Andrew Sears
Executive Director
TechMission
Race, Class, Gender & Faith Bias in Nonprofit Funding
Why TechMission Is Addressing This Issue?
TechMission primarily supports Black and Latino-led nonprofits that are close to the community
We have seen how these nonprofits are experiencing systemic issues with bias in funding of nonprofits
In a down economy, we are observing an increasing bias towards big (i.e. White) organizations
Many of our partner sites are struggling to stay functional
Why TechMission Can Speak to This Issue?
TechMission’s organizational culture reflects lower class culture– Nearly all of board and senior staff are Black, Latino and/or come
from low-income background– ED is White from lower class background– TechMission Corps AmeriCorps members are 62% Black and
Latino with 50% from low-income backgrounds TechMission has one of the widest spans of connection with
grass roots organizations (over 4,000 registered nonprofits)– UrbanMinistry.org being the Black/Latino counterpart to Idealist.org and
VolunteerMatch.org
Leadership has extensive experience on writing about and living out reconciliation across race, class and gender
Nonprofit Leadership Does Not Reflect Racial Community it Serves
Source: http://www.aecf.org/upload/publicationfiles/executive_transition_survey_report2004.pdf
Nonprofit Statistics and Race
1.4 million registered nonprofits in USA– 1,169,000 White-led nonprofits– 138,600 Black-led nonprofits– 50,400 Latino-led nonprofits– 12,600 nonprofits led by other races
Source: Number of nonprofits from Independent Sector,Racial breakdown extrapolated based on survey results at:http://www.aecf.org/upload/publicationfiles/executive_transition_survey_report2004.pdf
Funding Bias: Non-Whites Make up 52.4% of Poverty but Non-White Led Nonprofits only Receive 3% of Funding
http://www.slideshare.net/rosettathurman/race-matters-in-nonprofits-promoting-diversity-in-our-profession andhttp://www.aecf.org/upload/publicationfiles/executive_transition_survey_report2004.pdf
Most Nonprofits: Have a Different Class Culture than Clients
White Black Latino Asian
Upper
Middle
Lower
Leadership
Clients
Leadership Leadership Leadership
TechMission’s Focus & OtherLower Class Culture Nonprofits
White Black Latino Asian
Upper
Middle
Lower Leadership and clients
Nonprofit Leadership Does Not Reflect Class Community it Serves
Data show subjective estimates from the author based on educational levels and class assimilation rates of nonprofit leadership. 94% of leadership have at least bachelor’s degree with an estimated class assimilation rate of 90-95% based on living location & culture
Funding and Gender
From: http://www.aecf.org/upload/publicationfiles/executive_transition_survey_report2004.pdf
How to Perform on the SAT Test
Be White or Asian– 150-200 point increase
Be Rich– 30 points per $10,000 of family income
Conclusion: To Improve SAT Scores…– Be careful how you pick your parents
Source: http://www.maec.org/natstats.html & http://www.educationanddemocracy.org/testing_facts.pdf
How to Get Funding from Foundations
Be White– 97% of foundation funding goes toward White-led
nonprofits Be Culturally Middle Class
– Estimated 95% of leadership of nonprofits is culturally middle class
Be Male– While 58% of nonprofit executives are women, the
median nonprofit income led by a man has twice the income of a nonprofit led by a woman
Sources: http://www.aecf.org/upload/publicationfiles/executive_transition_survey_report2004.pdf &http://greenlining.org/publications/pdf/339 The class statistic is explained on a previous slide
How Do We Change This?
Why Does Only 3% of Foundation Funding Go to Nonprofits Led by People of Color?
Policies: Avoid Racial Discrimination Resulting from Religious Restrictions
Policies that restrict funding faith-based organizations creates an unintentional bias toward White-led organization
How it works– About 2/3 of Black-led nonprofits are in churches or
other faith-based organizations– About 2/3 of White-led nonprofits are secular– Not funding faith-based organizations makes
White-led nonprofits twice as likely to get funded
Statistics are explained in the attached spreadsheet at: www.urbanministry.org/fundingbias
Common Class ValueTensions in Organizations
Non-Dominant Class Value Low Cost Low Cost Relational Relational Spontaneous Subjective Intense Hierarchical Trauma is Common Many small organizations Many Volunteers/Time’s Cheap Any Lower Class Culture/Values
Dominant Class Value High Quality Speed Structured/Orderly Efficient Detached/Objective Objective Reserved Egalitarian Appearance Trauma is Avoided Big organizations Staff time is expensive Any Middle/Upper Class Culture/
Values
Dominant Culture Outcomes vs. Non-dominant Outcomes
Dominant Culture (middle & upper class)
Value Big Organizations Almost no weight given to
leadership being close to the community
Analytical & Quantitative– Nonprofit “SAT Scores”
Purely Objective Criteria Secular Focused
Non-Dominant Culture (lower class) Cost effectiveness Is leadership close to the
community?– Race of leadership
(staff/board)– Class background of
leadership– Neighborhood they live in
Holistic– Has a Life been Changed
Subjective Faith-Based & Secular
Policies to Address Systemic Bias in Funding: Diversity Profiles
Foundations and government should require all funding recipients to complete diversity reporting form as part of applications
All funders should publicly list their own diversity reporting form with the cumulative results of who they funded
Diversity reports should carry similar weight as financial and other outcome reports and should be listed in foundation’s annual report
– Diversity profiles & reports become an approximate measure for many of the subjective elements that are hard to measure in other outcomes
Policies: “Minority Owned Business” Consideration for Nonprofits
If the Government gives preference to minority owned businesses in contracts, shouldn’t that be a consideration with nonprofits?
Nonprofits that closely reflect the demographics of the communities they are serving should be given preference (affirmative action in nonprofit funding)
Policies: Change Funding Criteria to Reflect Community Values
Example from TechMission’s Grant Applications– 20% of Grant Application Weight: Is leadership close to the
community as reflected in their diversity profile and strategy? Use diversity profile form and grant questions
– 20% of Grant Application Weight: Is organization serving the highest risk community?
Require detailed criteria to distinguish at-risk vs. high risk, etc.
– 10% of Grant Application Weight: How closely is organization partnered with major indigenously led initiatives
Policies: Macroeconomic vs. Microeconomic Social Entrepreneurship
Social entrepreneurship and traditional nonprofit outcome measures take a microeconomic perspective focused on individual organizations
Need new measures of effectiveness that provide a macro perspective
– Need macro-tools just as social entrepreneurship brought microeconomic business tools to nonprofits
Examples of Macro Questions
Perform a study on people who made it out of poverty asking “What organizations and programs were most helpful”?
– Hypothesis: You might find that Black, Latino and lower class culture organizations and especially faith-based organizations provide 75% of life change while receiving 3% of foundation funding.
How should we allocate funding to meet the need for after school programs when demand is more than twice supply?
– Hypothesis: 75% of funding goes to middle-class organizations that have a high cost per student and only serve 25% of the population, while lower-class culture serve 75% of the remaining population at a third of the cost.
Policies: Adopt Strategies to Support Smaller Organizations
Promote strategies to support small nonprofits – View explosion in number of nonprofits as comparable to the
increase in small businesses– Funders should adopt strategies similar to those promoting
small businesses
TechMission Strategy– Online Volunteer Matching: ChristianVolunteering.org– AmeriCorps members to small organizations: TechMission
Corps– Free Grants, Jobs & Training Directories: UrbanMinistry.org
TechMission’s Dilemma
Same dilemma faced by most Black and Latino faith-based organizations– Secular funders often have a bias against lower-
class culture and faith-based organizations– Christian resources are disproportionately
distributed to White middle & upper class Christians
Funding Bias in Church Financial Resources
$390 BillionGlobal Budgets of
Christian Organizations
Sources: Empty TombInternational Bulletin of Missionary Research
Missions
Ministry to the Poor
Down from 21% in 1965
Resource Bias in Church Volunteers
Source: Corporation for National and Community Service & Department of Labor
Value of Faith-Based VolunteersIn USA = $51.8 billion
Bias in Christian Funding Models
Traditional Way to Build Large Christian Organizations– Individual-centered missionary-style fundraising with
thousands of individuals each raising funds for themselves– Provides scalability and maximizes use of personal
relationships
Problem: – Individual-centered missionary-style fundraising creates a
strong class and racial bias– Leads to staffing that is very dominated by White middle class
Diversity Profile at TechMission
What TechMission Can Uniquely Do to Address This?
Build a highly scalable organization That has values and staff that reflect the low-
income communities that we serve Provide resources to those communities Why?
– Capacity: Scalable resources from National Service Movement and Technology
– Values: Foundation in Black, Latino and Low Income Churches
Appendix
Understanding Class as Culture: Opposing/Contrasting Class Values
Non-Dominant Class ValueRelating to Others Spontaneous Relational Intense Community/Family Reliance Friendliness CooperationRelating to the World Respect for Authority/Hierarchy Patience Trauma is common Work is a Means Sharing Contentment Negative Addictions
Dominant Class ValueRelating to Others Structured order & planning Objectively Detached Reserved Self Reliance/Independence Privacy CompetitionRelating to the World Egalitarian Efficiency Trauma is avoided Work is an End/Identity Strong Property Rights Active Problem Solving “Positive” Addictions
Understanding Class as Culture: Opposing/Contrasting Class Values
Non-Dominant Class ValueThinking/Perception Subjective Qualitative Holistic Practical CommunityCommunication Honesty and Directness Oral Tradition and Storytelling Simplified/Slang Vocabulary
Dominant Class ValueThinking/Perception Objective Quantitative Analytical/Compartmentalized Theoretical IndividualCommunication Politeness and Tact Written Tradition Larger/Standardized Vocabulary
Source: http://www.urbanministry.org/reconciliation-across-social-classhttp://www.techmission.org/presentations/social_class_for_ccda_v2.ppt
Diversity in Foundations
86% of board members are White 94% of foundation presidents are White Virtually all funds come from the middle and
upper class Result: values of foundations will reflect
White upper class values
http://www.slideshare.net/rosettathurman/race-matters-in-nonprofits-promoting-diversity-in-our-profession