Series - Editorial Fellowship: Transforming Funding Models

Who stewards 10 of Canada’s biggest community foundations’ investments? Mostly white men in finance

Author Gabe Oatley
A Future of Good analysis found that the members of the investment committees of Canada’s largest community foundations are disproportionately systemically advantaged by race, gender and occupation.

Why It Matters

Canadian foundations invest far more money each year than they grant out to charities. This means that their volunteer ‘investment committees’ — the group that oversees the foundation’s investment decisions — play a considerable role in the overall impact the foundation has. Some social impact leaders say that the “monocultural” nature of these committees is limiting their capacity to create systemic impact.

This story is part of the Future of Good editorial fellowship covering the social impact world’s rapidly changing funding models, supported by Community Foundations of Canada and United Way Centraide Canada. 

If you’ve ever sat on a board, you know that committees are where the action happens. It’s for this reason, non-profit leaders say, that having a diversity of committee members’ viewpoints matters.  

Within the last two years, several new reports have highlighted the diversity gap facing the non-profit sector. Yet, to date, no research has assessed the diversity of foundation investment committees — the body with the greatest month-to-month o

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