BoardSource is a professional resource for board members of nonprofit organizations. It advocates for “a just world where all can thrive” and combines its professional advice with left-of-center language around diversity, inclusion, and equity.

Activities

Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity

BoardSource advocates “a just world where all can thrive” and combines its professional advice with left-of-center language around diversity, inclusion, and equity. It believes diversity, inclusion, and equity is essential to bringing about a “just world” and aims to support its client nonprofits in the development and strengthening of their programs. ¹

BoardSource claims there is “a climate of growing intolerance and inequity” challenges democracy which people in the nonprofit world must acknowledge. It claims “deeper thinking” on “the intersection of race, class, gender, and sexuality” is called for due to our “increasingly polarized society.” It claims the nonprofit sector is uniquely positioned to solve these problems and therefore has a heightened duty to analyze them and “embrace the full diversity of their community and the societal realities” that affect them. ²

To that end, it advocates for nonprofit board members to prioritize the critical race theory-influenced concept of “equity” and how equitable outcomes can be guaranteed through their decisions on the allocation of “resources and strategies.” It claims an “awareness of how systemic inequities have affected our society and those an organization serves” is a way to accomplish this. ³ Its resources include numerous booklets on methods to improve the diversity, inclusion, and equity of an organization, including “AWAKE to WOKE to WORK: Building a Race Equity Culture.” ⁴

BoardSource provides tools and resources to nonprofit boards to help them “be more intentional about board recruitment that results in diverse board composition” and to foster a greater degree of “inclusion within their boards.” BoardSource advocates for “board-level thinking about how systemic inequities impact each organization’s work,” and aims to “challenge assumptions” about what makes a strong board leader. It also spotlights boards that rigorously apply DIE principles to their boards and their organizations, celebrating them to the wider BoardSource community as exemplary. ⁵

Financials

In 2022, BoardSource reported revenue of $3,803,950, expenses of $3,996,402, and net assets of $8,174,308. In 2021, it reported revenue of $9,425,118, expenses of $3,062,594, and net assets of $8,728,787. ⁶

According to its financial statement, in 2021 BoardSource spent $1,743,064 of its budget on salaries and benefits, $313,323 on occupancy expenses, and $413,451 on consultants and professional services. The rest was spent on various costs and fees and $499,498 in “other expenses.” ⁷

Leadership

As of 2023, BoardSource’s president and CEO was Monika Karla Varma, the former executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area (LCCRSF) as well as the former director of the Center for Human Rights at the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. ⁸

As of 2023, BoardSource was chaired by Julia R. Wilson, the executive director of the John Paul Stevens Fellowship Program. Other board members included Carol A. Goss, a fellow of the Advanced Leadership Initiative Program at Harvard University; Jamie Allison, the executive director of the Walter and Elise Haas Fund; Kevin Walker, the president and CEO of Northwest Area Foundation; Sherece West-Scantlebury, the president and CEO of the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation; Kyle Caldwell, the president and CEO of the Council of Michigan Foundations; and Silvia Argueta, the executive director of Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA). ⁹

1. “Vision, Mission, and Core Values.” BoardSource. Accessed November 5, 2023. https://boardsource.org/about-boardsource/vision-mission-core-values/.
2. “BoardSource’s Commitment to Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity: For Ourselves and the Social Sector.” BoardSource. Accessed November 5, 2023. https://boardsource.org/research-critical-issues/diversity-equity-inclusion/boardsource-commitment-social-sector/.
3. “BoardSource’s Commitment to Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity: For Ourselves and the Social Sector.” BoardSource. Accessed November 5, 2023. https://boardsource.org/research-critical-issues/diversity-equity-inclusion/boardsource-commitment-social-sector/.
4. “Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity within Boards.” BoardSource. Accessed November 5, 2023. https://boardsource.org/research-critical-issues/diversity-equity-inclusion/.
5. “BoardSource’s Commitment to Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity: For Ourselves and the Social Sector.” BoardSource. Accessed November 5, 2023. https://boardsource.org/research-critical-issues/diversity-equity-inclusion/boardsource-commitment-social-sector/.
6. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). BoardSource. 2022. Part I. Lines 12, 18, 22.
7. “Financial Statements – Years Ended December 31, 2022 and 2021.” BoardSource. Accessed November 5, 2023. https://boardsource.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/2022-BoardSource-Audit.pdf.
8. Monika Karla Varma.” BoardSource. Accessed November 5, 2023. https://boardsource.org/monika-varma/.
9. “Board of Directors.” BoardSource. Accessed November 5, 2023. https://boardsource.org/about-boardsource/board-of-directors/.