As the baby boom generation of charitable leaders moves toward retirement, many of those responsible for finding and nurturing new nonprofit managers are scouring different sector of the region’s economy for talent. And they are finding that no one solution fits every nonprofit’s staffing needs.
“More nonprofits today are willing to look at people from for-profits for possible leadership roles,” said Mark McCurdy, director of strategic development for the D.C. office of Professionals for Nonprofits, a placement firm that serves the sector. “I see future leaders coming from university degree programs in nonprofit management, corporations and also those who start with a nonprofit and work their way up theladder.”
McCurdy noted that some reach the maximum level they can advance within an organization, and then must move to another, possibly larger, nonprofit to continue their advance. “They apply what they have learned to meeting the new organization’s needs.”
“There’s not just one door into the [nonprofit] sector,” says Chuck Bean of the Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater D.C. ” I see future leaders coming from graduate schools, transitioning from the private sector and, perhaps most importantly, being groomed from the communities being served.” A former recipient of services, said Bean, often becomes an organization’s most zealous and dedicated employee.
It may actually become easier to find people with an interest in the nonprofit sector in the future, said Betsy Johnson, executive director of the D.C.-based Center for Nonprofit Advancement.
“More high schools and colleges are requiring community service projects as a condition of graduation,” said Johnson. More young people have an interest in nonprofits than was the case 20 years ago and are actually choosing the nonprofit sector as a career path.
There are still shortages in certain fields, however, said Bean.
“There are scarcities in the CFO, development director, IT director and community organizer positions, for example,” Bean told The Examiner. “I worry about how the nonprofit community can do better to support people of color to take on more and more leadership roles, such as executive directors and board chairs.”
“The nonprofit leaders of tomorrow will emerge, as leaders often do,” Johnson said. “However, it is incumbent upon us to give them the training and mentorship they need to focus on the future.”
