The Existential Life

Apparently, it doesn’t matter who we are. For weeks now, I’ve been scouring the internet – and even making calls! – looking for demographic information about all us 9 million or so folks who call nonprofits hell home. My sense is that the majority of us are college-educated white women, but my sense also landed me dating three clinically depressed musicians in a row -- so clearly there’s some work to do. And, besides, word is that I’m supposed to really know my audience if I’m trying to make a website work.

Well, my search for stats about us has failed. But I did find demographics about who volunteers most with nonprofits. And the We Really Don’t Get Paid award goes to…. white married college-educated mothers between 35 and 44. 

I don’t know how many of these volunteers are stay-at-home moms, but maybe I should start planning a website for them instead of us. MILV: Mothers I'd Like to Volunteer. 

This whole DemographyGate shocks and insults me a little. If I’ve learned anything from nonprofits and the media, it’s that everything can be manipulated into numbers. So why not us?

Here me out, census bureau and statistically-undefined crowd: I want to be counted, if only because the picture of the nonprofit sector is often white women helping minorities. White women are lovely – I happen to be one of them – but it’s worth figuring out the barriers that stop men and minorities from nonprofit work. It’s not tokenism I’m talking about – it’s bringing our work toward equality and justice back inside the office. At least there we can count.