are invited to attend a 2-hour orientation on September 7. BEI will share more information about its history and mission, our three pillars of focus (People, Procurement, and Policy), how to participate and complete your membership requirements annually, and provide more explanation on the data collection process.
Why do you want to collect my data? Will it become public?
The data BEI collects are aggregated and anonymized, so no individual company’s specific data is published. We collect this data to first find a baseline of how our Central Indiana business community is performing currently, so we can then set goals to improve our metrics in the future. Transparency of our progress is a key element of BEI’s philosophy, and by becoming a member you can help visibly demonstrate Indy’s ongoing work toward creating an inclusive economy.
How do I fulfill my membership requirements – what are the strategies and programs I can implement to meet those requirements?
On BEI’s website, you can find a comprehensive list of best practices, recommendations, strategies, and programs from which you can select to implement throughout the year. Based on your membership level (Gold or Silver), there are varying degrees of participation requirements. Leveraging BEI’s resources and programming, BEI will survey all member companies annually to understand what has been implemented or is in progress to maintain membership status. At any time, you can contact the BEI Program Manager, Erica Pedroza, to answer any questions about participation.
I’m already a member of the Procurement Roundtable. Do I need to sign up to become a BEI member?
Yes – being a BEI member company involves other participation requirements beyond the Procurement Roundtable. Any company can participate in the Procurement Roundtable, whether they are a BEI member or not.
I’ve been participating in BEI as a Task Force member. Do I need to sign up to become a member?
Yes – let’s make it official! BEI membership is a formal commitment to take action across our three pillars, or 3 P’s: People, Procurement, and Policy.
Whom do I contact if I have more questions about membership?
You can contact us at info@businessequityindy.com or send a request through our website’s Contact Us form.