The Growing Nonprofit Leadership Crisis

A Washington Post article summarizes a new report on leadership in the nonprofit sector that underscores the difficulty the nonprofit sector will have in retaining the next generation of potential leaders.  The report, titled “Ready to Lead?  Next Generation Leaders Speak Out,” is the product of a partnership between CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, a charity that provides management training and other resources to nonprofits, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation, and Idealist.org, a nonprofit networking cite sponsored by Action Without Borders.  Based on a survey of 6,000 emerging nonprofit leaders, the report finds that many members of this next generation of nonprofit leadership face barriers in the form of insufficient compensation, lack of support and mentorship from incumbent executives, and overwhelming responsibilities.  At the same time, many still aspire to higher leadership roles in the future and view the nonprofit sector as a desirable place to work.  The report builds on an earlier report by CompassPoint and the Meyer Foundation, “Daring to Lead 2006,” that surveyed nearly 2,000 nonprofit executive directors and found that three out of four of them were likely to leave their jobs within five years in large part because of the financial and personal sacrifices their jobs entailed.

These reports highlight the leadership challenges that will be faced by nonprofits in both the short and long-term.  Possible legal ramifications of these challenges include whether the need to offer significantly greater amounts of compensation and benefits to attract sufficient numbers of qualified leaders will raise any legal concerns, especially if comparable data is based on lower, historical levels of compensation, and also whether the growing emphasis on governance and accountability will contribute to the burnout of potential and current nonprofit leaders.  To address these concerns will require nonprofits to systematically address the barriers to retaining emerging leaders, including ensuring that these leaders have the legal resources and answers needed to satisfy the increasing emphasis on good governance and transparency.  For example, last fall I taught the legal portion of a course designed by Volunteers of America and the Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business as part of a program designed to train and support promising potential and current leaders within VOA.  These reports indicate that more nonprofits should consider such programs.

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