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A voluntary corporate diversity survey was sent to 537 corporations ranked as Fortune 500 corporations in either or 2010. The survey requested the following information from corporations: 1) whether or not they have written diversity plans with targets, 2) data on diversity at the Board and executive management level, and 3) information on supplier diversity. A total of 219 of those corporations completed the survey, which brings our total response rate to about 41%. Of that total, 71 companies are ranked as 2010 Fortune 100 corporations. Three corporations submitted their survey too late to be included in the final tally; however, their results would have had a minimal impact on overall data. The purpose of the survey is to gain an overview of how closely the leadership of our nation's top 500 corporations reflects the diversity of our nation. Today, women represent more than 50% our population, and minorities together make up more than 35% of our population combined i. Blacks/African Americans number more than 37 million, Asians make up more than 13 million and Hispanics/Latinos comprise more than 45 million. ii Yet, those numbers are hardly reflected in the leadership of our nation's top corporations. There is no doubt that corporations are reaping record profits in part by tapping into the buying power of women and minority communities. According to the U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce, women control $4.3 trillion in U.S. consumer spending. iii And according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth, as of 2009, the purchasing power of the Black/African-American, Hispanic/Latino and Asian communities is estimated at $910 billion, $978 billion and $508.6 billion, respectively iv. Given the importance of these communities to corporate profits, it is imperative that they be represented at the decision-making table of these corporations. This survey seeks to bring awareness to the importance of diversity among our leading corporations, and to recommend steps toward achieving these goals. Highlights of Data Collected Diversity on Corporate Boards White/Caucasian men comprise nearly 68% of Directors. Of all the categories included in the survey, women have the highest number of Board members, although their proportional representation on Boards was less than one-half of their proportion to the overall U.S. population. When adjusting the calculation for women who are also of minority background, White/Caucasian men represent 71.06% of Directors, and women and minorities together represent 28.94%. Blacks/African Americans have the highest representation compared to their population, reporting a Board ratio of about 69%. Asians also have high representation, at about half of their overall proportion of the population. However, when you combine all minorities, the percentage of representation dropped to only 14.45%, less than half of the 35% of the population they comprise overall in this country.

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In 1906, at the height of the Progressive era, Lester F. Ward asserted that the mission of applied sociology was the intentional improvement of social conditions. Over a century later, applied sociology is actively involved in addressing a variety of social problems. In today’s culture of service, a new applied humanist sociology of social problems—service sociology—is emerging. Service sociology has its heritage in the Progressive era reformism of the three early American sociologies of the social gospel, settlement sociology, and charity sociology, as well as in the three contemporary neoprogressive sociologies of humanist/liberation sociology, communitarianism, and public sociology. The main goal of the sociology of service is to proffer neighborly service to recipient partners in need and from a communal orientation. In this article, I discuss the nature and structure of the sociologically informed, solutions-oriented practices that are at the core of service sociology, its facilitating actions.

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