Latino representation lags on Sacramento nonprofit leadership boards, study says
Sacramento’s non-profit sector lacks Latino leadership, despite the relatively diverse population of the River City.
That’s according to a six-month study from Latinos LEAD, a Los Angeles-based non-profit organization.
Research found that Latinos consist of 10% of the board members at 103 organizations spanning Sacramento, Roseville and Folsom. In nearly 40%, or 41, of the boards, there were no Latinos.
Sacramento has approximately 388,000 Latinos, which represent about 29% of the region’s population. The population is expected to grow 14% by 2040.
Patrick Salazar, Latinos LEAD founder, called the report an opportunity to provide a “level of transparency.” He said the under-representation deprives the Latino community of volunteer energy and charitable giving support — resources crucial to sustainability.
At a briefing Tuesday afternoon, Salazar said the gap is significant.
Salazar said this discrepancy is “not a new challenge, nor merely about marking a ‘checkbox.’” He is pushing for executive recruiting models, changing board cultures and hiring practices and governance training.
“Funding sources, strategic allies and the public at large should be very concerned when Latinos–stakeholders who make up a large proportion of a nonprofit’s operating region, revenue source, and program base are sidelined from an organization’s board, its most powerful governance level,” Salazar said.
How the study was conducted
To conduct the study, Latinos LEAD examined board surnames through the websites of nonprofit organizations along with public IRS returns. It then measured surnames using a U.S. Census Bureau Hispanic probability table, which assigns a percentage to hundreds of Hispanic surnames.
Latinos LEAD cautioned against calling the research a “full-fledged empirical study,” and labeled it more as a “slice in time.”
Researchers assigned Latino heritage if the surname had a more than a 50% probability of being Hispanic. In cases where Latino heritage could not be determined, they searched up public bios.
The research goes beyond Sacramento, examining 1,465 organizations located in 19 U.S. major metropolitan areas with a minimum Latino population of 20%. In total, 33% of nonprofits lack Latinos in governing positions.
“Nonprofit board members are responsible for the communities they serve; who they are matters and it has a huge impact in how resources are distributed equitably to address issues,” said Julian Canete, president of the California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Latinos LEAD plans to conduct this study annually to measure progress. If any non-profit organizations have since adjusted their boards, Latinos LEAD encouraged them to reach out.
Recent studies show Latinos are largely underrepresented in several sectors.
Last year in August, the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute published a report on Latino under-representation in executive appointments in California state government.
That same month, the Latino Corporate Directors Association released a study showing that Latinos have the widest representation gap of any ethnic group among corporate leaders.
This story was originally published March 7, 2023 at 6:55 PM with the headline "Latino representation lags on Sacramento nonprofit leadership boards, study says."
