Why are international development orgs all white?

[Anonymous]

https://twitter.com/ChelseaClinton/status/638840537685037056

example of a rich white girl trying to help the poors.

its all a PR stunt.

[Anonymous]

Like pp, I think part of it is the ability to live on an NGO salary in an expensive city. I worked at an NGO in NY right out of college. I made under $30k like other entry level employees. I had two other jobs to make ends meet and lived with multiple roommates.


My more privileged colleagues either lived with mommy/daddy in a fancy address or lived in a parent-funded apartment in Manhattan. Our office was in SoHo and they would spend lunches boutique shopping.

I think they did care about the cause, but they didn't have the same "can I pay my rent" fears that I had. Idealism goes a lot farther when you don't have to worry about paying for your next meal and your parents friends can write big checks for the cause.

I left non-profits for a more profitable path. A lot of them are still working at NGOs while enjoying the perks of wealth.

[Anonymous]

It's what hip white millennials do, so get over it.

[Anonymous]

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/01/21/12-non-profit-organizations/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Like pp, I think part of it is the ability to live on an NGO salary in an expensive city. I worked at an NGO in NY right out of college. I made under $30k like other entry level employees. I had two other jobs to make ends meet and lived with multiple roommates.


My more privileged colleagues either lived with mommy/daddy in a fancy address or lived in a parent-funded apartment in Manhattan. Our office was in SoHo and they would spend lunches boutique shopping.

I think they did care about the cause, but they didn't have the same "can I pay my rent" fears that I had. Idealism goes a lot farther when you don't have to worry about paying for your next meal and your parents friends can write big checks for the cause.

I left non-profits for a more profitable path. A lot of them are still working at NGOs while enjoying the perks of wealth.

It's also easier to get a foot in the door through an unpaid internship when your parents cover your expenses. I have to wonder if people who don't really have any concerns about paying their bills can understand the problems they're working to solve regarding poverty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:why are humanitarian and international development organizations staffed almost exclusively by white people?

i've been working in the development community for the past five years and im surprised by how all the jobs are held by white rich trust fund girls. it kind of baffles me because these are the most privileged people and they're trying to tweet about female maternal mortality in Kenya or India. The whole thing seems to fake to me.

Before smart blacks prefer to make money as doctors or lawyers rather than helping people in faraway places.

[Anonymous]

Gee. I thought I was the only one who noticed. 99% of senior positions are held by old white people. When you are an expat working in international development, it is usually 100% white.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like pp, I think part of it is the ability to live on an NGO salary in an expensive city. I worked at an NGO in NY right out of college. I made under $30k like other entry level employees. I had two other jobs to make ends meet and lived with multiple roommates.


My more privileged colleagues either lived with mommy/daddy in a fancy address or lived in a parent-funded apartment in Manhattan. Our office was in SoHo and they would spend lunches boutique shopping.

I think they did care about the cause, but they didn't have the same "can I pay my rent" fears that I had. Idealism goes a lot farther when you don't have to worry about paying for your next meal and your parents friends can write big checks for the cause.

I left non-profits for a more profitable path. A lot of them are still working at NGOs while enjoying the perks of wealth.

It's also easier to get a foot in the door through an unpaid internship when your parents cover your expenses. I have to wonder if people who don't really have any concerns about paying their bills can understand the problems they're working to solve regarding poverty.

Exactly.

[Anonymous]

Int'l jobs actually pay very well once you move up the chain. Most of the people are very well compensated unless you're talking about intro jobs for non-profits. but companies like DAI? People are making as much as consultants.

As far why they are mostly white, I'm sure there are lots of reasons. Many people are motivated by social justice values. But you can choose to be cynical and think it's because they have trust funds, but that's ridiculous and you obviously know very few people.

[Anonymous]

Wow, a lot of small kernels of truth in these posts mixed in with some sweeping overgeneralizations. Agree with a lot of what PP with 12 years exp said, but wanted to share my 2 cents. I work in international dev as well, mostly focused on environment so a bit of an offshoot of traditional development. I agree that many of these organizations are extremely white and that our lack of diversity is a problem.

However, all of these assumptions about trust fund babies, parents footing bills for unpaid interns, and being motivated by guilt are pretty big assumptions. Those situations are out there, for sure, but in my experience this has been the exception rather than the rule. I grew up very much lower middle class, raised by a single mother to several children who sacrificed and scrimped and lived paycheck to paycheck, sometimes borrowing our Christmas money from grandparents to get the bills paid. I worked my ass off in high school and got a great scholarship to a private school I could not have otherwise attended. After college I worked for a few years, 2 jobs for part of that time. I went to an Ivy League grad school at the top of my field and then landed a paid internship at my dream organization. It paid just enough for me to pay rent and I freelanced editing work on the side, working 60 hours a week, until I got a full time position at said dream organization. Years later I'm still there and have been promoted a few times. I don't make great money actually, but it's solid and I make ends meet and yes have managed to rack up some frequent flyer miles. My benefits are very good and although I work a ton of hours, I love what I do.

I know people hear I went to an Ivy League school and see where I am now and assume I must have had a trust fund. I think I had a lot more opportunities than most people in this world and am grateful for that, but it pisses me off when people assume I must have had all of this handed to me. I will add that most of my colleagues seem to come from comfortable but not wealthy backgrounds. I do strongly agree that our field, like many out there, would benefit from more diversity of all forms including socioeconomic diversity, but the implication that I cannot empathize with someone who does not share my skin color or that I do what i do out of some sense of guilt is offensive and wrong.

[Anonymous]

? I work for one of the biggest nonprofit development orgs in DC and we are incredibly diverse. OP, which orgs are you talking about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, a lot of small kernels of truth in these posts mixed in with some sweeping overgeneralizations. Agree with a lot of what PP with 12 years exp said, but wanted to share my 2 cents. I work in international dev as well, mostly focused on environment so a bit of an offshoot of traditional development. I agree that many of these organizations are extremely white and that our lack of diversity is a problem.

However, all of these assumptions about trust fund babies, parents footing bills for unpaid interns, and being motivated by guilt are pretty big assumptions. Those situations are out there, for sure, but in my experience this has been the exception rather than the rule. I grew up very much lower middle class, raised by a single mother to several children who sacrificed and scrimped and lived paycheck to paycheck, sometimes borrowing our Christmas money from grandparents to get the bills paid. I worked my ass off in high school and got a great scholarship to a private school I could not have otherwise attended. After college I worked for a few years, 2 jobs for part of that time. I went to an Ivy League grad school at the top of my field and then landed a paid internship at my dream organization. It paid just enough for me to pay rent and I freelanced editing work on the side, working 60 hours a week, until I got a full time position at said dream organization. Years later I'm still there and have been promoted a few times. I don't make great money actually, but it's solid and I make ends meet and yes have managed to rack up some frequent flyer miles. My benefits are very good and although I work a ton of hours, I love what I do.

I know people hear I went to an Ivy League school and see where I am now and assume I must have had a trust fund. I think I had a lot more opportunities than most people in this world and am grateful for that, but it pisses me off when people assume I must have had all of this handed to me. I will add that most of my colleagues seem to come from comfortable but not wealthy backgrounds. I do strongly agree that our field, like many out there, would benefit from more diversity of all forms including socioeconomic diversity, but the implication that I cannot empathize with someone who does not share my skin color or that I do what i do out of some sense of guilt is offensive and wrong.

You work for an environmental organization. Totally different motive there. I think that the OP was referring to Non-profits that work to diminish poverty overseas.

[Anonymous]

I work for one such agency. We hire almost exclusively out of the very top schools. Those schools are still, sadly, mostly white. That's your answer right there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, a lot of small kernels of truth in these posts mixed in with some sweeping overgeneralizations. Agree with a lot of what PP with 12 years exp said, but wanted to share my 2 cents. I work in international dev as well, mostly focused on environment so a bit of an offshoot of traditional development. I agree that many of these organizations are extremely white and that our lack of diversity is a problem.

However, all of these assumptions about trust fund babies, parents footing bills for unpaid interns, and being motivated by guilt are pretty big assumptions. Those situations are out there, for sure, but in my experience this has been the exception rather than the rule. I grew up very much lower middle class, raised by a single mother to several children who sacrificed and scrimped and lived paycheck to paycheck, sometimes borrowing our Christmas money from grandparents to get the bills paid. I worked my ass off in high school and got a great scholarship to a private school I could not have otherwise attended. After college I worked for a few years, 2 jobs for part of that time. I went to an Ivy League grad school at the top of my field and then landed a paid internship at my dream organization. It paid just enough for me to pay rent and I freelanced editing work on the side, working 60 hours a week, until I got a full time position at said dream organization. Years later I'm still there and have been promoted a few times. I don't make great money actually, but it's solid and I make ends meet and yes have managed to rack up some frequent flyer miles. My benefits are very good and although I work a ton of hours, I love what I do.

I know people hear I went to an Ivy League school and see where I am now and assume I must have had a trust fund. I think I had a lot more opportunities than most people in this world and am grateful for that, but it pisses me off when people assume I must have had all of this handed to me. I will add that most of my colleagues seem to come from comfortable but not wealthy backgrounds. I do strongly agree that our field, like many out there, would benefit from more diversity of all forms including socioeconomic diversity, but the implication that I cannot empathize with someone who does not share my skin color or that I do what i do out of some sense of guilt is offensive and wrong.

You work for an environmental organization. Totally different motive there. I think that the OP was referring to Non-profits that work to diminish poverty overseas.

PP you quoted. Poverty and environment work is extremely linked. Many of the poorest populations are very dependent on natural resources for food, fuel, housing materials, and some cash based income. Added to that they are often extremely vulnerable to natural disasters, economic pressures to extract resources, and incredibly insecure rights to even use resources or own land. There are of course conservation minded groups out there but many environmental orgs are also very focused on the people element. My work is basically the intersection of environment and human rights, for example.

[Anonymous]

I've always wondered why you only see white people (U.S. and European) going to help in countries in crisis, whether it's somewhere in Africa (Liberia, Sierra Leone) or the Middle East. Doctors w/o Borders, etc.

Why aren't more black people or people of color in general helping out in situations like these?