$30 Million Won’t Buy Diversity (Or Where the Greenlining Institute Fell Short)

We can no longer accept that throwing money at “the diversity problem” will solve anything. In California, and now Florida, the Greenlining Institute, led by Orson Aguilar is at the forefront of pushing for legislation to require foundations to give more resources to nonprofits led by people of color. At first glance, we want to applaud Orson & Greenlining for standing up to say we need more diversity in our nonprofit community. But when you dig deeper, we find that the tactics Greenlining is taking aren’t going to promote diversity at all, just give foundations another way to throw money at a problem that absolutely cannot be solved with dollars alone. First, a little background.

In January 2008, the California Assembly passed AB 624, a bill sponsored by Assembly Member Joe Coto (D, San Jose). The bill would have required foundations with assets of more than $250 million to disclose the race and gender composition of their trustees, staff, and grantees. The bill would have also required disclosure of the number and percentage of grants awarded to organizations serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, as well as “ethnic minority communities.” In June 2008, Coto agreed to drop the bill, in a compromise with ten of California’s largest foundations that have pledged to make a multi-million dollar investment in the state’s underserved communities. (Background from Diversity in Philanthropy)

So this December 2008, nine California foundations, named the “Foundation Coalition”, announced new plans to invest in minority-led nonprofits. Of course, this “Foundation Coalition” was only formed in response to the Greenlining Institute-led legislation that would’ve required foundations to disclose their diversity data. The Coalition pledged to distribute at least $30-million during the next two to three years to aid needy members of minority groups. $20-million will support charities led by minorities & other small nonprofit groups helping poor neighborhoods and areas with diverse populations. An additional $10-million will pay for training to help minority & grass-roots groups improve management, accounting & leadership skills.

From the looks of it, Greenlining backed off when “The Coalition” pledged $30 million to demonstrate their commitment to diversity. But it’s really not a commitment at all, just a payoff to avoid having to disclose the fact that foundations (and this is true for nonprofits overall) don’t do a very good job at making grants to nonprofits led by people of color, having boards that include people of color, or even hiring people of color to work in their organizations. Greenlining’s efforts, and their recent report “Nonprofit Minority Leadership and the Capacity of Minority-Led and Other Grassroots Community-Based Organizations” fall short for me because their actions seem to suggest that $30 million can buy diversity, when that is hardly the case.

Mark Rosenman may have said it best:

Too much is needed and too much is at stake to simply count the number, race, and ethnicity of people touched by various grants, figure out how well they were served, and call it a day.

Diversity in foundations is not about playing with numbers. It is about understanding that holding power and privilege in the hands of traditional elites is an anachronism that cannot well serve either dominant or marginalized groups in a rapidly changing world, nor will trying to do so go unchallenged.

A Wall Street Journal opinion piece calls these efforts “racial extortion”, a strong phrase to be sure. I don’t think it’s “racial extortion” either, but clearly the tactics that Greenlining is using to further the cause of diversity misses the mark. Yes, nonprofits and foundations need to be intentional about supporting communities of color, but it can’t just be about the money. It has to be about supporting nonprofit leaders of color and recruiting more talented people of color to work for social justice in their community, be on boards of directors, hold power at the power table. Dollars alone isn’t enough, nonprofit leaders need to take diversity and inclusion head on and be part of the solution, not whining about the problem with our hands held out. Where do we begin?

Now Al Piña, chairman of Florida Minority Community Reinvestment Coalition, wants to distribute grant money to minority-led organizations in Florida. But it won’t matter whether he and his colleagues advocate for $30 million or $50 million. The really hard work still remains for us as nonprofit leaders to play a part in creating systematic changes to include more people of color in decisionmaking and positions of power. That is real equity. That is social justice. And if we stop wasting time chasing money, we could put some of that energy & advocacy to better use. As Angela Glover Blackwell has said:

Certainly, numbers matter: we must make sure that the staff and leadership of foundations and their grantees reflect the population. But diversity does not equal justice. What’s needed is a comprehensive, long-term strategy to advance equity and inclusion in grantmaking and in crafting and implementing the solutions to the pressing problems facing California.

What do YOU think? Is more money the key to creating more diversity & equity in the nonprofit sector? If not, what kind of leadership is needed to make it happen?