Why do smaller nonprofit organizations tend to have more diverse boards? 

Candid’s The state of diversity in the U.S. nonprofit sector report, released in May, analyzes the demographic composition of nonprofit staff, leaders, and board members in terms of race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and disability status. What does the information shared by 59,550 U.S. public charities on their Candid profiles suggest about the demographic composition and size of nonprofit boards and how diverse boards are by organization size? Let’s take a closer look. 

Smaller organizations have smaller but more racially and gender-diverse boards 

As with nonprofit CEOs, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) individuals are underrepresented among board members. More than half (53%) of all nonprofit staff in the data set identify as BIPOC, yet only one-third of board members are BIPOC. Similarly, 69% of all staff identify as women, compared with 52% of board members. 

On average, the size of boards increases with organization size (as measured by annual expenses), while proportional representation of BIPOC individuals and women decreases. The share of BIPOC members drops from about half at organizations with expenses below $50,000 to under one-third among those with expenses above $10 million. Even as the number of board members increases with organization size, the number of BIPOC members hardly changes, the report notes. 

In a similar pattern, women comprise between half and three-fifths of board members at organizations with expenses below $1 million but less than half at larger nonprofits.  

One possible factor behind the smaller share of BIPOC and women board members at larger nonprofits could be tokenism, says Mantin Diomande, lead research analyst at Candid. “Organizations might be recruiting only a few BIPOC and women board members to appear as though they are attempting to increase diversity. As the data shows, as smaller organizations have fewer board members, the percentages of those few BIPOC and women will still be significant. However, the larger the organization size, the more board members they have, hence the lower the percentage of those few BIPOC and women board members.” 

Another reason may be that boards tend to focus on fundraising. This may be in tension with efforts to increase diversity, notes Tara Huffman, chief program and strategy officer of BoardSource, which recently released a racial equity guide. “This can be for two reasons: one, that ‘networks of influence’ continue to be narrowly defined as access to money; and/or two, that BIPOC individuals and women continue to be stereotyped as lacking ‘networks of influence’ that can contribute measurable value to the organization.” 

LGBTQIA+ members and members with disabilities average just one per board 

Among organizations that shared demographic information about their board members, roughly 10% of members identify as LGBTQIA+. Average representation remains roughly consistent across organization size, with one or fewer LGBTQIA+ members on the board, but as with BIPOC and women members, their share declines at larger organizations with larger boards. The report also found that the typical board includes no nonbinary or transgender members, although the data suggests that between 1% and 2% of people in the sector are transgender and more than 1,000 serve on boards. 

While the percentage of LGBTQIA+ board members is lower at larger organizations, the percentage of CEOs who identify as LGBTQIA+ is consistent across organization sizes, at 9% to 11%. One factor behind this difference is that most nonprofits do not collect, or individuals do not disclose, information about sexual orientation, notes Diomande. “About two-thirds of the individual board members did not share their sexual orientation—skipped the question or marked ‘decline to state’ or ‘unknown’—while only about 14% of the CEOs did not respond. With less information about board members’ sexual orientation compared with CEOs, we have a smaller percentage of LGBTQIA+ board members. Hence, as the number of board members increases with organization size, the share of LGBTQIA+ will decrease.” 

People with disabilities also comprise about 10% of board members in the data set. The average number of board members with disabilities remains consistent at fewer than one board member regardless of organization size, but their share declines at larger organizations with larger boards. 

A more diverse board could help members better understand the community

“If LGBTQIA+ people and people with disabilities are underrepresented on nonprofit boards, then so are their voices, their needs, their assets, and solutions that benefit their communities,” says Huffman. BoardSource’s forthcoming 2024 Leading With Intent report found that nonprofits that assigned a higher level of importance to the board’s racial diversity had a more racially diverse board and board leadership. Racially diverse boards also reported that their demographic makeup helped them better understand the community, understand the organization’s ecosystem and environment, and attract and retain top talent for the board.  

“We believe that this finding has implications for other diverse communities,” she said. “Our combined findings suggest that boards need to embrace the benefits of diversity to the organization, and be more intentional about identifying, cultivating, and recruiting members of the LGBTQIA+ and disability communities.”