The first and most important part is to avoid giving your money to races that are being run by huge multinational conglomerates or hedge funds. Their core mandate is not to provide the best racing experience possible, and it’s certainly not to provide racing that’s accessible to everyone.
Support local, independently run races whenever possible. It’s unfortunate when the mighty Mdot scoops up great races but that’s always going to create an opening for something more grassroots to scoop up all those who aren’t interested in paying ever rising fees for ever falling quality. I gave up on Ironman as a brand a long time ago, even before the hedge funders got involved.