Did foundations create the nonprofit leadership gap?

Much has been made of the upcoming leadership deficit in the nonprofit sector. Baby Boomers are retiring (or not able to because of low nonprofit salaries and/or lack of a retirement plan) and younger workers are unwilling to take on nonprofit leadership positions because of low pay and long hours or unable to take on those positions because of student loan debt, credit card debt, and increasing health care costs.

For-profit businesses invest in professional development for their up and coming staff members to ensure that the company remains profitable. By preparing a “ladder of leadership” for-profits make sure that the culture of the organization is larger than just the current leadership and ensures the organization can continue to thrive in a competitive marketplace.

It disappoints me greatly to say that foundations, not the great wave of demographic change, are the root of this coming leadership crisis. Demographics will make it impossible to continue to ignore the crisis of leadership but it is something that has been brewing for some time now. Foundations rarely invest in succession planning or professional development. Non-profit programming is the cash cow for organizations and nonprofits are penalized for high overhead costs. I am definitely not a fan of overhead, for overhead sake but nonprofits need to pay a competitive salary, offer benefits, and invest in the ongoing development of staff at all levels or else they will unable to continue to provide the services that are so needed in our communities.

Do you believe foundations are responsible for the leadership gap? What could we do differently to create organizational capacity and cross-generational institutional leadership?

Words of Wisdom from Susan Berresford, Ford Foundation President

Susan Berresford, the retiring president of the Ford Foundation, was a featured speaker at one of the Council of Foundation’s Emerging Leader Salons. These salons were an opportunity to meet with fellow emerging philanthropic leaders and connect with seasoned leaders in the field. At the session, I asked her to describe the characteristics of an exceptional program officer. She said that a strong Program Officer has a series of traits that could be considered conflicting but each trait is necessary to create balance.

Exceptional Program Officers:

Have the ability to see conceptually and yet are detailed oriented.

Are good listeners but after they listen to ideas, they are able to drive good ideas forward.

Are polite and generous with their time with grantees and potential grantees but are able to get to the point and get things done.

What do you think about this list? Are there things that are missing? What are the characteristics that move someone from an average program officer to one that is truly an asset to their foundation and their community?

New Philanthropy vs. Old Philanthropy, a false Dichotomy?

I listened to a variety of very interesting speakers at the Council of Foundations annual conference that have made me rethink my position on old philanthropy versus new philanthropy. In a previous post, “Are Foundations Becoming Obsolete”, I said that successful foundations are using new methods to be more effective. After listening to Melinda Gates describe how the Gates Foundation was developed after doing a systematic study of other successful foundations, I stand corrected. They made a conscious effort to harness the knowledge that had already been developed in the foundation field, instead of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. One of the detriments of being someone that is new to the foundation field is that you don’t have the benefit of history when you are thinking about effective models for moving the field forward. Sterling K. Speirn the CEO of the Kellogg Foundation said “don’t fall into the new philanthropy versus old philanthropy argument, instead take time to read philanthropic history to learn from past innovations.” Through the application of knowledge and the development of fresh ideas, we can change the world.