Got home last night after several hours yesterday discussing personnel issues with my staff and ED, and by a crazy coincidence, saw this article as the main headline in the Washington Posts’ Metro Section. (My bold).
Crunch Predicted in Nonprofit Sector
Groups Are Not Nurturing and Retaining Tomorrow’s Leaders, Study Says
“The nonprofit sector is facing what experts call an unprecedented crisis in leadership, with organizations in the Washington region and across the country struggling to recruit and retain talented staff.
Even as baby boomers retire, nonprofit groups stand to lose ambitious young employees who feel underpaid, overwhelmed by long hours and demanding responsibilities, and frustrated by a lack of career progression, according to a major study to be released today.
The sobering report, “Ready to Lead? Next Generation Leaders Speak Out,” could shake up the nonprofit sector, which has been successful at recruiting recent college graduates but not always at keeping them. Many leave for jobs at private companies and in the federal government that often offer better pay and more comfortable lifestyles.
[…]
The report, which uses data from a survey last fall of about 6,000 nonprofit employees, is the largest national study to date of emerging nonprofit leaders. It was conducted by the Casey Foundation, the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation, CompassPoint Nonprofit Services and the online job site Idealist.org.
The study found that 69 percent of respondents feel underpaid. About two-thirds reported they had financial concerns about committing to a career in the sector, and nearly half of that group said they would not make enough money to retire comfortably.
One in three respondents aspires to become the head of a nonprofit organization, but only 4 percent said they were being groomed for top leadership positions.
The study’s authors recommend that nonprofit groups provide mentors and help employees meet leaders of similar organizations. They also suggest that nonprofit groups offer better salaries and benefits when possible and restructure organizations to give younger staff members more responsibility and create a more evident career track.“
I love this industry and want to stay. But it’s really hard when I have a family to provide for, an au pair (the cheapest form of childcare we could find), three cats, three cars (not out of choice), a big mortgage… and everyone around me thinks I’m being exploited. Many of my friends in the private sector continuously wonder why I stay.
And I tell them, I stay because I feel like I am growing professionally. (I also try and continuously show my younger staff that there are these great possibilities for them too. But keeping them interested is harder because they aren’t personally invested yet.) I stay because I feel loyalty and responsibility to my association, and quite honestly no-one else knows how to do all the stuff that I do here. I stay because I want to get my CAE and step up the ladder, and that goal is not far away. I stay because I have this blog, which I can no longer live without, and it keeps my brain synapses firing all the time. I stay because I get invited to video blog on PITV, guest blog for Acronym, review lots of things, try lots of things, join discussion groups on topics that I love. I stay because I have made amazing friendships and met incredible people that I learn from every day - and continue to make more of those extremely valuable connections.
I stay because I see a whole world of career possibilities out there… but hear me now. I am not going to wait very long to get there, life is too short, my bills are too high, and it’s hard to have to justify and defend my choices all the time.
I am well aware of the financial difficulties facing associations - but I am your future and you need to keep me happy.
“If the sector continues struggling to retain talent, it could have a dramatic effect on social services in Washington and around the country, said Paul C. Light, an expert on nonprofit groups and a professor at New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service.
“It’s really a significant problem and one that is just so important to the future of the sector,” he said. “Nonprofits are so focused on meeting their mission in the present tense that they don’t think of succession planning for executive directors, they don’t think of recruitment for future employees. It’s just not on the agenda because they’re under such pressure to deliver, especially during economic downturns like this.”
Now, Light said, “they’re waking up to say, ‘Where’s the next generation of workers?’ And they’re saying, ‘We just don’t know.’ “
