A report from the nonprofit data research group Candid found that women of color typically head the NGOs with the fewest financial resources, whereas white men are more likely to manage the largest, best-funded nonprofits.
The greatest demographic analysis of the nonprofit sector, “The State of Diversity in the U.S. Nonprofit Sector” report by Candid, which was released on Thursday, is based on diversity data submitted by around 60,000 public nonprofits.
Despite making up just approximately 30% of the population, white men run 41% of nonprofit organizations with annual revenue of more than $25 million, and white CEOs manage 74% of these organizations.
About 20% of American women are of color and are in charge of 14% of NGOs with annual revenues of more than $25 million and 28% of the smallest ones, which have less than $50,000 in income.
The Candid report offers statistics to NGOs that have long lamented the lack of funding, government support, and sales to minority-led organizations—even in the wake of George Floyd’s death, when there was a racial reckoning and pledges from donors of all stripes to bring about change.
As per a report released by the Ms. Foundation for Women and the consulting organization Strength in Numbers, the amount of $67 billion provided by foundations in 2017 that was designated especially for minority women and girls was less than 1%.
Candid CEO Ann Mei Chang said, “Our mission is to use data to help make the whole sector more efficient, effective, and equitable.” “We believe that data can help everyone who is trying to do good, do better. It is a force for good.”
The Demographics through Candid program, which asks nonprofits to voluntarily disclose their organizations’ diversity figures, provided the data used in the report’s conclusions.
According to Cathleen Clerkin, associate vice president of research at Candid, the report’s authors found consistency in their findings when they compared them to data from the entire sector.
Clerkin said Candid investigated whether organizations would be more inclined to disclose their information because they were more diverse, but found that was not the case. This is because the diversity information was self-reported.
According to her, the degree to which a nonprofit depended on outside funding was more likely to influence whether or not it disclosed its diversity information.
According to the survey, 88% of environmental and animal welfare organizations had a white CEO, making them the least likely to have diverse leadership.
The study found that the CEOs of nearly three-quarters of religious nonprofits were Caucasian.
The racial justice nonprofit Color of Change’s chief of staff and acting head of external affairs, Portia Allen-Kyle, stated that the report’s conclusions were not shocking.
“Unfortunately, we anticipate to witness the backsliding of Black leadership and other marginalized populations in an era of attacks on the tools of Black power, like affirmative action, like DEI (diversity, equality, and inclusion), et cetera,” the speaker stated.
Laptops 1000“It’s a nonprofit environment where Black leaders from the most impacted communities are expected to frequently turn water into wine, using nothing more than pennies on the dollar, while disproportionately white leaders receive resources from these white, ultra wealthy donors.”
It’s therefore not surprising, according to Allen-Kyle, that the survey also reveals that women of color are disproportionately the leaders of the smaller organizations.
She asserted, “Black women will be doing this work regardless, on nothing, and whether or not they get paid because they believe in it,” particularly with tiny NGOs that focus on advocacy.
In almost every state, the research also revealed that Latinos were underrepresented among nonprofit CEOs.
Frankie Miranda, president and CEO of the Hispanic Federation, which assists NGOs and Latino communities, stated, “We have been talking about that for decades.
“The Hispanic Federation was founded in 1990 to promote Latino-led, Latino-serving organizations since we were excluded from the discussions regarding financing and support decisions.
As a result, the Hispanic Federation is now among the country’s biggest grantors of grants to Latino NGOs. But Miranda pointed out that the Candid study is still incredibly helpful even if its conclusions are not shocking.
“Our argument will be validated by this study,” he declared. It is vitally crucial that we can say, ‘This is the proof.’
For significant donors, it serves as evidence that diversity within your organization still needs to be improved.
Laptops 1000Your organization must possess the cultural competency necessary to see the value of learning about and supporting our organizations. They are skilled at helping these communities.
