Despite efforts to diversify boards, most fail to reflect the communities they serve
| Date | 01 March 2021 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/ban.31221 |
| Published date | 01 March 2021 |
6 Board & Administrator
DOI 10.1002/ban © 2021 Wiley Periodicals LLC • All rights reserved
Despite efforts to diversify boards, most fail
to reect the communities they serve
A variety of studies in recent years show that
nonprofit organizations are struggling to increase
their diversity both on their staff and in leadership
positions—including executive directors/CEOs
and on their boards. A study released in 2020
by CariClub, a New York City-based organization
that matches corporate employees with nonprofit
boards, provides pertinent insight on the issue of
board diversity in particular.
Key findings from CariClub’s Accessing Diverse
Board Candidates survey include:
• 95% of nonprofits are actively recruiting to
diversify their governing/executive boards and
60% are doing the same for their associate/junior
boards.
• The least represented groups are Hispanic
or Latino (77% on governing boards and 74%
on associate boards), Black or African American
(72% on governing boards and 68% on associate
boards) and Asian (58% on governing boards and
50% on associate boards).
• 87% of nonprofits report that finding the
right recruitment channels has been the biggest
obstacle to diversifying their board.
• 83% of nonprofits are willing to increase their
governing board size to increase diverse represen-
tation; 88% said the same about their associate
board.
• Fewer than half of all respondents said their
boards reflect the community the organization
serves.
Rhoden Monrose, CariClub’s chief executive of-
ficer, explained that having a diverse board her-
alds many of the same benefits and advantages
that a diverse staff does—according to experts,
a variety of different perspectives, more innova-
tion, greater creativity, better decision-making and
heightened ability to understand the needs of your
constituents.
“The same arguments that apply to having a
diverse workforce also apply to having a diverse
board,” Monrose told Board & Administrator. “I’d
argue that it’s even more important to have a
diverse board because the boards will have an out-
sized impact on the key decisions that shape the
organization as a whole.”
When asked about the level of diversity that
boards should strive for, Monrose put it simply.
“Ideally, all boards should strive to reflect the
diversity of the community they serve,” he said.
The CariClub survey shows that the vast major-
ity of nonprofits are actively working to diversify
their boards. However, many have still struggled,
despite their virtuous intent, he said.
“Most nonprofits have the desire to have a more
diverse board but very few have a meaningful plan
to realize that goal. The overriding reason why
nonprofits are struggling to achieve that goal is
that the lack of diversity on their existing board
makes it difficult for them to source the best can-
didates from their existing board members. Homo-
geneity begets homogeneity.”
He also pointed out that most nonprofits look
for potential board members with backgrounds in
professions such as communications/marketing,
technology and financial services—and why that’s
a problem.
“The professional background is a reflection of
the fact that people in those industries have either
the skills, network or resources that is materially
beneficial to the nonprofits. But, if the board is
overly concentrated with a narrow field of profes-
sional backgrounds, there’s a risk that it creates
an echo chamber that would be a disadvantage to
the organization,” he said.
“For the same reason, if an organization has
members that are only from one demographic,
they will not benefit from the diversity of perspec-
tive, experience and thought/empathy. I started
CariClub because I saw this ‘pipeline problem’ as
something that is easily solvable with the right set
of incentives in place.”
With regards to the size of boards, CariClub’s
research shows most organizations would expand
the number of board seats to accommodate more
diversity. It also notes that average board size is
16 seats. Some experts note that an “ideal” board
should have no more than about 15 members,
begging the question—what’s more important, to
increase board diversity or maintain an “ideal”
board size?
continued on page 8
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