What the 2024 DAPP findings reveal about workforce diversity in philanthropy

CHANGE Philanthropy’s 2024 Diversity Among Philanthropic Professionals (DAPP) report suggests a growing trend: Workforce diversity at foundations is up, but a significant share of less diverse funders are choosing to step back from diversity efforts. This growing divide has implications for how nonprofits assess funder transparency, culture, and alignment.

Is political pressure making foundations cautious about workforce diversity? 

CHANGE Philanthropy executive director Alice Y. Hom notes in the report that even by mid-2024, when the survey was fielded, some funders had begun retreating from diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in both language and practice, driven by fears of lawsuits and state legislation.

“The skewed response to DAPP shows that these attacks are having a chilling effect,” Hom said. “[S]ome funders were already starting to get cautious about racial justice and diversity in the wake of the Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision and the Fearless Fund lawsuit. Things have likely only gotten worse this past year.”

The report notes that even participating in a demographic survey can be polarizing. While some foundations took part in both the 2022 and 2024 surveys, others that participated in 2022 chose to opt out in 2024. Notably, those foundations with less workforce diversity were much more likely to step back from participating. 

“We always worked to cast a wide net, but DAPP has generally had a base of respondents that’s more diverse than what you see in the Council on Foundations’ workforce survey,” said report co-author Ben Francisco Maulbeck. “But we’d never seen a divergence this wide before.” 

Are some foundations giving up on tracking diversity data? 

Foundations that took part in both 2022 and 2024 averaged 54% representation of people of color, compared with 34% among foundations that opted out in 2024. Similarly, continuing participants averaged higher representation of LGBTQIA individuals (30% vs. 16%) and people with disabilities (26% vs. 21%). At the same time, the 2024 data reflect some of the highest levels of representation across multiple identities since DAPP began in 2018.

“These differences were significant at the 95% confidence level—and are astonishingly large,” Maulbeck said. “It means a larger pattern is influencing institutional behavior. My worry is that the current climate has become so hostile to diversity that many institutions are giving up on tracking diversity altogether.” 

“We can’t address racial disparities if we can’t talk about racial disparities,” Hom said. 

Workforce diversity is up but progress is uneven 

The 2024 data also points to growing workforce diversity: People of color accounted for 54.8% of responding foundations’ employees, a 12.5 percentage point increase over 2022, with Asian, Black/African American, and multiracial individuals showing the largest gains. LGBTQIA representation increased from 12.1% in 2022 to 17.9% in 2024, with the most significant growth in the South, where representation rose from 9.8% to 31.4%. The share of respondents identifying as people with disabilities also increased, reaching 31% nationwide.

Meanwhile, patterns in who chose to disclose certain identities highlight complex workplace dynamics. While more respondents were willing to self-identify their race or ethnicity, only 10.3% of individuals with disabilities felt comfortable sharing their disability with most of their colleagues. 

“For years, I didn’t mention my chronic condition, or I’d bring it up sheepishly and belatedly,” Maulbeck said. “Now, particularly as a leader in the field, I try to bring it up early and often—and hopefully create space for others to do the same.” 

“It means foundations can and must do a lot more work to create workplaces where people feel able to bring their full selves to work—particularly for people with disabilities. And if you don’t even know about a disability, then you can’t make the appropriate accommodations for it,” Hom added. 

The report also highlights ongoing disparities in diversity in higher-level positions, where diversity decreased. Maulbeck noted marginalized communities still struggled with representation in supervisory and board roles.

What can nonprofits learn from this diversity data? 

From a nonprofit perspective, foundation participation in DAPP can serve as one indicator of institutional values and transparency. Foundations that participated consistently reported higher levels of workforce diversity, suggesting they are more willing to share demographic data and engage in collective learning. Public foundations, in particular, are the most diverse, with people of color comprising 62.3% of their workforce. 

“I wouldn’t over-interpret it, but DAPP gets a high level of participation from a set of public foundations that have a strong social justice focus and tend to be very diverse,” Hom said. “Some are also funders with a strong track record of supporting grassroots social justice nonprofits.” 

Anonymous, third-party surveys can also surface identities and experiences internal HR systems often miss, while looking beyond headline numbers reveals where power sits—and where leadership pipelines may be weakening. 

“If you’re not tracking diversity, you can’t tell if you’re making progress,” Maulbeck said. 

Why transparency in workforce data matters 

The 2024 DAPP report suggests diverging trends in demographic data sharing within the sector. These findings may help nonprofits assess alignment with funders on transparency and inclusivity.  

“We’re worried about all the foundations that opted out of DAPP, about all those that aren’t even participating in conversations about diversity and creating a welcoming workplace,” said Hom. “And only more so now, with the rising attempts to repress meaningful conversations about the work of fostering inclusive workplaces.” 

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