Diversity among professionals in the philanthropic sector increased between 2018 and 2020, a report from CHANGE Philanthropy (formerly Joint Affinity Groups) finds.

Funded by the Blue Shield of California Foundation and based on survey responses from 2,390 staff and board members at 124 foundations, the 2020 Diversity Among Philanthropic Professionals Report (100 pages, PDF) found that 45.3 percent of respondents identified as people of color, up from 37.8 percent in 2018. African Americans accounted for 13.5 percent of respondents, up from 11.1 percent; Asian Americans 9.6 percent, up from 8.9 percent; Latinx 8.7 percent, up from 6.3 percent, and those with more than one racial/ethnic identity 12.2 percent, up from 9.5 percent. The percentages of Indigenous and Middle Eastern respondents, however, dropped to 0.8 percent and 0.5 percent from 1.6 percent each in 2018.

As in the 2018 report, professionals of color had the largest representation at grantmaking public charities (50.4 percent, up from 47.5 percent in 2018), with private foundations (49.4 percent, up from 40.3 percent) narrowing the gap, followed by corporate funders (40 percent, up from 28.6 percent) and community foundations (29 percent, up from 26.4 percent). Grantmakers based in the Northeast were the most racially and ethnically diverse in 2020 (53.4 percent, up from 37.6 percent), supplanting those in the Pacific region (51.3 percent, up from 50 percent), while those in the Midwest (35.4 percent, up from 29.7 percent) and South (34.8 percent, up from 34.4 percent) saw smaller increases and those in Mountain states saw a slight decline (35.8 percent, down from 37 percent). In the 2020 survey, 37.1 percent of board members, 43.2 percent of supervisory staff, 48.7 percent of non-supervisory staff, and 63 percent of independent contractors identified as people of color. In terms of job type, people of color accounted for 51.8 percent of program staff, 47.3 percent of administrative staff, 38.8 percent of executives, and 31.4 percent of finance staff.

In terms of sexual orientation and gender identity, 8.8 percent of respondents identified as lesbian or gay, down from 9.8 percent in 2018; 4.6 percent as bisexual, down from 6.3 percent in 2018; 0.2 percent as asexual, and 6.6 percent as having a different sexual orientation identity. LGBTQIA+ individuals were best represented at grantmaking public charities and grantmakers in the Pacific region and among independent contractors and administrative staff. Among respondents identifying as lesbian or gay, bisexual, and asexual, 39.3 percent, 51.4 percent, and 75 percent were people of color. In addition, the survey found that 68.1 percent of respondents identified as female, down from 69.1 percent in 2018; 27.7 percent as male, down from 28.2 percent; 2.3 percent as genderqueeer, gender non-conforming, or non-binary, up from 1.1 percent; and 1.5 percent as transgender, down from 2 percent, with 3.4 percent declining to state whether they were cis or transgender, up from 1.3 percent. Genderqueeer, gender non-conforming, and non-binary individuals were best represented at grantmaking public charities and grantmakers in the Northeast and among supervisory roles and as program staff.

The report also found that the share of people with disabilities doubled to 12.6 percent from 6.3 percent, with mental health disabilities (5.4 percent) and chronic illnesses (4.5 percent) the most commonly cited conditions. People with disabilities were best represented at grantmaking public charities and grantmakers based in the South and among independent contractors and among program staff. Among respondents with a disability, 51.5 percent were people of color, 23.8 percent were lesbian, gay, bisexual, or asexual, and 6.6 percent were transgender.

The report offers recommendations for foundation leaders who wish to increase diversity among their staff, including examining their motivations and commitment to a diverse organization and assessing what needs to change in the existing organizational culture, and adjusting human resources policies, such as ensuring that a benefits package provides adequate leave time, is supportive of a diverse range of family configurations, and makes appropriate accommodations for people with differing abilities.