The Conference Board’s “Corporate Racial Equality Investments—One Year Later” handily refutes assertions or suggestions made by some organizations and the media that companies’ financial commitments made after the George Floyd killing to address racial inequalities were insincere or ineffective based on its recent research, which revealed:
- Decisions to take action were typically made at the senior management or leadership (board) level.
- The chief reason for companies’ financial commitments or donations was alignment with company values (84%), followed by the ability to make an enduring change (51%).
- More than 40% of companies had no specific time frame associated with their financial commitment or donation; an additional 10% of commitments were for more than five years.
- Nearly half of companies say that it is too soon to know how successful their efforts have been in addressing the intended racial inequality issues as compared to expectations.
The report astutely observes that “much of the criticism [of companies’ commitments and associated progress] misses the mark, as it fails to appreciate what it takes for a company to commit to, design, implement, and monitor multimillion dollar programs to address social problems.”
Watch for an update of the Society/Deloitte: Board Practices Quarterly: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, which addressed how companies and boards responded and planned to respond to the landmark events of 2020 surrounding systemic racism and racial equality – coming soon! Access additional resources on our Racial Equality & Diversity page.
This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!