The Goldman Sachs DEI board criteria changed this year, and the bank’s own SEC filings show the exact words that came out. What they also show is how much stayed in. Goldman took the demographics off the list it uses to pick new directors. It did not take down its diversity page, its employee networks or its One Million Black Women program.
Call it a half-retreat. “Goldman Sachs drops DEI” is only half the story. Here is what Goldman dropped, what it kept, and where to check each one yourself.
What Changed in the Goldman Sachs DEI Board Criteria
Every spring, Goldman’s proxy statement lists the criteria its board’s Governance Committee weighs when it looks for new directors. In the 2025 proxy, filed March 14, 2025, the second criterion read: “Diversity of viewpoints, backgrounds, work and other experiences and other demographics;”
In the 2026 proxy, filed March 20, 2026, the same line reads: “Diversity of viewpoints, backgrounds, work and other experiences;”
Three words are gone: “and other demographics.”
The sentence above that list changed too. In 2025, the committee sought to build “an effective, well-rounded, financially literate and diverse Board that operates candidly and collaboratively”. In 2026, it seeks “a well-rounded and effective Board that operates candidly and collaboratively”. The word “diverse” is no longer there.
One line stayed the same in both years: “Each director and director candidate is evaluated by our Governance Committee based on their individual merits, taking into account our firm’s needs and the composition of our Board.” The difference is what the committee is told to look for.
How the Change Came About
The Wall Street Journal broke the story in February, reporting that Goldman planned to take race, gender identity, sexual orientation and other diversity factors out of the criteria its board uses to weigh director candidates. Bloomberg Law reported the same plan, citing a person familiar with the matter.
According to the Journal’s report, the move followed a request from the National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative nonprofit that owns a small stake in the bank. The group had filed a shareholder proposal asking Goldman to remove the DEI criteria. The group says it withdrew that proposal once it had a deal with Goldman.
The proxy filed the next month is the proof. The board did not just promise a change. It printed it.
What Goldman Already Dropped
The board criteria were not the first thing to go.
In February 2025, Goldman ended its policy of taking companies public only if they had at least two diverse board members, Business Insider reported. The bank cited legal developments around board diversity requirements.
Goldman had also dropped its “Diversity and Inclusion” section from its annual report the year before: the heading appears in its 10-K filed in February 2024 but not in the one filed in February 2025.
The hiring goals. Goldman’s 10-K filed in February 2024 listed aspirational goals for analyst and associate hiring of 50% women, 11% Black and 14% Hispanic/Latinx in the Americas, and 9% Black in the UK. Goldman’s 10-K filed in February 2025 said those five-year goals “expire in 2025” and its 2026 filings do not mention them.
What Goldman Kept
Here is the other half of the ledger. Each item below was live on Goldman’s own website or in a 2026 SEC filing when we checked on October 23, 2026.
The diversity statistic. The same 2026 proxy that cut “other demographics” from the criteria still reports, in its Board Composition Summary, “~38% Nominees who are Diverse by Race, Gender or Sexual Orientation”. It also breaks the 13 nominees down by sex and race, “As self-identified and, where applicable, EEO-1 categories.” So demographics are out of the criteria, but race is still being tallied in the same filing.
The annual-report language. Goldman’s annual report for 2025, filed February 25, 2026, says: “We remain focused on the importance of attracting and retaining diverse exceptional talent.” A few paragraphs later: “We also work closely with our leadership teams to promote diversity and inclusion. Our global and regional Inclusion Networks and Interest Forums are open to all of our professionals to promote and advance these goals.” The section heading went away. The commitment did not.
The diversity page. Goldman’s Diversity & Inclusion page is still up. It promises a workplace “that welcomes and supports differences” and a recruiting push for “the best, most diverse talent”. It lists seven Inclusion Networks: Asian, Black, Disability, Hispanic/Latinx, LGBTQ+, Veterans and Women’s. The page says the networks are “open to all professionals at Goldman Sachs” and help people “be their authentic selves.”
One Million Black Women. The bank’s program page still carries the original name and the original pledge: “10 years. $10 billion in investment capital. $100 million in philanthropic capital.” It reports “$5.3B” in capital invested and “$51M” in philanthropic capital deployed, “Based on internal data collected since program inception in 2021.”
Black in Business. The Black in Business page describes a free 12-week program for solopreneurs, with an all-expenses-paid visit to Goldman’s New York headquarters. It says the program helps owners “ensure that their businesses stay in the black.” It also says the program “is open to all solopreneurs interested in creating jobs, opportunities, and economic growth in their communities”, and that “Applications are closed for the Spring 2027 cohort.” In other words, there is a 2027 class.
Same Name, New Pitch
One Million Black Women is the clearest case of a program that changed its wording without changing its name. The Wall Street Journal reported in May 2025 that Goldman had removed mentions of “Black” from the program’s home page. Today’s page describes “a comprehensive investment focused on key moments from early childhood through retirement,” spread across six pillars from affordable housing to healthcare. The word “Black” appears in the name and in Black in Business, which now describes itself as open to all.
Whether that is a real shift or a new coat of paint is a fair question for shareholders. The name, the $10 billion figure and the $100 million figure are all still on the page.
Half a Retreat
Give Goldman credit where it is due. Taking “other demographics” out of the board criteria is a real change, made in a public SEC filing, and the bank dropped its IPO board rule a year earlier. Those are concrete steps away from picking people by group identity.
But the infrastructure is still standing. The diversity page is live. The networks are live. One Million Black Women is live, with the same dollar pledge. And the proxy that dropped demographics from the criteria still reports, on page five, the share of nominees who are “Diverse by Race, Gender or Sexual Orientation”.
Goldman is not the only big bank working through this. See how its rival measures up in our JPMorgan Chase report.
Want to see which companies have earned a D or F on our woke scorecard? See the Boycott List.
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