Private foundations would benefit by having diverse leadership

“Male, pale and stale.” Is this the fate of the foundations that give out billions to Canadians?

This summer, Britain’s Association of Charitable Foundations revealed the race, age and gender of the board members of the nation’s 300 biggest private foundations.

What percentage of these board members are white? Ninety-nine per cent.

In the U.S., things are a bit less unbalanced, according to industry tracker BoardSource: 85 per cent of foundation directors are white, (with 40 per cent of boards being all white), 55 per cent are male and 69 per cent are 50 years and older.

Given the shift in foundation giving throughout the world to “underserved communities,” it’s not just ironic and unfair that the giv- ing decisions are overseen by members of the world’s smallest and overserved communities, it’s inefficient.

The arguments for diversity are now backed up by all kinds of data that not only show more diverse decision-making bodies make better decisions, but that involving the people affected by those decisions gives their efforts a much better chance of working.

This astounding lack of diversity got me to thinking: “How diverse are Canada’s private foundation boards?

So I did some research and came up with the following numbers. They’re not scientific, but they are indicative, and I doubt a more rigorous study would reveal much different numbers. I looked at the Top 12 private foundations in Canada based on how much they do- nated. The figures, provided online by Philanthropic Foundations Canada, are current to 2015.

The top foundations range from No. 1, the Mastercard Foundation, which gave $65.9 million to No. 12, the Flatt Foundation, which donated $20.2 million.

Canada’s Top 12 private foundations have a total of 95 board members. Of these, 51 per cent are white men and 60 per cent are men; 42 per cent are women and 11 per cent are racialized women.

This is not bad compared to the U.S. or Britain, where there are still more men called “John” on the boards of FTSE 100 companies than there are women.

And yes, I get that family foundations especially need to put family members on their boards.

But when you think that half the population of Toronto was born outside Canada and that more than half Toronto’s population is made up of what used to be called “the visible minority,” then the largest visible majority group in the city is, by definition, non-white women. And there sure aren’t many of them on the big foundation boards.

Is Toronto a marker for the rest of Canada? No and yes.

No, because Toronto is one of the most multicultural cities in the world. Yes, because Canada is growing increasingly diverse and its government has staked our future on that trend continuing.

So Canada’s richest families would do well to reflect the very people their generosity is set up to serve.

Bob Ramsay is a communications consultant and founder of RamsayTalks.