When completing a Social Impact Report, these are the demographic category options available.
These categories are based on a standardized taxonomy from Candid's (formerly Foundation Center + Guidestar) Philanthropic Classification System.
Age + Identity
- Children and youth: Young people from birth to 18 years of age
- Infants and toddlers: Young people from birth to 2 years of age
- Children: Young people from 3 to 9 years of age
- Preteens: Young people from 10 to 12 years of age
- Adolescents: Young people aged 13-18 years of age
- K-12: Young people aged 5-19 years of age
- Adults: People 19 years of age and older.
- Seniors: People 65 years of age and older.
- Females: Women and girls; those usually identified as female, or who self-identify as
female. - Males: Men and boys; those usually identified as male, or who self-identify as male.
- LGBTQ: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, as well as those who identify as
queer and are questioning their sexual identity.
- People of Middle Eastern descent: People with ancestral relations to indigenous inhabitants of Western Asia (not including the Caucasus) and Egypt.
- People of Asian descent: People having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, or the Indian subcontinent.
- People of African descent: People having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa.
- People of European descent: People having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe.
- People of Latin American descent: People having ancestral origins in Europe (especially Iberia), Africa, and the New World; having more proximate backgrounds in the New World; who share elements of cultural heritage, language (often Spanish or Portuguese), national identity, and lineage; and who represent a variety of racial and ethnic identities.
- Indigenous peoples: Peoples and nations that have a historical continuity with pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies that developed on their territories, and consider themselves distinct from other sectors of the societies now prevailing in those territories, or parts of them.
- Multiracial people: People having more than one strong racial, ethnic, or cultural identity or ancestry.
Social + Economic Status
- Immigrants and migrants: People who have left an area to which they are native to cross a border to another region or country.
- Economically disadvantaged people: People who lack the economic resources to adequately fulfill their material wants and needs; people who are deprived of choices, opportunities, or well-being due to a lack of wealth or income; people whose income or the value of whose possessions lies below a level set by a nation or other institution in an instrument meant to measure poverty.
- Homeless people: People without a regular dwelling or permanent shelter.
- Extremely poor people: People who lack the resources (sometimes referred to as "a dollar a day") to fulfill basic human needs, and whose deprivation strongly affects life expectancy. People experiencing absolute poverty.
- Incarcerated people: People who are in the process of or have in the past been detained, imprisoned, or held captive, in custody, under house arrest, or under close arrest.
- At-risk youth: Young people, usually aged 13-18, who have situations or conditions (e.g., low
socioeconomic status, disadvantaged minority status, social isolation, disability,
illness, etc.) that make them more likely to experience difficulties in the
foreseeable future (e.g., academic failure, family break-up, involvement in violent
or criminal activity, unemployment, homelessness, etc.) - Victims and oppressed people: People who have suffered loss, harm, injury, or death as a result of crimes, attacks, accidents, extreme circumstances, or other acts and events.
Health
- People with disabilities: People who have impairments, activity limitations, and/or participation restrictions (according to the WHO). In the U.S. the ADA defines this group as people who have impairments that substantially limit one or more major life activities.
- People with diseases and illnesses: People who have contracted, are suffering from, or are receiving treatment for a specific serious medical condition such as cancer, malaria, heart disease, celiac disease, etc.
- Substance abusers: People who are addicted to, have a dependence on, or who use in a harmful manner substance such as illegal drugs, legal pharmaceuticals, or alcohol. Use For: People in recovery.
Work Status + Occupations
- Domestic workers: People who work in the homes of their employers providing services such as cooking, cleaning, gardening, childcare, home and property maintenance, etc.
- Unemployed people: People without work or other source of income or support, and usually who are actively seeking work.
- Self-employed people: People who work for themselves as independent contractors, craftspeople, artisans, artists, or sole proprietors of a small business, and not as an employee of another person or organization.
- Retired people: People who have left their work or career, usually later in life, to pursue other interests such as leisure, domestic activity, volunteer work, creative activity,
caretaking, and other activities that are not intended to provide economic support. - Students: People, usually young people, who are engaged in full-time or part-time formal
study at an educational institution. Foundation Center uses this term in conjunction
with primary and secondary education. - Military personnel: People who serve in their nation's armed forces, including active duty personnel, reservists and those in training.
- Veterans: People who have retired from or left active duty in their nation's armed forces; or
those who have entered a new life in peacetime after active participation in a war
or conflict. - Farmers: People who raise food for consumption as their primary economic activity;
includes truck gardeners, ranchers, pastoralists, and subsistence farmers. - Emergency responders: Uniformed personnel who are a first line of defense and response in emergencies like crimes, accidents, and disasters, such as police, firefighters, EMTs, and others.
- Artists and performers: People who pursue creative careers in arts, crafts, performing arts, writing, media, etc.
- Sex workers: People who work in the sex industry, which involves the exchange of money or
goods for sexual services, forced or voluntary.