Report

The 2026 State of Supplier Diversity Report

Programs are heading into 2026 older, leaner, and under more pressure than the headlines suggested, but they are not retreating. The 2026 State of Supplier Diversity Report gives you an exclusive look at how leaders are repositioning their programs around resilience, managing new political and regulatory pressure, and putting AI to work, all while holding onto the executive support that’s kept these programs funded for years.

Built from insights shared by 194 procurement, sourcing, and supplier diversity leaders, the report reveals what separates programs that are closing the gap between proving impact and measuring it from those still trying to catch up. It gives you the data you need to benchmark your program, make the business case internally, and set a realistic roadmap for the year ahead.

Supplier diversity in 2026: How 194 of your peers are repositioning around resilience, AI, and proof of impact

What’s inside:

Why political and regulatory change became the top challenge for supplier diversity programs this year, and how established programs are repositioning instead of retreating
Why supply chain resilience overtook corporate culture as the number one reason programs exist, for the first time in nine years of this report
Where AI is already being used in supplier programs today, and the data quality work that has to happen before it scales
Five concrete actions for closing the decade-old gap between the impact your program creates and the impact you can prove

Download the 2026 State of Supplier Diversity Report to see where your program stands against 194 peers, and what the strongest teams are doing differently.

See where supplier diversity programs stand in 2026. Download the report now.

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Key findings include:

Political and regulatory change is the top challenge, and programs are repositioning rather than retreating

Political and regulatory change is the top challenge, and programs are repositioning rather than retreating. More than half of leaders (53%) now name political or regulatory change among their three biggest challenges, the first time an external factor has outranked budget. Yet 80% of these programs have existed for three or more years, and 72% rate executive support at seven or higher out of ten.

The business case has overtaken the values case

Supply chain resilience and competitiveness is now the number one reason programs exist, named by 76% of leaders, up from 65% last year. It’s the first time in nine reports that a business driver has outranked alignment with corporate culture.

AI is already in more than half of programs

In the first year this report has asked about it, 54% of leaders say they use AI tools to support supplier discovery, sourcing, or data management, most often for supplier discovery and sourcing recommendations.

Tariffs and near-shoring are reshaping sourcing decisions now

54% of leaders say tariff and trade policy changes affect how they think about their supplier base, and 65% say near-shoring and supply chain resilience have become a higher priority in the last year.

The gap between wanting to prove impact and measuring it is a decade old

55% of leaders name economic impact in their communities as a top program goal, but only 42% measure it. The programs that have closed the gap report the strongest executive support, suggesting it’s a business case waiting to be made, not a measurement problem.