The nonprofit sector has a board diversity problem. A recent BoardSource report[1]showed that nonprofit boards are no more racially and ethnically diverse than they were two decades ago and that “current recruitment priorities indicate this is unlikely to change.” The report found that people of color comprise just 16% of nonprofit board members, nearly identical to 1994 figures, even though they represent 39% of our country’s population.[2]
There are many strong arguments for having nonprofit boards that are racially and ethnically diverse, and let’s start with the effectiveness argument.
There is nothing groundbreaking or remarkable about how our organization has worked to improve the diversity of our board. But from my perspective, here are a few important factors that contributed to our progress:
  • It’s about relationships
  • It’s about authenticity
  • It’s about intention

Read the full article by David Biemesderfer about board diversity from the United Philanthropy Forum