Most nonprofit leaders recognize the importance of diversity, but research reveals a gap between their attitudes and reality. In the recent BoardSource report, Leading with intent, 82% of nonprofit CEOs surveyed said that racial and ethnic diversity was “very important” or “important” for strategic leadership and governance of the organization. However, only 26% of the respondents place a high priority on demographic characteristics when recruiting new board members [Source: BoardSource, Leading with Intent, 2021]. As this chart illustrates, there is still much work to be done to narrow the disparity between the makeup of nonprofits’ boards and the communities they serve. Chart shows percentages in 10% intervals up to 100% on the x-axis; White, Black/African American, Latinx/Hispanic, Native American/American Indian/Indigenous, Asian/Asian American/PI, and Two or more races are on the y/axis. Light blue bars indicate Board Members, dark blue bars indicate US Population and gray bars indicate Board Chair. The White race is shown to have all three bars at or above 60% -- significantly higher than the percentages for any other race – with Board Chair the highest [~84%], Board Members [~78%] and US Population [ ~60%]; Black/African American percentages are all lower than ~15% -- with Board Chair the lowest [~7%], US Population the highest [~14%], and Board Members [~10%]; US Population for Latinx/Hispanic is the highest of its three [~19%], with Board Chair and Board Members lower [~5%]; Native American/American Indian/Indigenous has the lowest bars of any race, standing at [~2%] of the US Population, [0%] Board Chair, and [~1%] Board Members; Asian/Asian American/PI are [~6%] of the US Population, [~4%] Board Members and [~2%] Board Chair; Two or more races are [~4%] of the US Population, [~3%] Board Chair and [~1%] Board Members.
1 McKinsey, Diversity wins: How inclusion matters, May 2020.
2 BoardSource, Leading with Intent: Reviewing the State of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion on Nonprofit Boards, 2021; and U.S. Census Bureau, 2022.
3 PRRI, "PRRI Survey: Friendship Networks of White Americans Continue to Be 90% White," 2022.
4 BoardSource, Term Limits, 2022
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