Gap in Central Texas:

A Race to Lead Brief

This report offers findings from the subset of 2019 survey respondents who work in the Central Texas area. It builds upon the findings of the main report and explores how leadership networks in the Austin metropolitan area impact career and funding prospects, as well as the effectiveness of nonprofit efforts to address diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

Key Findings

Survey respondents in Central Texas ranked the commitment to DEI they perceived among their organization’s leaders at 6.7 on average out of 10, with white participants giving their leaders a higher score (7.1) than people of color (6.0).
Networks and relationships are critical to nonprofit fundraising in any part of the country, and people of color in Central Texas were more likely than their white counterparts to say they often or always lack relationships with funding sources.
In Central Texas, the majority of respondents (56%) work for organizations that are at least three quarters white among both board and staff leadership, a share that is higher than in the national sample.
People of color in Central Texas were less likely than white respondents to say they had mentors outside their workplaces and mentors inside their workplaces. People of color in Central Texas were 16 percentage points less likely to have received external mentoring than people of color in the national sample.