Doing More With Less: Racial Diversity in Nonprofit Leadership and Organizational Resilience

Racial diversity in nonprofit leadership presents a variety of benefits crucial for responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, leadership remains predominately white. Practitioner-oriented studies decry racial disparities in nonprofit funding, but academic literature offers mixed conclusions on...

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Main Author: Steven Mumford
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Midwest Public Affairs Conference 2022-03-01
Series:Journal of Public and Nonprofit Affairs
Subjects:
Online Access:http://jpna.org/index.php/jpna/article/view/624
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author Steven Mumford
author_facet Steven Mumford
author_sort Steven Mumford
collection DOAJ
description Racial diversity in nonprofit leadership presents a variety of benefits crucial for responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, leadership remains predominately white. Practitioner-oriented studies decry racial disparities in nonprofit funding, but academic literature offers mixed conclusions on how diversity influences resource acquisition. This article examines associations between racial composition of nonprofit leadership and organizational resilience to the pandemic, based on a survey of New Orleans-based nonprofits in winter 2021. Logistic regressions assess whether leadership diversity increases the likelihood of organizational resilience in both service delivery and financial health, finding that greater board diversity is associated with targeted programming and advocacy to support racially diverse communities, and expanded service delivery. However, greater Black board representation is associated with lack of reserves, threatening financial sustainability. The analysis uncovers disparate effects of racial diversity on resilience for service delivery versus finances, suggesting diverse nonprofits are “doing more with less” in response to the pandemic.
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spelling doaj.art-f9980ad05ff84b4791b70b2d291baf672022-12-21T23:53:56ZengMidwest Public Affairs ConferenceJournal of Public and Nonprofit Affairs2381-37172022-03-0110.20899/jpna.8.1.1-29Doing More With Less: Racial Diversity in Nonprofit Leadership and Organizational ResilienceSteven Mumford0University of New Orleans Racial diversity in nonprofit leadership presents a variety of benefits crucial for responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, leadership remains predominately white. Practitioner-oriented studies decry racial disparities in nonprofit funding, but academic literature offers mixed conclusions on how diversity influences resource acquisition. This article examines associations between racial composition of nonprofit leadership and organizational resilience to the pandemic, based on a survey of New Orleans-based nonprofits in winter 2021. Logistic regressions assess whether leadership diversity increases the likelihood of organizational resilience in both service delivery and financial health, finding that greater board diversity is associated with targeted programming and advocacy to support racially diverse communities, and expanded service delivery. However, greater Black board representation is associated with lack of reserves, threatening financial sustainability. The analysis uncovers disparate effects of racial diversity on resilience for service delivery versus finances, suggesting diverse nonprofits are “doing more with less” in response to the pandemic. http://jpna.org/index.php/jpna/article/view/624Nonprofit LeadershipRacial DiversityOrganizational ResilienceCOVID-19 PandemicRacial Funding Gap
spellingShingle Steven Mumford
Doing More With Less: Racial Diversity in Nonprofit Leadership and Organizational Resilience
Journal of Public and Nonprofit Affairs
Nonprofit Leadership
Racial Diversity
Organizational Resilience
COVID-19 Pandemic
Racial Funding Gap
title Doing More With Less: Racial Diversity in Nonprofit Leadership and Organizational Resilience
title_full Doing More With Less: Racial Diversity in Nonprofit Leadership and Organizational Resilience
title_fullStr Doing More With Less: Racial Diversity in Nonprofit Leadership and Organizational Resilience
title_full_unstemmed Doing More With Less: Racial Diversity in Nonprofit Leadership and Organizational Resilience
title_short Doing More With Less: Racial Diversity in Nonprofit Leadership and Organizational Resilience
title_sort doing more with less racial diversity in nonprofit leadership and organizational resilience
topic Nonprofit Leadership
Racial Diversity
Organizational Resilience
COVID-19 Pandemic
Racial Funding Gap
url http://jpna.org/index.php/jpna/article/view/624
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