Latino Leadership and Giving: What Nonprofit Boards Need to Understand

Originally published September 2025. Updated September 2026.

Hispanic Heritage Month is a time to celebrate history, culture, and contribution. For nonprofit boards, it is also a time to ask two questions: Who helps lead our organizations? And whose generosity do we recognize?

Hispanic and Latino people made up 20.5% of the U.S. population in 2025. Yet Latino leaders remain underrepresented in many nonprofit boardrooms. Meanwhile, giving within Latino communities is often broader than the donations that appear in a nonprofit’s database.

If boards want to build stronger relationships with the communities they serve, they need to pay attention to both leadership and giving.

The boardroom gap

BoardSource’s 2021 Leading with Intent research found that approximately 5% of board members among surveyed organizations identified as Hispanic or Latino. A separate study, Latinos LEAD’s 2024 Boards Count! report, reviewed 1,910 selected nonprofit organizations. Latino leaders held 10.8% of the board seats counted, and 33.9% of those boards had no Latino members at all.

The studies looked at different organizations, so those percentages should not be read as a measure of progress over time. Latinos LEAD’s findings also do not represent every nonprofit board in the country. Still, they give boards reason to examine their own recruitment practices. Who gets invited to serve? Who is seen as qualified? And once someone joins, whose ideas shape the decisions?

Latino giving extends beyond the donation form

Latino communities have long practiced generosity through faith communities, mutual support, and direct help to family, friends, and neighbors. Some of that giving reaches nonprofit organizations. Some of it never shows up in charitable giving totals.

In a 2023 report on Latino philanthropy, the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and Hispanics in Philanthropy found that Latino households were more likely than non-Latino households to give informally, including direct support to people outside their households.

The report also examined older household survey data. It found that the share of Latino households giving to charitable organizations fell from 44% in 2000 to 26% in 2018. Giving to organizations declined across the broader U.S. population during that period, too. The 26% figure measures donations to charitable organizations in 2018; it does not measure every way Latino households practiced generosity, and it is not a current giving rate.

That distinction matters. If a board recognizes generosity only when it flows through its own donation system, it may overlook people who are already investing time, money, and care in their communities.

What motivates giving, and where does it go?

The Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and Hispanics in Philanthropy found that Latino donors often give in ways connected to family, faith, community, personal values, and causes that matter to them. There is no single Latino donor profile: priorities and practices vary across households and generations.

In the household data examined for the report, the leading causes for charitable giving were:

1. Religious congregations

2. Food, shelter, and other basic necessities

3. Health care and medical research

4. Education

Those were also the leading causes among non-Latino households in the study. Among the high net worth Latino donors studied separately, 53% said issues were the primary driver of their giving decisions, while 37% pointed to organizations. That finding applies to the affluent donors studied; it should not be used to describe all Latino donors.

The lesson for boards is straightforward: get to know people and what they care about. Do not assume that ethnicity alone tells you why someone gives, what cause they support, or how they want to be involved.

What stronger board leadership looks like

Representation can help a board ask better questions, recognize relationships it has overlooked, and understand how its decisions affect people. But one Latino board member cannot speak for an entire community—or serve as the board’s automatic connection to Latino donors.

Boards can start by changing their own practices:

• Recruit beyond familiar circles. Build relationships with Latino community organizations, professional networks, and leaders connected to your mission.

• Remove unnecessary barriers. Review giving requirements, meeting times, and expectations that may exclude qualified people.

• Make participation meaningful. Provide thoughtful onboarding, listen to new members, and open paths to committee and board leadership.

• Learn before asking. Invite community members and prospective donors to share their priorities. Listen without treating every conversation as a fundraising opportunity.

• Recognize many forms of generosity. Money given to a nonprofit matters, and so do volunteer time, mutual aid, mentoring, and direct support to neighbors.

Hispanic Heritage Month gives us an occasion to reflect. The work belongs on the board agenda all year.

At The Board Pro, I believe strong boards make room for people to contribute their experience, judgment, and leadership. Who is missing from your boardroom—and what might your organization learn if you built a real relationship with them?

Ready to broaden your board recruitment?

Start by looking at who is on your board, which perspectives are missing, and how you invite new leaders in. My Board Recruitment Starter Kit gives you editable tools to assess your needs, widen your outreach, and approach prospective members with intention. Explore the kit and take the first step toward building a board where everyone belongs.

Christal M. Cherry is the founder of The Board Pro, where she helps nonprofits build stronger, more inclusive boards through training, coaching, and recruitment support. Learn more at TheBoardPro.com.