The UK’s largest 500 charities’ senior leadership teams and boards remain unrepresentative of the people they serve and employ according to a report by Inclusive Boards.
Despite women making up the majority of the third sector workforce, the Inclusive Governance Report 2022 finds that just 13% of charity Boards have achieved gender parity and 29% of charities have all white boards. Charity senior leadership teams remain behind charity Boards in terms of gender, racial and ethnic diversity.
Following the 2018 publication which found a widespread lack of diversity in the 500 largest UK charities by income, Inclusive Boards has now released the Inclusive Governance Report 2022. Four years on, this group of charities has progressed in many areas*. More women and people from minority ethnic backgrounds now sit on the UK’s largest charity Boards than ever before. However, our findings show there is still a long way to go for the UK’s largest charities to become more representative.
As a matter of social responsibility and efficacy, there has never been a more important time for the UK charity sector to open its doors to people from all backgrounds.
The full report key findings include:
- Only 13% of charity boards have gender parity
- 29% of charities have all white boards, compared to 4% of FTSE 100 boards
- 51% of charities do not have a single minority ethnic woman on their board
- Despite being the most diverse region in the UK, 6 out of the top 10 highest income boards with no minority ethnic representation are based in London
- Over 1 in 10 charities have an all-male senior leadership team