Not for Profits' Leadership Deficit -US Report

A “leadership deficit” looms as the greatest challenge facing Not for Profit organisations over the next ten years according to a new US report.

A new White Paper released in March predicts the need to double the current number of Not for Profit leaders by 2016. In the US that would mean an additional 80,000 with executive capabilities.

The report, called “The Nonprofit Sector’s Leadership Deficit,” by the Bridgespan Group, offers some salient points for Australia’s third sector.

According to the white paper author Tom Tierney, the Not for Profit sector faces the challenge of developing leadership due to the huge growth in the number of NFP organisations and the substantial number of baby boomers expected to retire over the next decade.

Tierney says an additional problem is that very few Not for Profits have the resources to develop leaders internally.

Calling the leadership deficit the greatest challenge facing the sector, Tierney urges the philanthropic community to invest for the future in supporting capacity-building efforts, spend time creating succession plans and developing younger leaders, and change prevailing practices.

According to Tierney, the sector must take three critical steps:
1. Invest in leadership capacity – even if it means directing a greater proportion of funding for “overhead.”

2. Refine management rewards to retain and attract top talent – by offering more competitive management packages (particularly as managers are held to higher performance standards).

3. Expand recruiting horizons and foster individual career mobility – reaching out to baby boomers who wish to continue working, mid-life career changers seeking greater social impact and the young. Ensuring career mobility for up-and-comers is essential if the sector is to retain its best performers.

The white paper, “The Nonprofit Sector’s Leadership Deficit” is available at www.bridgespangroup.org/kno_articles_leadershipdeficit.html.