Finding Leaders For The World's Non-Profits: Bridgestar Research

The non-profit world has always been attractive to me because of the passion and values-led nature of its employees and organizations. Here's an interesting report from Bridgestar, a U.S. based research arm of the Bridgespan Group, focusing on the leadership pipeline for America's non-profits (although it's applicable for any territory).

Boomers constitute a very large percentage of non-profit leadership and their retirement is reshaping the dialogue around succession planning and openness to individuals with largely for-profit experience. The research offered four key messages:

1. The leadership deficit in nonprofit organizations remains large, and the gap includes “new–to-the-organization” positions as well as vacancies due to baby boomer retirements.
2. Functional skills matter (and are transferable across sectors or domains).
3. Cultural fit is the deal breaker.
4. Job boards, networks, and search professionals most effectively connect talent to jobs.

They offer these suggestions for closing the leadership gap:

• Define the value of nonprofit sector leadership.
• Reconsider “fit.”
• Re-think the network.
• Invest in the people we have, and the people we hire, to increase the likelihood of impact and retention.
• Over the long-term: Foster ways to develop leaders internally.

I'm really interested to see how the shifting demographics and shift to a services and knowledge based economy will impact people's career choices around non-profit work. Younger workers, although traditionally more idealistic, have consistently said they need to believe in an organization in order to remain. These are also the same people who are impatient, highly technical, and demanding around transparency, access to opportunities and information, and unwavering in their openness to new ideas. As the current leadership retires, and these new leaders potentially enter the non-profit world, it begs the question of how non-profits will execute their missions and interact with the for-profit world. I personally believe we'll see an even greater burst of creativity and entrepreneurialism.

If you're open to considering non-profit work, my suggestion is to simply start by volunteering. You'll get a sense of the organization and its mission, and many organizations have started actively leveraging individual's professional specializations instead of the classic envelope stuffing work (Volunteer Vancouver calls it knowledge philanthropy). You may find that the emotional satisfaction far outweighs any financial discrepancies in your current for-profit role, and you'll be yet another sector shifter.