Inclusive Boards

Inclusive Boards has a mission to support sectors, organisations and individuals with efforts to become more inclusive. More than 90% of revenue is derived from organisations operating in the third and public sectors. Since its founding, it has worked with over 300 organisations at board level and publishes authoritative diversity data for different industry sectors. It has a network of more than 60,000 diverse leaders.

• Inclusive Boards has 77% of its client base in the third sector, where organisations have a strong social, cultural or environmental mission, such as Guide Dogs UK. It began publishing data of the UK’s top 500 charities in 2017 for board and leadership teams, priding itself as being the only organisation to collect this data about the charity sector.
• The work has allowed clients and the sector to understand that leadership falls short when it comes to representation at the senior level. These statistics have improved in the six years since 2017. The Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) was an initial respondent in 2017, and over this period its board representation of people from ethnic minority backgrounds has increased from 8% to 18%. 
• More than 60% of Inclusive Boards’ placements are women, with more than 40% from a minority ethnic background. One in five of its placements identify as disabled, and 15% are in the LGBTQ community.
• Inclusive Boards’ 2022 report found that 29% of Trustee Boards are all white, improving from 2018 when the percentage of all-white boards stood at 62%. The work has also gained significant press attention including coverage in: Third Sector, Civil Society and Charity Times furthering its reach and impact. Leading industry advocates focusing on inclusion in the sector have referenced the work, such as Charity So White and Getting on Board.

Judges’ comments 

“The judges were extremely impressed by ‘The Charities Inclusive Governance Report 2022’. Inclusive Boards identified 9,763 individuals on the senior leadership teams and trustee boards of the UK’s top 500 charities by income. Then it identified intersectional barriers – like how women from minority ethnic backgrounds experience discrimination on multiple fronts – and reported these statistics. The judges noted that this work allowed both its clients and the wider sector to understand and appreciate the fact that leadership in the third sector falls short when it comes to representation at the senior level. The judges applauded the organisation’s groundbreaking research and transformation activity.”