The New Philanthropists, in partnership with Measure, is releasing its first data report, Breaking Barriers: Bridging the Nonprofit Board Representation Gap in Austin. The Black Paper focuses on insights accumulated from participants of the Board Mentors of Color Program and highlights the voices from leaders of color in the Austin community. Read detail below.
For Immediate Release – February 28, 2024
Nonprofit boards of directors lack people of color, but mentorship can help
New report from The New Philanthropists and Measure highlights challenges and successes
AUSTIN, Tex. – There are too few Black, Indigenous and People of Color board members at nonprofit organizations relative to the diversity of the communities they serve, according to a new report.
“Breaking Barriers: Bridging the Nonprofit Board Representation Gap in Austin, Texas,” was published this week by The New Philanthropists, in partnership with Measure. The “Black Paper” (instead of a white paper) focuses on insights accumulated from participants of the Board Mentors of Color Program and highlights the voices from leaders of color in the Austin community.
“These findings confirm that nonprofit organizations need to adopt strategies that will support more people of color on boards of directors,” said Paulina Artieda, Executive Director of The New Philanthropists. “Mentorship programs like the one at The New Philanthropist have proven their value in increasing diversity and making leadership more inclusive, authentic and effective.”
The Black Paper highlights include:
- Historical Context: Nonprofit boards have often been composed of people who have historically held positions of power and privilege, which has led to a lack of diversity and representation from leaders of color on nonprofit boards. A detailed timeline of discriminatory policies and the impacts on community leadership accompanies the report.
- The need to build a pipeline to leadership for people of color, and cultivate diversity, equity, and inclusion among mainstream nonprofit boards stems from a long history of inequity, racism, and discrimination in the United States as a whole and specifically within the nonprofit sector. The New Philanthropists provides this kind of pipeline.
- The report states that 45.5% of mentees indicated they still continued to meet with their mentor after the program finished, and 63.6% of mentees indicated an interest in being matched with a nonprofit board.
The report contains telling insights from TNP’s Board Mentors of Color Program participants, saying things like, “Nonprofit boards need people like me in order to achieve their mission and vision.”
For interview requests, including with the report authors and with mentorship program participants, please contact info@tnpaustin.org.
View the full report and its finds here or click below.
