Southern California Grantmaker Presentation Race to Lead: The Racial Leadership Gap in the Golden State

Southern California Grantmakers is pleased to partner with the Building Movement Project to discuss the findings from their recently released Race to Lead report which explores the nonprofit racial leadership gap in California. To view the report, please click here.
The results call into question the common assumption that to increase the diversity of nonprofit leaders, people of color need more training. The findings point to a new narrative. To increase the number of people of color leaders, the nonprofit sector needs to address the practices and biases of those governing nonprofit organizations. Rather than focus on the perceived deficits of potential leaders of color, the sector should concentrate on educating nonprofit decision-makers on the issues of race equity and implicit bias accompanied by changes in action leading to measurable results. This transfers the responsibility for the racial leadership gap from those who are targeted (people of color) to those who oversee organizations as well as the sector overall, which needs to embrace systems change work to ensure that its policies, practices, and culture are aligned with the values of diversity, inclusion and equity.

Presentation of California’s Race to Lead by:

Frances Kunreuther, Co-Director, Building Movement Project
Sean Thomas-Breitfeld, Co-Director, Building Movement Project

Panel Discussion:

Kafi Blumenfield, Trustee of The James Irvine Foundation and Tides
Wendy Chang, Director of Dwight Stuart Youth Foundation
Alberto Retana, President & CEO of Community Coalition
Mari Riddle, Executive Director of Grand Performances