Nonprofit leadership in the New York City area is still disproportionately white, even though a majority of the nonprofit workforce are women and people of color, a report from Nonprofit New York finds.

Conducted in partnership with Candid, SeaChange, Capital Partners, and Thomas Economic Policy and Data Consulting and with support from Robin Hood, the report, In Every County, Across All Budget Sizes: White Overrepresentation in the New York City Area’s Nonprofit Leadership (44 pages, PDF), includes an analysis of the racial and demographic makeup of nonprofit senior leadership in the New York City area and finds that BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) representation in CEO and executive director positions remains scarce. BIPOC CEOs account for just 36 percent of nonprofit leaders, while the BIPOC share of the New York metropolitan area's population is 61 percent. Regarding organizational budget sizes, a majority of all budget ranges from less than $125,000 up to at least $10 million have a white CEO, the report found. Moreover, BIPOC-led nonprofits with a budget range of $250,000-$500,000 exhibited higher insolvency than their small, white-led counterparts. BIPOC-led organizations in the $500,000–$0.9 million and greater than $50 million categories also have higher insolvency rates than their white-led counterparts, but in each of the $1 million-$49.9 million categories, BIPOC-led organizations have lower insolvency rates.

“We cannot hope to eliminate poverty in New York City—or effectively solve the litany of social issues facing our country today—without the lived experience and subject expertise of executives of color,” said Robin Hood CEO Rich Buery, Jr. “In a time of unprecedented challenges, the findings of [this report] should give us pause. White leaders are overrepresented in nonprofits of all kinds across the New York metro, while the BIPOC leaders whose perspective can shift outcomes lack opportunity, capital, connections, and more.”

“To have a fuller picture of the social sector and the work that needs to be done to address inequities, we encourage the social sector to lower the data collection burden for nonprofits,” said Candid director of partnerships Catalina Spinel. “When nonprofits share their demographic data with Candid and funders commit to retrieving it from their nonprofit profiles on Candid’s GuideStar, it helps fill in the blanks so we can all work toward a more efficient, equitable sector.” 

(Photo credit: Getty Images/SDI Productions)