Diversity is valued by some nonprofit organizations, tolerated by others, and its value is questioned by some, but what exactly does this term diversity mean in the context of governance in a board. Diversity goes beyond race or gender in the workplace, but encompasses every aspect of each board member as a form of diversity. While there is no universally agreed upon term to define diversity, the most agreed upon definition consists of “all characteristics and experiences that define each of us as individuals” (Kapoor, 2011). With a definition this comprehensive that encompasses such a wide variety of an individual’s circumstances and ideals, it is often difficult for a nonprofit board to represent the full spectrum of these characteristics,
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Another study agrees not only with the points made by the Diversity Initiative, but their findings when they surveyed their test group of 1,456 nonprofit board chief executive officers, found that board governance practices are directly influenced by the gender and racial diversity of the board and that board inclusion behaviors combined with diversity policies and practices mediate the influence of the board’s gender and racial diversity on internal and external governance practices (Buse, Bernstein, & Bilimoria, 2014). Additionally, the study found an interaction effect that indicates when boards have greater gender diversity; the negative impact of racial diversity on governance practices is mitigated (Buse, Bernstein, & Bilimoria, 2014). This suggests that board governance must behave inclusively through insuring policies and practices allowing diverse members to have an impact. Though diversifying a board may seem to be common sense, not all studies show the same positive results of utilizing the resources of a diverse …show more content…
The influx of studies on diversity from 1995 to the present is statistically beginning to be disrupted from the traditional monopoly of Caucasian men holding board positions. In 2004, the Fortune 100 board groups reported that 85.1% of their board members were Caucasian, 10% were African American, 3.8% were Hispanic, and 1% Asian/ Pacific Islander (Alliance for Board Diversity, 2017). The last statistics to date from the Fortune 100 board statistics in 2016 now report that 82.5% of board members are Caucasian, 9.9% are African American, 4.5% are Hispanic, and 3.2% are Asian/ Pacific Islander (Alliance for Board Diversity, 2017). While these statistics sound horrifically unimpressive at first, one must take into account the slow rate of change that exists in governance, especially in the nonprofit sector where the change towards diversity must be a strong, conscious, and professional effort to maintain. The Fortune 100 boards, due to this minor shift in margins, now boasts that 65% of the Fortune 100 boards have greater than 30% diversity in their boardrooms, and the companies with greater than 50% of board directors who are women or a minority has increased nine times what it was in 2004 (Alliance for Board Diversity, 2017). These statistics and others predict that at the
Another study agrees not only with the points made by the Diversity Initiative, but their findings when they surveyed their test group of 1,456 nonprofit board chief executive officers, found that board governance practices are directly influenced by the gender and racial diversity of the board and that board inclusion behaviors combined with diversity policies and practices mediate the influence of the board’s gender and racial diversity on internal and external governance practices (Buse, Bernstein, & Bilimoria, 2014). Additionally, the study found an interaction effect that indicates when boards have greater gender diversity; the negative impact of racial diversity on governance practices is mitigated (Buse, Bernstein, & Bilimoria, 2014). This suggests that board governance must behave inclusively through insuring policies and practices allowing diverse members to have an impact. Though diversifying a board may seem to be common sense, not all studies show the same positive results of utilizing the resources of a diverse …show more content…
The influx of studies on diversity from 1995 to the present is statistically beginning to be disrupted from the traditional monopoly of Caucasian men holding board positions. In 2004, the Fortune 100 board groups reported that 85.1% of their board members were Caucasian, 10% were African American, 3.8% were Hispanic, and 1% Asian/ Pacific Islander (Alliance for Board Diversity, 2017). The last statistics to date from the Fortune 100 board statistics in 2016 now report that 82.5% of board members are Caucasian, 9.9% are African American, 4.5% are Hispanic, and 3.2% are Asian/ Pacific Islander (Alliance for Board Diversity, 2017). While these statistics sound horrifically unimpressive at first, one must take into account the slow rate of change that exists in governance, especially in the nonprofit sector where the change towards diversity must be a strong, conscious, and professional effort to maintain. The Fortune 100 boards, due to this minor shift in margins, now boasts that 65% of the Fortune 100 boards have greater than 30% diversity in their boardrooms, and the companies with greater than 50% of board directors who are women or a minority has increased nine times what it was in 2004 (Alliance for Board Diversity, 2017). These statistics and others predict that at the