This report examines the demographics of the philanthropic sector, looking back over five and ten years, with a specific focus on the representation of women and people of color. The data has been sourced from the Council’s Grantmaker Salary and Benefits Survey, representing a rich set of data points from more than 1,000 grantmakers, including data on nearly ten 10,000 full-time paid professional and administrative positions.
Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
The Council on Foundations promotes responsible and effective philanthropy. Our mission requires a commitment to inclusiveness as a fundamental operating principle. It also calls for affirmations of diversity in its many forms, encompassing but not limited to:
- ethnicity
- race
- gender and gender identity
- sexual orientation
- age
- economic circumstance
- class
- disability
- geography
- philosophy
Diversity ensures that a range of perspectives, opinions, and experiences are recognized and acted upon in achieving the Council’s mission. We ask members to make a similar commitment to inclusiveness in order to be more effective and better enhance their abilities to contribute to our changing society.
Council's policy on inclusiveness
Use these resources to enhance your organization's diversity and inclusive practice.
In-Depth knowledge on Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
This white paper outlines best practices with proven results that foundations can use to find and create a diverse and inclusive staff and investment advisory team. Readers will learn how to make the business case for more diverse and equitable strategies and link success in this area with investment results.
To support leaders in their efforts to take meaningful action to address diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in their organizations, D5 commissioned JustPartners, Inc. to identify the most effective policies, practices, and programs to advance DEI.
July 2015 is the 25th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This groundbreaking legislation provided an important keystone in America's commitment to civil rights. Despite 25 years of progress, people with disabilities still have higher poverty rates, lower employment, and poorer educational outcomes than those without disabilities. During this webinar, the Kessler Foundation and University of NH researchers reviewed what they learned from their survey of 3,000 people with disabilities who shared their workplace experiences. The learning from this National Employment and Disability Survey can provide new information and valuable insights to inform foundations' diversity and inclusion strategies for their own workplaces and for grantmaking.
The Career Pathways program focuses on increasing the number of philanthropic professionals from diverse backgrounds ready to ascend to leadership positions within foundations. Diverse leadership fosters inclusion, innovation and excellence in philanthropy. The Career Pathways program evaluation report shares the Council's lessons about its efforts to strengthen the pipeline of professionals looking to lead the next generation of philanthropy.
This study conducted by Forward Change provides a holistic, in-depth picture of the career experiences of 43 philanthropic professionals of color ranging from Program Officers to CEOs working in a diverse array of foundations. The study surfaced a set of potentially common points of entry, career pathways and obstacles of professionals of color in philanthropy, as well as the factors that helped shape those pathways.
From The Chicago Community Trust, this white paper challenges all of us with a set of thoughtful recommendations to realize our promise for the full inclusion of people with disabilities in our communities, our schools and our workplaces.
A video series featuring leaders sharing their insights about their organizational journey to become more diverse and inclusive and lessons learned along the way.
This guide is designed to help foundations consider how more diverse and inclusive practices might advance their mission by making their work more effective and more reflective of communities served. By highlighting 10 ways family foundations can approach diversity, this guide seeks to spark ideas and launch further dialogue.
This guide is designed to help foundations consider how more diverse and inclusive practices might advance their mission by making their work more effective and more reflective of communities served. By highlighting 10 ways independent foundations can approach diversity, this guide seeks to spark ideas and launch further dialogue.