A new study by researchers at the University of Michigan is blaming several major U.S. environmental organizations for not being racially diverse enough. According to the study, there are too many white people sitting on their governing boards.
“Diversity in Environmental Organizations Reporting and Transparency,” published earlier this year by Dorceta E. Taylor, a professor of environmental sociology at Michigan, analyzed more than 2,000 environmental organizations for whether their organization provided annual reports with a racial breakdown of the individual diversity data for their company. According to Taylor, the findings were deeply troubling as they indicated that less than 15 percent of all organizations surveyed actually cared enough to collect diversity data.
“For any type of diversity reporting at all, it was around 14 percent [of the groups surveyed]. When you got to reporting about the staff, that fell off to about 6 percent,” Taylor lamented. “What we’re seeing, again, to put the most charitable spin on it, it could be a matter of organizations simply not yet collecting diversity data because many nonprofits actually don’t collect that data.”
In an interview with her alma mater, Yale University, Taylor also complained about the fact that green organizations often fail to set aside enough money for diversity initiatives, and that many tell her they have devoted $0 in the budget for diversity efforts.
“Usually I’ll say to an organization, ‘How much do you have in your budget for diversity?’ And they say ‘Nothing,’” she said. “And that usually tells me they’re not very serious.”
Toward the end of her interview, Taylor also took a number of jabs at the leadership of the organizations she studied, singling out white males in particular as being a large part of the problem.
“We can look at all the white males that occupy the leadership positions of the various environmental organizations, and some don’t even have environmental degrees, yet they occupy these positions and they’re very well paid,” Taylor explained.
While it is unclear what exact qualifications are necessary to serve in leadership positions in green organizations (Al Gore has a law degree, while Tom Steyer is a hedge fund manager), it is important to remember that such organizations are often entrusted with millions of dollars in budgets, so having someone with smart business acumen may be preferential for the success of the organization.
