A report on charitable foundations has found particularly “poor performance” in the organisations’ diversity practices.
The Foundation Practice Rating (FPR) report rated UK trusts using a point-based system on their diversity, accountability and transparency with ‘A’ being the highest and ‘D’ the lowest.
Zero out of 100 foundations surveyed scored an A on diversity within their organisation while 48 scored the lowest mark of D.
This is much lower than the other pillars reported on, with 57 foundations scoring an A for transparency and 19 for accountability.
Lowest scores on diversity
The FPR project, now in its second year, was created by Friends Provident Foundation and the research was carried out by Giving Evidence.
Foundations’ average grade on diversity for both years of the study was D, near the border for C.
The number of foundations that scored zero for diversity was 22. This has increased since year one, when 16 foundations scored zero.
Comparatively, no foundations scored zero in the accountability pillar, and only four scored zero in transparency.
More foundations received a B grade for diversity in the second year of this ranking (from 3 to 8), but there were also more foundations that scored a D in this area (from 45 to 48).
The research report authors wrote: “Though many foundations had diversity statements, stating that they have a commitment to equality and diversity within their organisations and in their funding, very few had a diversity plan with targets.
“Across the foundations assessed in year two, 14 had diversity plans for their staff (as in year one), yet only two of these contained any specific targets for gender, ethnicity or disability. 15 foundations had a diversity plan for their trustees (up from 10 in year one), but none had a diversity plan with specific diversity targets for its trustees for gender, ethnicity or disability.”
Speaking to Governance & Leadership magazine recently, Thrisha Haldar, lead executive at the Indigo Trust, which now funds the FPR, says she was surprised at her trust’s low rating for diversity, given it has a board with several non-family members and her own background. “However, the FPR’s methodology shone a light on where we could be clear about our strategy on diversity and set targets by which to measure our progress. We are working on these but we haven’t published our approach yet. This is an area we can certainly improve on.”
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