GSD&M launched the first fully commissioned advertising supplier diversity program in 2004. Through perpetual ebbs and flows, GSD&M has remained steadfast in its mission to provide equity and opportunity to its incumbent and emerging diverse and underrepresented suppliers.
“The Multiplier Effect of Supplier Diversity” white paper is a collaboration between GSD&M’s Vendor Diversity Director Max Rutherford and EthniFacts’ Founder Mike Lakusta that underscores another testament to GSD&M’s ongoing commitment to turn the page and move supplier diversity forward, not just within the ad industry but in all industries.
The time is now. If your agency, company, corporation and/or organization is not pursuing “The Multiplier Effect of Supplier Diversity,” it’s possible that you are leaving business expansion, growth and revenue on the table—not only for your organization but for the broader communities that will benefit from your initiatives.
This report documents that supplier diversity initiatives exist in one form or another in all industries. It introduces data that reveals those industries where minority median incomes are much higher than the norm. When supplier diversity is deployed, these industries can provide the vehicle to increase minority jobs, income, spending power and tax contributions.
It is also understood that while the number of minority workers employed in the U.S. is somewhat in line with the percent they comprise of the total population, the median income of minorities lags well behind the total population by about 10%. San Francisco, New York and D.C. have the largest income gaps at about 17%.
Simply stated, when minority businesses succeed and grow, they hire minorities and invigorate communities with indispensable new resources, hence, “The Multiplier Effect of Supplier Diversity.”
