Abstract: This paper demonstrates the effects of diversity of foundation directors′ professional backgrounds on organizational performance by analyzing the data of 217 foundations in China. The research shows that the diversity of directors′ professional backgrounds can improve fundraising capacity and public support of foundation, but it has no obvious effect on finance performance of foundation; the effects of diversity of directors′ professional backgrounds on organizational performance present different patterns, and the diversity of the directors′ professional backgrounds of public offering foundation and local foundation has a significant impact on organizational performance.

Key words: foundation director, professional backgrounds, organizational performance