July 14, 2017

This article was published by the Colorado Nonprofit Association and is adapted from an article in the Nonprofit Quarterly.

The Building Movement Project recently published two studies in its Race to Lead series – Race to Lead: Confronting the Nonprofit Racial Leadership Gap and Working at the Intersections: LGBTQ Nonprofit Staff and the Racial Leadership Gap – that highlight existing anti-LGBTQ and racial biases in the nonprofit sector.

During National Council of Nonprofits' Network Learning Confab, participants, including Colorado Nonprofit Association staff, learned that the leadership gap is not a result of the lack for desire and professional development for people of color but a lack of attention and systems change needed by nonprofit boards and the sector as a whole.

Building Movement Project's new report on LGBTQ people of color in nonprofits demonstrates another negative bias in the nonprofit sector that must be addressed.

"... one of the report’s key findings is that though LGBTQ people of color face compounding barriers, race was the most important diversity dimension impacting their opportunity to advance into leadership roles: 'The combination of race, class, gender/gender identity and sexuality resulted in LGBTQ respondents of color reporting more challenges than either straight people of color or LGBTQ whites.'” — Nonprofit Quarterly

It is the responsibility of nonprofit boards, and the sector as a whole, to learn from these reports and fully embrace systems change that accounts for greater acceptance and affirmation for all forms of diversity.

Read the full article from Nonprofit Quarterly.