Report: Racial inequity, gender pay gaps common at N.J. nonprofits

A Center for Non-Profits report says New Jersey’s nonprofits lack racial diversity and while women are running more and more organizations, they lag in pay compared to males.

(Center for Non-Profits Diversity Equity Report)

(Center for Non-Profits Diversity Equity Report)

New Jersey’s nonprofits lack racial diversity and frequently pay high-level women employees less than their male counterparts, according to a report released Friday.

“There’s enough information here that is pretty telling and, in some cases, pretty disturbing,” said Linda Czipo, president and CEO of the Mercerville-based Center for Non-Profits.

The survey of 204 nonprofit organizations in New Jersey found that 79% of chief executives and board members were white, compared with 64% of nonprofit personnel overall. Despite that, the racial composition of nonprofits was still more diverse than the overall state adult population.

That was in line with national studies that have shown diversity gaps in the highest levels of nonprofit organizations, the report said.

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Yet 47% of New Jersey nonprofits said they did not specifically address diversity in their bylaws, and few respondents claimed they had any requirements for diverse representation on their boards.

Czipo said it was crucial for nonprofits to better reflect the populations they serve in order to fulfill their community-focused missions.

“More diverse entities are more successful — financially, programatically, and otherwise,” she said. “the same would be true for the nonprofit community.”

Although the survey focused on racial diversity, it also found gender inequities in the Garden State’s nonprofit world.

More than two-thirds of nonprofit chief executives were female, the report said, but that percentage shrunk as organizations got larger. Among the 11 nonprofits with budgets larger than $10 million, only three had female CEOs.

There was also a stark pay disparity between men and women who serve in high-level roles.

Female CEOs and deputy directors made far less than their male counterparts. But the pay gap was the worst for chief financial officers: women in this role made 38% less than men.

Bucking the trend, female chief operating officers made 9% more than their male counterparts, the survey found.

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