Opinion: Diversity Bill a Threat to Charity

Legislation passed by the California Assembly — and due for a vote in the Senate early next month — “poses an enormous threat to philanthropy in this country,” writes Heather R. Higgins, a board member of the Philanthropy Roundtable, in an opinion article in The Wall Street Journal.

In its efforts to promote diversity, the bill would require California foundations with $250-million in assets to report the ethnic and gender makeup of their boards and staffs, the boards and staffs of the charities they support, and the degree to which they are led by or finance projects to benefit minorities.

However, Ms. Higgins says the legislation would result in less money and more bureaucratic headaches for charities served by charitable foundations. What’s more, she says it is a back-door attempt to institute quotas as a means of pressuring charities to meet “diversity” standards out of fear. “The bill creates the opportunity for grandstanding, public-relations shakedowns, and litigation,” she writes.

Read two of the most recent opinion articles The Chronicle has published on the controversial legislation: Mark Rosenman argues why the bill won’t achieve real diversity, and Pablo Eisenberg says it is worth passing.