According to a study from the nonprofit data research organization Candid, white men are most likely to lead the largest, best-funded nonprofits, while women of color tend to lead the organizations with the fewest financial resources, the Associated Press reports.
According to the study, white CEOs lead 74% of organizations with more than $25 million in annual revenue, with white men heading 41% of those nonprofits, despite being only about 30% of the population. Women of color, who make up about 20% of the U.S. population, lead 14% of the organizations with more than $25 million in revenue and 28% of the smallest nonprofits — those with less than $50,000 in revenue.
The report’s findings are based on data gathered from the Demographics via Candid initiative, where nonprofits voluntarily report the diversity numbers of their organizations. Cathleen Clerkin, Candid’s associate vice president of research, said authors of the report compared its findings to other sector-wide data and found them to be consistent.
Because the diversity information was self-reported, Clerkin said Candid studied whether nonprofits would be more likely to share their information because they were more diverse, but found that was not the case. What was more likely to determine whether a nonprofit reported its diversity information was how much they depended on outside donations, she said.
The report found that environmental and animal welfare groups were least likely to have diverse leadership, with 88% having a white CEO. Nearly three-quarters of religious nonprofits had white CEOs, according to the report.
The report also found that Latinos were underrepresented as nonprofit CEOs in nearly every state.
