Community Power, Nonprofit Diversity, and Us
To many, current circumstances make building the unrealized nonprofit power in communities of color more necessary and urgent than ever. Vu Le, Seattle nonprofit executive and exceptional blogger, is approaching the issue with renewed vigor. Le goes as far as to invoke apocalyptic events from one of his favorite TV shows, claiming “Winter is here,” for communities of color. However, as has been pointed out and underlined by many, the nonprofit world has something of an issue with leadership of color.
“As our world spirals into divisiveness and intolerance,” Le writes, “building the voice and power of the most marginalized is our best defense against the rise in racist nationalism, hate-mongering, xenophobia, violence, and injustice. But we can’t do that until we admit that we have not done a great job thus far.”
Le’s words ring true, borne out in report after report. Community Wealth Partners recently gathered some data about diversity in the nonprofit sector, with expectedly unrepresentative results. “While people of color represent 30 percent of the American workforce, only 18 percent of non-profit staff and 22 percent of foundation staff is comprised of people of color,” their findings explain, “for foundations, this number significantly decreases when looking at leadership and board member positions.”
Further, about a year ago the D5 Coalition published similar data in a report of its own. Therein, the numbers are placed in more or less the same area, listing disparities that are just as glaring. The D5 Coalition reports that black workers make up 11 percent of the overall workforce, and yet make up only 3.4 percent of foundation executives, amounting to a roughly 70 percent gulf in representation at the highest levels. For Asian-Americans, that gulf is closer to 80 percent, and for the Latinx community, it’s 85 percent.
Again similarly, in May 2014 the Association of Black Foundation Executives (ABFE) published The Exit Interview, a comprehensive, multi-angled study of Black leadership in philanthropic institutions, and the findings paint a clear picture. As ABFE rightfully highlights, the nonprofit sector’s skewed leadership composition is thanks in part to professionals of color leaving the field in larger numbers than those who are moving upwards within it. As the Exit Interview lays out, that flight, along with the various other diversity issues in nonprofits, stems from a series of factors that all more or less point towards a greater umbrella issue.
As Le articulates in his “Winter” blog post and beyond, what these trends of disparity are all perpetuated by in day-to-day nonprofit work is a general culture that, while not hostile, is largely disadvantageous for staff of color. Le imagines nonprofit work as a game of football, and within that metaphor examines the extra work nonprofit professionals of color must undertake. “Imagine that [as a person of color] you [actually] have two fields: One for football, and one for soccer,” he explains, “imagine that the two fields are right next to one another and on a daily basis you must run back and forth, back and forth across the fields.”
As Le makes plain, social and cultural hurdles make success and upward mobility in nonprofit work a much harder cliff to scale for people of color, and his prescription is as corroborated by other sources as his diagnosis.
As far as solutions to industry-wide tendencies, Le claims that change can only come with a wide-ranging suite of mitigating measures. The ABFE, Community Wealth Partners, and D5 Coalition reports all make similar assertions, each in one way or another underscoring that the nonprofit sector is a dynamic ecosystem with many moving parts, each of which must be addressed uniquely for a change in culture to take root.
A significant point of interest across the literature is training and support for nonprofit professionals of color. Le recommends “Culturally-relevant capacity-building coaching,” while ABFE stresses the need for “mentorship and coaching” for black nonprofit workers in their report. Similarly, Battalia-Winston, a search firm whose purpose is to find “a diverse and inclusive slate of candidates” for “elite executive talent,” also recommends “professional development and inclusive leadership training programs,” with added emphasis on how nonprofit employees “are less likely to receive organic mentorship and networking opportunities than their white counterparts.”
The importance of networks was iterated across the board as well. The Community Wealth Partners report talks substantially about the “self-reinforcing cycle” that stifles diversity. They mention how a large component of that cycle is the widespread reliance of nonprofits on their predominantly white staff networks. According to the report, 80 percent of nonprofits “leverage personal and professional networks” as primary sources of new talent, leading to a self-perpetuation of organizational whiteness.
Congruent with that thinking about networks, Le draws attention both to “collaboration and advocacy,” saying “we must be intentional about… strategic partnerships and work together to address systemic inequity,” and also to “operations support and shared services,” putting forward that “the era of every organization having to learn to fish needs to end if we are to have any hope of building community power.” ABFE expresses a similar sentiment with the Exit Interview’s claim that “national and regional associations of grantmakers — whether identity based, issue focused, or mainstream — can play an important role in supporting the retention of Black philanthropic professionals.”
Getting capital flowing in the right volume to the necessary places is paramount to Le as well, which lead to his proposal of “partnership fundraising” as a powerful tool. “We need our community leaders out there mobilizing and organizing people,” he implores, using his own organization’s ‘Community Alliance’ as a model for bringing community interests and capital interests into each other’s awareness.
Right here in Baltimore, work to that effect is sorely needed, but the need is being filled to greater and greater effect each month. As the demands of the cultural moment turn more and more with Le toward elevating community voices, the touch points between the ‘community’ and the ‘power’ become crucial spaces to navigate. At Invested Impact, we understand that, and we’ve staked out a front row seat.
Nonprofit work is a necessary pillar of strength in the places that need it most, and creating a community of practice around that is imperative. Invested Impact has had the privilege of working closely with groups across Baltimore who understand this necessity, and have been working tirelessly (to great effect) to realize a positive vision of it. In community discussions on topics ranging from urban innovation to social action, Invested Impact has seen firsthand what kind of hands the future of community power within Baltimore is in, and there is nothing but promise.
In our unique position between funding, entrepreneurship, and philanthropy, Invested Impact has seen what it will take for Baltimore to embrace the wisdom that Vu Le and so many others are coming around to. The good news is that that future is bright, and so is Baltimore’s.
