California Bill Pending to Force Disclosure of Large Foundation Staff, Board and Grantee Demographics

Inside Bay Area reports on the continuing battle over the bill (Assembly Bill 624, as amended in the Senate) originally introduced by California Assemblyman Joe Coto, D-San Jose that would require California’s largest foundations to post the composition of their staffs and boards on their Web sites.  The postings would be required to include racial, gender, and sexual orientation demographics.  If enacted, the new requirement would only apply to foundations with assets of more than $250 million, but this group would include such well known foundations as the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Covered foundations would also have to provide information about the number of grants and percentage of grant dollars awarded to organizations with members of minority groups on their boards or staffs.  The article credits the nonprofit Greenlining Institute with sponsoring and writing the first draft of the bill in response to research that found less than 4 percent of grant dollars from the nation’s top 24 private foundations went to minority-led organizations in 2006.  The bill passed the California Assembly and is now pending in a California Senate committee after being amended last month.  For more information, see the complete legislative history to date.

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