Nonprofits seeking to add more people of color to their ranks may gain insights in the coming years from academics at two university-affiliated institutions.
Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Michigan’s Grand Valley State University have started separate efforts to study how charities and foundations can best serve people from diverse backgrounds and add people of color to their staffs and boards.
The programs join many other efforts in recent years seeking to expand the number of people of color who work at charities and foundations.
The leadership ranks of nonprofits are especially lacking in diversity. Ninety percent of nonprofit board chairs and chief executives are white, according to data from BoardSource.
Plans for what research will be carried out at Indiana and Grand Valley — and when it will take place — are still being worked out at both institutions, though some details have emerged.
Recruitment and Retention
At Indiana University, the Mays Family Institute on Diverse Philanthropy — which has been in the planning stages since 2015 — named Una Osili “dean’s fellow” this month. Osili, who will also remain associate dean for research and international programs at the Lilly School, will study issues such as the role women of color play in charitable giving and how African-Americans give.
The institute also hopes to produce research investigating the state of diversity at nonprofits and how organizations can recruit and keep more people of color as trustees, program staff, and leaders. “There is a need to build more [diversity in] the field and to encourage people of all backgrounds to think about this as a career choice,” Osili said.
She pointed to research the Lilly School released in February with BoardSource and the consulting-firm Johnson, Grossnickle and Associates as an example of the kind of study the institute might undertake. The report analyzed the racial and ethnic backgrounds of nonprofit board members and found that minorities are largely underrepresented as trustees.
The institute has a budget of $100,000 this year — and the Lilly School hopes to attract more funding for research and other efforts, said Amir Pasic, dean of the Lilly School. The institute has about 25 supporters so far, he said.
Rose Mays, who provided the biggest sum for the institute so far, is an Indiana University Foundation board member. She and her late husband, William — founder of the Mays Chemical Company in Indianapolis and the foundation’s first African-American board member — have long supported diversity research and scholarships at the university. Rose Mays declined to say how much she’s given to the institute so far. In an interview, Mays said she supports the institute because she thinks there needs to be a deeper understanding of giving from women and minority groups — and an expansion of people of diverse backgrounds in philanthropy who understand how to serve minorities. “We just want a better-informed field,” she said.
Speaker Series
Starting this fall, the institute will host a speakers series in which experts will discuss issues ranging from how community foundations can best serve urban areas to how nonprofits can find diverse fundraisers, Pasic said.
Speakers in the series will include Brad Braxton, supervisory curator of religion at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture; Susan Taylor Batten, president of the Association of Black Foundation Executives; and Jim Moore, president of the University of Illinois Foundation.
A fellowship and scholarship program for students from diverse backgrounds has also been established as part of the institute.
Past Foundation CEO Leads Research
At Grand Valley State, Juan Olivarez, former president of Aquinas College and head of the Kalamazoo Community Foundation, will study how nonprofits think about the ways they serve diverse populations and if they are taking steps to hire staff of varying backgrounds.
Olivarez — who will be a distinguished scholar in residence for the next three years at the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy at the university — said the specifics of his work are still being hammered out, though he plans to survey Grand Rapids nonprofits and hold group discussions about diversity, equity, and inclusion.
One goal, he said, is for the center to identify ways for nonprofits to become more representative of their communities — including through hiring diverse candidates as “not just back-room folks” but as leaders, Olivarez said.
The budget for Olivarez’s work is $800,000 over the next three years and is being supported by three grant makers: the Frey, Wege, and Kate and Richard Wolters foundations.
Growing Priority
As America has grown increasingly diverse — census estimates predict that the nation will be a majority-minority nation within 30 years — foundations and charities have become more concerned with how they can serve diverse populations, said Robert Ross, president of the California Endowment and co-chair of the D5 Coalition. The coalition launched several years ago with the goal of studying and increasing diversity at foundations.
“It’s pretty clear we can no longer hide” when it comes to diversity in philanthropy, Ross said.
Other projects on diversity in recent years have included:
- Equity in the Center, which began in 2015 and is sponsored by the Annie E. Casey, W.K. Kellogg, and Ford foundations, among others, seeks to enhance diversity and inclusion at all nonprofits.
- A Texas nonprofit, the New Philanthropists, is aiming this year to find 100 people of color in 2018 who can serve on nonprofit boards in Austin.
- The Building Movement Project, a group that seeks to help nonprofits committed to social change, released a report last year based on a survey of more than 4,000 people that said “systemic bias,” not a lack of qualifications, is the reason for the dearth of people color in leadership roles.
Ross said he was heartened by the recent university efforts to tackle diversity. Announcements like the Lilly School’s and Johnson Center’s, he said, “are ‘exhibit A’ that philanthropy is beginning to show up well on the matter of race and inclusion in our nation.”