- by Dien S Yuen
Greenlining Institute released a study yesterday on the diversity of 46 foundation board of directors in the U.S. Hypothetically, if there are more diverse board members on the board of a foundation, then the funding will be driven to reflect their own notions of which causes to support while taking in their personal and professional networks, i.e., meaning that funds will be directed to diverse communities.
Looking at the largest 46 foundations boards in the U.S., Greenlining Institute found that 25% of the positions are held by people of color. Here is the breakdown of that compared to the population of the U.S.: 8% of the positions are held by Lations (15% of the U.S. population); 12.5% by African Americans (12.8% of the U.S. population); 4.5% by Asian Americans (4.4% of the U.S. population). Looking at these numbers, two things jump out at me. Latinos are definitely under-represented and maybe Asian American's are not doing so bad afterall.
However, the report goes on to say that 13 of the 46 of the largest foundations have no people of color on their board of directors at all. 56.5% have no Latinos on their boards, 37.8% have no African Americans and here is the issue - 69.6% have no Asian Americans on their boards.
One explanation for the lack of diversity may be that these are family foundations and family members and close associates are normally chosen to serve on these boards. While there are no requirements for foundations to select particular individuals or backgrounds to their boards - it may make sense if they are supporting specific areas requiring expertise or they are trying to represent the constituents they serve.
We have to again ask the questions that we struggle with constantly - if you were Asian American and serve on a foundation board, would your community receive more funds? Are you the voice for your community? If you were Asian American and worked at a foundation, would your community receive more funds because you were there and you would direct funds to your community? How realistic are these expectations?
