State of the Work 2011

Explore D5’s State of the Work Report, an effort to map philanthropy’s work on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

State of the Work 2011: Mapping the Landscape and D5’s Path Forward on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Philanthropy, the first report in an annual series, is designed to guide the D5 coalition’s work and measure our progress over the next five years. It also begins to illuminate where U.S. philanthropy as a whole is on a number of fronts related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. It includes information about board and staff composition; diversity and inclusion policies and practices; educational programs and tools; grant sizes and recipients; research efforts; and success stories.

State of the Work 2011 confirms the hypothesis that philanthropy has a ways to go on diversity, equity, and inclusion. The review pointed to four main findings:

The demographics of foundation leadership–executives and trustees–don’t reflect the nation’s overall diversity, nor that of its workforce.
Fewer than a third of foundations have diversity policies and practices in place.
While available data don’t paint a full picture of funding to diverse communities, the data we do have suggest that they are underfunded. At the same time, population-focused funds are an emerging segment of philanthropic giving.
Philanthropy needs more standardized data collection and studies on diversity-related issues.

Seven success stories, highlighted in the report, further illuminate how the work of growing
philanthropy’s diversity, equity, and inclusion unfolds on the ground:

Diversifying a Foundation’s Trustees (Jessie Ball duPont Fund)

Creating Pathways for Diverse Philanthropy Professionals (Council on Foundations)

A Foundation Looks in the Mirror on Diversity and Inclusion (Rockefeller Brothers Fund)

Developing Cultural Competency Among Grantmaker and Grantees (REACH Healthcare Foundation)

Building Community Philanthropy in the American South (Ford Foundation)

Using Peer Learning to Improve Racial Equity (The Racial Equity Philanthropy Group)

Tracking Fifteen Years of Data on Diversity (Minnesota Council on Foundations)