StatsCan Releases Survey to Assess Diversity on Non-Profit Boards

To fill out the survey discussed in this excerpt, please click here.

Statistics Canada is launching its first, targeted attempt to measure diversity on governing boards in the charitable and non-profit sector. 

It will release the voluntary, crowdsourced survey – designed collaboratively with sector representatives, academics, and StatsCan staff – on December 4. The survey will be available online until the end of the month. It asks board members about socio-demographic information, including their race, gender, sexual orientation, age, immigration status, and disability. It also asks them to describe the communities they serve and whether their boards have a written policy about diversity.  

According to Larry MacNabb, a director at the federal agency, StatsCan will send the survey to as many organizations as possible, with directions to distribute it to board members. It will also share links to the survey on social media. “The more responses we get, the more confident we can be in the data,” he says. “It will help us start telling a story and do better in measuring this.” 

There is no comprehensive list of non-profits across Canada. MacNabb says his perception of diversity was challenged by “the breadth and range of the organizations. It’s a really vibrant sector.” But StatsCan identified some exclusions, including private non-profits like condo boards, for example. Only registered charities and public non-profits can access the survey.  

While this may be the first Canadian attempt to systematically gather data about the sector’s governance profile, similar surveys around the world indicate that diversity remains an issue across non-profit boards. A 2018 UK study found that 62% of the country’s top charities had all-white boards. The same year, another British group reported that only 9.6% of board trustees in major UK charities were members of ethno-cultural minorities. And a 2017 survey of the executive directors of the largest foundations and non-profits in the United States found that 87% were white. 

The timing is fortuitous, says Ratna Omidvar, a Senator who has been working closely with StatsCan to develop the survey.  

Click here to read the full article on The Philanthropist’s website