Latinos do not have a major presence on nonprofit boards even in cities where they make up a significant proportion of the population, according to data collected by Latinos LEAD, a nonprofit that works to place Hispanic people in leadership positions.
The effort, which used publicly available documents and information found online, looked at the board composition of more than 1,500 nonprofits. In total, about 11 percent of the board members at those organizations are Latino. About one third of the boards, representing 509 nonprofits, did not have a single Latino board member.
The figures do not constitute a representative sample of Latino leadership of nonprofits, stressed Patrick Salazar, founder of Latinos LEAD. Rather, they are a snapshot of Latino board participation at nonprofits in the arts, environment, health, and human services. Major educational and hospital systems were not included, Salazar said, to include organizations that were more likely to directly work with Latinos.
Latinos LEAD collected data from nonprofits in 19 metropolitan regions that have both a population greater than 500,000 and Latino populations of greater than 20 percent.
In California, nearly a third of nonprofit revenue comes from federal, state, and local government agencies, meaning that in areas with a high concentration of Latinos, their tax dollars are essential for the support of nonprofits, said Salazar. If tax dollars are crucial to the support of a city’s nonprofits, he argues, then the decisions made by those organizations should have greater input from Latino board members.
“Latinos are paying the freight,” Salazar said. “They should have a say in how those nonprofits are carrying out their work. I don’t care if your mission is homelessness, health care, or the environment, if you are committed to fulfilling that mission in a genuine, authentic, and community-based manner, you must have Latinos at the board table.”
Salazar argues that there has never been an accurate tally of the racial and ethnic composition of nonprofit boards. Previous attempts suggest the proportion of Latinos is far less than their 20 percent share of the U.S. population.
About 5 percent of nonprofit board members are Latino, and 22 percent are people of color, according to a 2021 survey of 820 organizations conducted by BoardSource, a nonprofit membership organization. Salazar said surveys like the one conducted by BoardSource can’t be relied on to accurately portray Latino representation because the sample is not large enough and nonprofit leaders often opt to participate only if they feel strongly about their board composition.
For Latinos LEAD’s project, Salazar decided a head count in the cities with high numbers of Latinos was necessary because many nonprofits, especially large national federations with local affiliates, intensified their pledges to diversify the makeup of their boards after the calls for racial justice surged in 2020. But there didn’t seem to be any real movement beyond the talk, Salazar said.
In Houston, where about 30 percent of the population is Latino, Goodwill Industries of Houston has a 21-person board, only one of whom is Latino. The United Way of Greater Houston also only has one Latino member on its 35-person board. Salazar stressed that some of the data published by Latinos LEAD may need to be updated and said the goal of the count was to invite nonprofits to edit their figures with the most current information.
“Their statements of intent to diversify their boards were so lovely,” he said. “And all we’re saying is, ‘OK, now we know what your boards look like.’”
Goodwill did not return calls. The United Way of Greater Houston said that its board is actually 8 percent Latino, but it hoped to do more to add people of color.
“While we have made progress on board diversity, we recognize that there is more work to be done and support our board’s continued focus on this effort.” said Amanda McMillian, CEO of United Way of Greater Houston in a statement.
Tough Action May Be Needed
Latinos LEAD and other groups, including the Center for Nonprofit Management and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, are using a $30,000 grant from the Hewlett Foundation to hold public meetings in California cities to present the data.
(Hewlett is a financial supporter of the Chronicle.)
Efrain Escobedo, president of the Center for Nonprofit Management Southern California, said the groups want to both point out lack of diversity on nonprofit boards and introduce nonprofit leaders to promising Latino candidates.
If those attempts fail, it will be a sign that they are being systemically excluded, Escobedo said. And if after a good-faith effort, board composition doesn’t change, Escobedo said, a more aggressive push will be necessary.
“In those instances, we will question whether public money should be flowing to any of these entities when they refuse to demonstrate diversity, equity, and inclusion in their governance,” he says. “Also, philanthropy will need to take stock and ask if this matches the values that they are trying to create.”
Connection With Clients
Escobedo and Salazar think more nonprofit boards need to be introduced to people like Melissa Sandoval.
Sandoval, a lawyer at the utility company SoCalGas, became a board member at Clare Matrix, an addiction treatment nonprofit two years ago. She lacked basic experience that many of her fellow board members had — a history of addiction and recovery. But Sandoval, who was a social worker before law school, had deep experience working with people suffering from addiction. The daughter of Mexican immigrants, Sandoval is the only Latina on the board. That, she said, helps her understand the culture and language of the majority of the people Clare Matrix serves.
Sandoval said she has worked hard to get where she is in her legal career and that the board work is a way to give back to residents of her home city. But the nonprofit work can also help her further her professional journey, she said. She hopes that through her board experience she’ll be able to burnish her expertise in governance issues, priming her for advancement in the legal profession.
“I want to volunteer and give back and bring some of my past experience to the table,” she said. “But I also want to take the opportunity to build some more of those skills that I will need to have under my belt to be a strong candidate for a leadership role in a corporate law department.”
The benefits of Latinos having more representation on nonprofit boards goes both ways, Salazar said. Board members gain valuable experience and help others in need, and nonprofits can ensure that their efforts serve the needs of their clients.
Said Salazar: “There is no faster way to accomplish your nonprofit mission than to include people from your community in your leadership team.”