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July 10, 2019

New research shows a glaring lack of transparency in environmental organizations

Credit: University of Michigan
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Credit: University of Michigan

New research finds that environmental organizations are still reluctant to release data or report on the gender, race and LGBTQ composition of their staff.

In a study conducted by Dorceta Taylor of the University of Michigan's School for Environment and Sustainability, initial findings reveal that environmental organizations are generally hesitant to make their demographic and diversity data public.

Taylor and her team studied more than 12,000 environmental organizations of different sizes and types in all U.S. states and territories to find out whether they reported information about the demographic characteristics of their on public platforms like GuideStar.

"Environmental organizations lack racial diversity and little information is publicly available on the demographic characteristics of these institutions," Taylor said. "An important step in creating more diverse and inclusive environmental organizations is to be transparent about the status of diversity within this sector of the workforce."

When Taylor released the report, "The State of Diversity in Environmental Organizations: Mainstream NGOs, Foundations, and Government Agencies," in 2014, she and Green 2.0, an initiative focused on increasing racial diversity across mainstream environmental NGOs, foundations and , called for increased transparency about and reporting on the demographic characteristics of environmental organizations. Green 2.0 collaborated with GuideStar to make such reporting a part of the profile that environmental nonprofits put on the GuideStar platform.

Credit: University of Michigan
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Credit: University of Michigan

Five years later, Taylor finds a "pervasive culture of secrecy that leads most environmental organizations to keep demographic information private or hidden behind a veil of ignorance by claiming that they do not collect demographic data about their employees."

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Some of the early findings of the 2019 study, presented earlier this year in Chicago at the New Horizons in Conservation conference, include:

Credit: University of Michigan
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Credit: University of Michigan
Credit: University of Michigan
× close
Credit: University of Michigan
Credit: University of Michigan
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Credit: University of Michigan

More information: The State of Diversity in Environmental Organizations: Mainstream NGOs, Foundations, and Government Agencies:

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