Diversity has grown at leading environmental organizations

Green 2.0, an independent advocacy campaign to increase racial and ethnic diversity among leading environmental organizations, released its fourth annual Transparency Report Card this week. What does it show, and why are we excited?

What does the 2020 Transparency Report Card by Green 2.0 show?

The report card focuses on the number of people of color and the number of women who are board members, senior staff, or full-time staff at each of the largest 44 nonprofits and 42 foundations working on environmental issues.

The report also examines how diversity at leading environmental organizations has changed over time. Diversity data for each year between 2017 and 2020 is available for 43 organizations—35 nonprofits and 8 foundations. The information reveals “measurable increases in people of color and women on staff, among senior staff, and on the board[s]” of these organizations.

Why are we at Candid excited?

• It’s good news. Just this week, the Chronicle of Philanthropy published analyses of the gender gap and barriers to recruiting leaders of color in the U.S. nonprofit sector. Any improvement, in any part of the sector, is worth celebrating.
• It promotes a principle Candid holds dear: “The importance of data transparency cannot be overstated” (p. 7).
• “Inclusive” is a Candid value. Just as we work to incorporate inclusion into all that we do, we applaud the work our collaborators and partners do to make the social sector more equitable. We believe our combined efforts improve the sector and strengthen its impact.
• It’s data for the sector—facilitated by Candid. The organizations included in the report provided their demographic information through the profile update program on GuideStar by Candid. The data appears in each organization’s nonprofit profile. We also make it available in multiple ways to multiple partners so that the effort spent in collecting the information by an individual nonprofit or foundation can serve many needs.

Part of the demographics section of Candid’s nonprofit profile on GuideStar

We’re excited to see the demographic information in action. The 2020 Transparency Report Card is an excellent example of how people can create actionable insights from Candid data. “There is continued work to be done in this area,” Green 2.0 notes (p. 7). More foundations in the environmental movement need to report their demographic data; lack of this information prevents analysis of diversity at these organizations. Organizations that do report this information need “to self-assess where they are making progress and identify areas they still need to improve.”

What can you do?

If you’d like to know more about reporting your organization’s demographics through your GuideStar profile, see this step-by-step guide. By completing the demographics section of your profile, you’ll demonstrate your commitment to equity and to helping the sector learn.