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We've Seen the Research, Now Let's Take Some Action |
| Written by Rosetta Thurman, on March 05, 2008 |
The nonprofit sector has been given both a gift and a curse. We have a talented, passionate pool of next generation leaders who are currently working in our organizations. And bully for us that many of these same committed employees are also motivated to stay in the sector and aspire to be nonprofit executive directors in the future. However, according to Ready to Lead? Next Generation Leaders Speak Out a new national survey of nearly 6,000 next generation leaders, there are significant barriers: challenging work-life balance, low salaries, lack of mentoring and leadership development, and overwhelming fundraising responsibilities that may prevent many emerging nonprofit leaders from becoming executive directors in the future.
The survey is the largest national survey to date of emerging nonprofit leaders and was produced by the Meyer Foundation in partnership with CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, The Annie E. Casey Foundation and Idealist.org. But while this particular report is hot off the presses (as of March 6), the issues it raised are nothing new to a sector that has been experiencing challenges in leadership succession and transition for a number of years. Key findings of Ready to Lead include:
Salaries and actual or perceived insufficiency in earning potential are barriers to executive leadership (69% of respondents feel underpaid in their current positions and 64% have financial concerns about committing to a career in the nonprofit sector)
A higher percentage of respondents who definitely aspire to become executive directors are people of color
Only one-third of those surveyed have aspirations of becoming executive directors
Of those who aspire to become executive directors, 40% reported that they are ready either now or within five years
Lack of mentorship and support from current executive directors in helping to pave a career path is a source of frustration (only 4% of nonprofit staff are explicitly being groomed to become their organization’s leader. Women are being developed as leaders at a lower rate than men)
This report is a pretty big deal. It validates a lot of what the Roundtable has seen happening in our membership anecdotally, and turns the sector’s traditional ideas about nonprofit leadership on its head. For instance, the research suggests that the next iteration of executive directors will be younger and more racially diverse. In the next five years, the average nonprofit CEO could be a 35 year old person of color – African American, Asian American, or Hispanic. This is very good news for our region – which is currently undergoing a period of rapid and dramatic demographic change. New nonprofit leaders will reflect this diversity and bring new energy and ideas to our work. But how are we supporting them? Ready to Lead is a call to action not just for a few nonprofits, but for all nonprofits.
People who want to be executive directors in the future are saying that they need mentorship and leadership development in their organizations. So we need to support and mentor current nonprofit employees that have aspirations of becoming executive directors. But like I said, this research is no surprise to us. We as a sector already know this, we just haven’t been doing anything about it. Now let’s stop messing around and take some real action to support and mentor the next generation of nonprofit leaders.
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