Since 1991, two of the Minnesota Council on Foundations' strategic goals have been to "create a climate of inclusivity in philanthropy" and to "recognize, eliminate and prevent racism in philanthropy." Toward these goals the Council surveyed its grantmaking members in 1999 to gain a better understanding of their work on inclusive practices, and to identify any changes that may have taken place since conducting its first diversity survey in 1994. The survey asked respondents to identify their inclusivity efforts in the four different roles they play in a civil society: as funders, employers, economic entities and community citizens (these roles are outlined in the Council's Diversity Framework).

The Council also asked its members to identify both successful and unsuccessful strategies they've used to address diversity and inclusivity, and gathered demographic information on grantmakers' staffs, boards, consultants and advisory committees. Sixty organizations answered the survey — a 42 percent response rate that is higher than the 37 percent response rate five years ago.

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Key Findings

• Grantmakers are thinking more about what diversity means for them than they were five years ago; fewer grantmakers indicated they had "no position" on diversity than five years ago.

• Grantmakers reported that targeting recruitment of board, staff or advisory committees works well for them in their diversity efforts. Grantmakers also use their grantmaking programs to carry out activities and initiatives they believe work well.

• Grantmakers candidly described different areas of their operations where they were not successful in being diverse. A few grantmakers found that their work environment does not allow for diversity, despite the efforts of an individual(s). Others reported that through their efforts to be diverse, unsuccessful lessons learned included hiring based on ethnic background and expecting one or two people of color to represent the community.

• To measure the effectiveness of their diversity efforts, more grantmakers reported tracking and analyzing their grants and using formal evaluation than they did five years ago.

• Minnesota grantmakers are more likely to be committed to diversity in their roles as funders and employers than in their roles as economic entities or community citizens.

• Many grantmakers have adopted strategies and activities to be diverse over the last five years, particularly within the funder and employer roles.

• Family foundations may benefit from more information about the various ways they can function within their four roles of funder, employer, community citizen and economic entity: they were more likely to report that they had no plans to carry out activities within each of the roles.

• Community foundations may have information to share about their work as funders and community citizens. Community foundations are more likely to be doing work within the funder role and the community citizen role than any other grantmaker type. However, for the most part community foundations, which also have a fund-raising role, did not report forthright diversity efforts in their donor relations work.

• The sample of Minnesota grantmaking boards, staff, advisory committees and consultants is predominantly white. Grantmaking staff, advisory committee members and consultants are predominantly women, and governing board members are predominantly men.

• The sample of Minnesota grantmaking boards, staff, advisory committees and consultants is proportionately more racially/ethnically diverse than the state of Minnesota. Compared to the field nationwide, Minnesota grantmaking staff is less diverse; Minnesota grantmaking boards are more diverse than the field nationwide.

• The same survey respondents who responded both in 1994 and in 1999-2000 increased representation of people of color on both governing boards and advisory committees by only one percentage point, but increased representation on their grantmaking staff six percentage points.

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Recommendations and Next Steps

The Minnesota Council on Foundations plans to use the survey results as a starting point for continued dialogue among its membership on issues of diversity and inclusiveness. At its August 2000 meeting, the Minnesota Council on Foundations board of directors committed the Council to conducting a third diversity survey in another five years. The Council will also work to address the specific recommendations in the report:

• Create or provide additional resources for inclusiveness and diversity for family foundations. Family foundations may want to refer to the national Council on Foundations' "Inclusiveness and Family Foundations" publication.

• Sponsor training on personnel practices including diversity and inclusiveness issues for management staff, supervisors and/or executive directors.

• Increase the dialog surrounding diversity issues in Greater Minnesota.

• Reinforce the different roles grantmakers have (funder, economic entity, community citizen and employer) and emphasize ways in which funders can flourish in these roles.

• Utilize the MCF Race and Diversity Toolkit, "Building on a Better Foundation: A Toolkit for Creating an Inclusive Grantmaking Organization."

• Continue to monitor diversity and inclusiveness issues within the field of philanthropy in Minnesota.

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Download the Report

Download the Council's "Working Toward Diversity II" report as a PDF file (41 pages) that can be viewed and printed. NOTE: This file is in a READ-ONLY format; it cannot be modified. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader software to view and print this document. To download Adobe Acrobat Reader, click on the icon below:

Questions?
Contact the Minnesota Council on Foundations:
Phone: 612.338.1989
E-mail: info@mcf.org

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