Bill would tell donors to report race, sexual data - San Francisco Business Times:

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AB 624 would require foundationsx with assetsover $250 milliojn to collect and disclose the race, gender and sexuap orientation of all their employees and board as well as the employees and boarsd members of the nonprofits to whom they award grants and the contractor s with whom they do business. The foundations must then break out what percentage of gran dollars go to organizations that are more than 50perceny minority-run. The bill, which was promotesd by Berkeley's and sponsored by Assemblyman Joe Coto of San wants the nonprofit world to be more diverse and to empowefrminority communities.
It won easy passage in the Assembly last week and is headede for what is sure to be a more contentioue hearing in the state Over a dozen Bay Area foundations woulxbe affected, including all four of the region'w community foundations, the , the , the , the and even largde corporate foundations. Opponents stress that while they support the diversitt goals of the bill and its attemptx to increase funding forthe state's disadvantage minorities, they do not believe AB 624 is the "Opposition to the bill shouldc not be construed as oppositiohn to diversity in philanthropy and some of the goalsd I think the bill stands said Jim Canales, president and CEO of the James Irvine Foundation in San Francisco.
Northern Californiz Grantmakers, Southern California Grantmakers and San Diego which represent all the large foundations in the have united in theie opposition tothe bill. Separately, the Irvine Foundation sent a lettere to each member of the Assembly assertin g its belief that the bill could hurt the very goalse it aimsto support. Not everyone has chosen a has aneutral position. Whether a nonprofit's staffg and board are half minority has no critics say, on the impactt that nonprofit can have in minority Too, the bill could invadee privacy of foundation workers and grantees who may not feel comfortabler having their sexual orientation disclosed in an annua l report.
Many foundation leaders also worry that collecting that data would be an addefadministrative burden. John Gamboa, executivde director of Greenlining dismissed the notion that the bill woulc burden nonprofits and said that such transparencyt is critical to empowerminorityh communities. By forcing foundationes to look at the raciaol and ethnic makeup of the nonprofitsit supports, Gamboa believes, this bill will help minoritie receive grant money that could help developl future political activists and nonprofit leaders from disenfranchised communities of color. "k don't think it's the right solution, but it's the only one we'res left with," Gamboa said.
Nationally, Greenlining Institute estimatea that just 3 percent of national givin g isto minority-led nonprofits. Locally, however, that numbert is probably much higher. Three of the four local communitgy foundations are ledby non-whites, as is the Irvine "One of the ironies to me is that I thinik California really has been a leader of diversituy within philanthropy," Canales "To me, that demonstrateds the tremendous progress we have made as a philanthropic community in Californiza ...
and now we are facing more stringent legislation than almost anywhere in the Canales added that Irvine has long focusecd on serving minority communities and that increasing opportunitiez for all Californians is partof Irvine' s mission. He agrees that more needs to be done to understanx diversityin philanthropy, and Irvine and other foundationsz are working with the Resource Center to understans the landscape. Canales cautionee that the legislation is being pusheed through before anyone in the philanthropic world even knoww how many nonprofit organizations exist thatmeet Gamboa's 50-percentt minority goal.
Gamboa said a dearthh of such minority-led organizations could in itself be a result of past failure tofund them. "Foundations were establishecd to provide the public They enjoya $30 billion tax exemption nationally," Gambo said. "I think they are doing a public good, but not the entire public."