by Neel Hajra, President & CEO
Well, I’ve settled into my hotel room and am ready to immerse myself in the joint Independent Sector (national) / Council of Michigan Foundations (statewide) Conference. The view from the hotel room (on the right) sort of sums up our Detroit region – partly cloudy, partly sunny, with the view slightly obscured by a thin film of gunk.
Here’s what I’m looking to learn about and share at the conference:
- The state of the emerging generation of nonprofit leaders, both through the conference’s extensive NGen series (see PDF) as well as a smaller group of NGen Fellows, of which I’m humbled to be a member.
- The “State of the Nonprofit State” according to the foundation community. Hey, did I mention that this is the single largest convening of Michigan’s very significant foundation population? What are their priorities in Michigan? What’s their opinion on the current stress on our entire nonprofit ecosystem. How can we all partner to relieve this stress? And how does partnership with the for-profit and public sectors play into foundation thinking?
- The trajectory of the nonprofit sector as a whole – I can think of no better convening to gauge this, and the “Futurelab” activities will be quite interesting (heck, you can go to the site yourself and add your voice!).
- Re-connecting with a ton of local nonprofits to get a sense for current local challenges and issues, since NEW’s mission is to provide responsive solutions to these challenges.
And now, time for some totally useless missives:
- Conference Fashionista: What to wear at conferences is always an interesting puzzle. Power suits? Trendy? Relaxed? I’ve decided to take a blended approach: Relaxed today for a retreat and networking, crisp and formal at the start of the main conference, slowly seguing to more casual (but still formal) attire as all 800+ of us become best buddies. Oh go ahead, roll your eyes, but I’m just saying out loud what most conference-goers are thinking! LOL!
- Marriott Broadband is Old School (at best): No easy access wireless, $12/day charge for broadband, and the reference guide still warns of room charges when using my dial-up modem. Um, yeah, I think it’s time for a Marriott 2.0 revolution…
- Detroit is Underrated: I hope that out-of-staters will form a more realistic picture of the Detroit region – it’s certainly embattled, but not nearly the war-torn moonscape that everyone else makes it out to be. A few days with the amazing local nonprofit sector should help move the ball.
First real report tonight!
by Neel Hajra, President/CEO
http://www.flickr.com/photos/elmo/
The Meyer Foundation and CompassPoint issued a really interesting report based on a survey of 6,000+ “mostly younger” emerging nonprofit leaders. As with other bloggers, this report definitely resonated with me from a personal standpoint. It affirms the going wisdom that nonprofit leaders are overworked, underpaid, experiencing tremendous fundraising and other pressure, and likely to leave the sector within the next five years. The report brought up the much-cited red flag being waved by Bridgespan about the nonprofit leadership deficit as the Baby Boomers move on.
So this seals the deal that quality nonprofit leaders are an endangered species, right? Hmmmm, maybe not. To borrow from an environmental model, evolution is often a natural response to extinction pressures. Put differently, while the current model for nonprofits and nonprofit leadership might be in decline, it doesn’t mean that do-gooding organizations and leaders will decline. There are a few factors that I think might serve as counterpoints to some of the concerns raised in the Meyer/CompassPoint report:
- Sector agnosticism is actually a good thing: Nonprofit leaders’ willingness to jump sectors is characterized as a threat to the nonprofit sector because it means more competition with the for-profit sector. I disagree for two reasons: (1) this same agnosticism also “afflicts” the for-profit side, and therefore it tremendously expands our talent pool, and (2) given the ongoing blurring of the sectors, choice of sector is becoming less relevant; social good is achieved in many ways. Nonprofit and for-profit social entepreneurship is a growing trend, so we need to stop taking such a monolithic view of the nonprofit sector as THE source for social good.
- Mission is our “killer app”: Never underestimate the power of mission – it will ALWAYS draw talented and passionate people, which leads us to…
- The market will adjust/evolve: Assuming talented, passionate people are drawn to the nonprofit sector, these leaders (and those who want to attract them) will gradually redefine their roles so that nonprofit leadership remains sustainable. Maybe it means a smaller sector so that executives can be paid more. Maybe it means that this talent convinces funders to better value nonprofit work. Maybe it means a huge influx of for-profit types who carve out a new niche in the nonprofit sector. Maybe social enterprise slowly takes root to reduce fundraising pressures. There are a million “market” factors that, in combination, will evolve to ensure that good organizations with good missions will continue to attract good leadership.
- It ain’t so rosy on the for-profit side either: Maybe my biggest gripe about this overall topic is the assumption that the picture is so much better on the for-profit side. It’s not. Yes, compensation is higher, but believe me, it’s just a trade of one set of pressures for another. Running a for-profit is usually an equally draining experience. Of course, better compensation makes for better retention, but let’s stop falling on our swords as nonprofit leaders by acknowledging that LEADERSHIP IS HARD, period.
Man, the results of the survey really do tell my (and many others’) story. I agree that we need to do more to offer a better “product” to emerging leaders. But when I think about the unstoppable passion and energy of the upcoming generations of leaders, there’s no question in my mind that they’ll find ways to use their powers for good. It’s just a question of how our institutional (nonprofit, for-profit, government) and civil society landscape will evolve to accommodate our social superheros. 
