{"id":1089,"date":"2009-04-16T16:09:02","date_gmt":"2009-04-16T16:09:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newwf.benfredaconsulting.com\/?p=1089"},"modified":"2022-01-31T22:33:29","modified_gmt":"2022-01-31T22:33:29","slug":"diversity-is-not-a-dirty-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newwf.org\/diversity-is-not-a-dirty-word\/","title":{"rendered":"Diversity is Not a Dirty Word"},"content":{"rendered":"
The idea that charitable foundations should be required to hire more minority employees, was regrettably framed as a “threat” to philanthropy in an article in\u00a0The Economist<\/em>\u00a0a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n Specifically,\u00a0The Economist<\/em>\u00a0article deals with a recommendation from the\u00a0Greenlining Institute<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Philanthropy Roundtable<\/a>that foundations should be sensitive to diversity in the hiring of their employees. These suggestions have apparently been making their way into legislature locally and nationally over the past two years.<\/p>\n To quote one person interviewed for the article, titled\u00a0“Taking from the givers”<\/a>:<\/p>\n “Heather MacDonald of the Manhattan Institute thinks this \u201cdiversity police\u201d will discourage personal giving by diverting charities from their true objectives and will transform foundations into job-creation schemes for minorities.”<\/p>\n Surely, foundations looking to create social change ought to exemplify the conditions they wish to achieve. That is part of the philosophy we ourselves follow at the New World Foundation, where the majority of our staff and Board Members\u00a0are social justice activists themselves.<\/p>\n Here’s some data to consider:<\/p>\n While the total amount of money spent by philanthropic organizations is small relative to the GDP of the United States, the actual job production rate in the non-profit sector, which is largely sustained by philanthropy,<\/a> amounts to 9.5% of total employment. That’s 12.5<\/a> million employees. To exempt such a large workforce from the standards we apply to the economy as a whole would be high-handed and maybe even myopic.<\/p>\n To hear a call for responsible attention to such matters equated with “the diversity police”, is like a nasty echo of the labeling of feminists as\u00a0“feminazis”<\/a>. Meanwhile, it is ironic that we tolerate high levels of legacy in college admissions, but don’t jump to call them “legacy looters” or “affirmative action guerillas”.<\/p>\nLet’s begin by remembering Gandhi and his much used quote about “becoming the change we seek.”<\/h4>\n