DEI’s Danger to Nonprofits

Since 2020, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) has been transformed from what was basically a leftist academic theory into a protest. “These are now fighting words,” writes Greg Berman in The Nonprofit Crisis: Leadership Through the Culture Wars. In the book, he offers incisive, crosscutting critiques of the nonprofit sector, describing well-intentioned but disruptive “younger employees actively revolting against leadership that they view as racist, sexist, autocratic, and out-of-touch.” He laments that because of their politicization, nonprofits have become “both victims and purveyors of polarization.” From across the ideological spectrum, a “powerful DEI backlash has emerged that shows little sign of abating soon.”