The Burden of Bias

in the Bay State:

The Nonprofit Racial Leadership Gap in Massachusetts

This report offers findings from the subset of 2019 respondents who work in Massachusetts. It builds upon the findings of the main 2019 report, as well as the 2016 Massachusetts brief. This report explores how the burden of implementing DEI initiatives in historically white-dominated organizations continues to fall to people of color, despite some progress in confronting white privilege and diversifying leadership in the local sector.

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Key Findings

Among Massachusetts respondents of color, 91% agreed with the statement that “people of color must demonstrate they have more skills than white peers,” as did 76% of white respondents in the state.
Half of people of color in Massachusetts (50%) and nationally (49%) said their race negatively affected their career advancement, compared to just 4% of white respondents from each sample.
Respondents of color are about twice as likely as white respondents to say they often or always experience a lack of role models (20% of white people and 45% of people of color in Massachusetts compared to 23% of white people and 43% of people of color nationwide).