A crowdsourcing survey of individuals involved in the governance of charities and nonprofit organizations was conducted from December 4, 2020, to January 18, 2021 by Statistics Canada. The objectives of the survey were to collect timely information on the activities of these organizations and the individuals they serve and to learn more about the diversity of those who serve on their boards of directors. Statistics Canada is releasing the findings from this crowdsourcing initiative. Readers should note that, unlike data from other surveys conducted by Statistics Canada, crowdsourcing data are not collected under a design using probability-based sampling. Therefore, caution should be exercised when interpreting the findings from this initiative, and no inferences about the overall makeup of charity and non-profit organization boards of directors should be made based on these results.

Participants were asked whether their organization has a written policy on the diversity of its board of directors. Just over 30% of participants said their organization does have such a policy, while 47% said it does not. The remaining 23% did not know. Among crowdsourcing participants involved in national organizations, 42% reported that their organization has a written policy on board diversity. Proportions were slightly lower for participants involved in organizations operating at the local (27%), regional (32%), provincial or territorial (32%), or international (31%) level. Among all participants, those involved in organizations mainly engaged in sports and recreation or in religious non-profits and charities were least likely to report that their organization has a written policy on board diversity.

The median age of board members who responded to the crowdsourcing survey was 50 to 54 years; 22% were aged 65 or older. The majority of board members who responded were women (59%). This share was higher for local non-profits and charities (63%) than for national organizations (54%). Among participating board members, 14% identified as being immigrants to Canada; 11% identified as belonging to a visible minority group; 8% identified as LGBTQ2+ individuals; 6% identified as persons with a disability; and 3% identified as First Nations, Métis or Inuit.

Click here to access all the data by Statistics Canada.