Help Wanted: 
New Nonprofit Leaders for the 21st Century
By Pablo Eisenberg

Our nation’s values, priorities, direction and commitment to democracy are being tested as never before. The 21st century will require a new national vision and the leaders to realize it. 

The problems and opportunities we will encounter are challenging and daunting – providing social and economic justice for all Americans; protecting the global environment; rebuilding the public’s trust in the fairness and effectiveness of our political system and government; eliminating poverty and creating livable wage jobs for all who can work; ensuring health protection for all Americans; limiting the excesses of corporate power; strengthening the network of nonprofit organizations that constitute our civil society; and exercising responsible leadership in world affairs.

It is a tall order. But our country can afford nothing less.

Much of the responsibility for reinvigorating our society and its democratic institutions will fall on our nonprofit sector, as in the past. One hallmark that has distinguished our society is a strong, dynamic and unique network of nonprofit organizations, fueled by private and institutional philanthropy. These civil society institutions have been an essential feature of our system of checks and balances, serving as the bulwark against the potential tyranny of both government and the majority. They have been a major spawning ground for political, business and public service leadership and a significant instrument for social and economic change. These nonprofits have kept the American tradition of public service and volunteering alive.

Today the nonprofit sector faces unprecedented challenges. Some are external pressures, but many are internal. The latter are more insidious and very difficult to meet. The growing absence of leadership is perhaps the most worrisome and threatening. In my view, many of the most competent and dedicated executives have left the nonprofit field. For many, one reason has been their frustration with the increasingly difficult and time-consuming task of fundraising. In general, these leaders have not been replaced with commensurate quality leadership. 

I am struck by the narrow agendas and lack of vision and courage of many national nonprofit organizations. The same can be said for many local, regional, and state charitable organizations. Today, the talent pool for top executive jobs is limited. Search firms constantly complain about the shortage of outstanding candidates for executive positions in nonprofit institutions. While money is sometimes an important factor, it is not the major reason recruiting first class people is proving more difficult.

What is most surprising is that charitable organizations are doing little or nothing to develop new leadership. Funders removed from the day-to-day operations of nonprofits are also not engaged in this process. Some organizations are not even aware of the looming crisis. Dulling their sensitivity are such factors as the “survival” posture of many organizations, especially at the local level; battle fatigue; limited opportunities for intellectual stimulation and organizational reflection; the lack of young, energetic staff; ineffectual boards of directors; the so-called “founders syndrome;” a reluctance to face future transitions; and a lack of funds to invest for the future.

These are not the only reasons charities have so much trouble keeping and attracting capable top people. Many nonprofit groups have suffered so many cuts in government or private support that they have lost their flexibility and ability to continue to be exciting, cutting-edge places to work. Some nonprofit leaders are discouraged by the growing fragmentation of the sector. More and more organizations focus only on special interests and issues. Fueled by the categorical funding of foundations, charities and their executives have found it difficult to tackle the broader, generic issues and problems our society faces. For many, a narrow organizational mission has replaced a broader vision. Not being able to work for the common good is a turnoff for many talented and idealistic people.

The phenomenal growth of the sector has also played a part in driving away promising people. Its big business qualities – employing over nine million people and amounting to seven percent of the Gross National Product – is a cause of some major problems. For many employees, working in nonprofits has become just another job, an employment option that job seekers must explore, regardless of principles and commitments. The increasing use of specialists and technicians not grounded in an organizational mission is symptomatic of the problem. The result has been a loss of people with passion, idealism, and some anger, committed to making a difference in the world. 

Perhaps more damaging than anything else, many nonprofits have adopted the worst practices of corporate America, especially its fixation on the cult of the CEO. While this emphasis reflects our national infatuation with stars and celebrities, it is dangerous to the long-term health of nonprofit groups. It attracts egotistical leaders, not the kind of people who care about building collegiality – the organizational environment many young people are attracted to. In an August 1998 Peter Hart and Associates survey conducted for Public Allies, young people strongly rejected the traditional top-down notion of leadership, preferring collegial, consensus-building leadership. Many young people cite leaders’ building of egos – not institutions – and the lack of teamwork as a major reason they do not want to enter the nonprofit world.
Identifying the causes of the impending leadership crisis is easy, but providing effective remedies is extraordinarily difficult. How do we transform our civil society institutions into visionary organizations that can work for the public interest? Where do we begin, knowing that there are no simple solutions and that the process will take time?

The qualities of vision, courage, dynamism, accountability, ethics and competence are all associated with leadership. This then, is where we must begin. We must begin to recruit young people in their 20s with idealism, vigor and a commitment to public service. They will become the leaders of our civil society in the year 2015. We need to introduce them to the positive features of nonprofit work and use their energy to spark a rededication to public service among all of us who work at the nation’s charitable institutions.

Many young people have tasted nonprofit life through internships, national service, the Peace Corps, and volunteering. All too often their internships are short and focus on minor, menial tasks. It doesn’t do much to persuade young people to consider careers in nonprofit work. Lengthier internships, such as the Mickey Leland Congressional Hunger Fellows Program, provide a more substantial experience. Unfortunately, these tend to be underfunded and in perpetual risk of losing financial support.

Interns who want to stay in the nonprofit world – the vast majority – often can’t find a job. Few nonprofits can afford to hire their departing interns, let alone those leaving other organizations. Other nonprofits that do have the money are either unwilling to make recruiting young staff an organizational priority or have no interest in their future leadership.

The failure to use internships, whatever their nature or duration, as a bridge to full-time positions is probably the greatest weakness in the nonprofit worlds’ recruiting system. It is a natural point of intervention. Foundations, in consultation with nonprofits seriously interested in leadership development, should establish a “21st Century Nonprofit Fellowship Program.” It would provide two-year fellowships for full-time nonprofit jobs in a supportive, collegial environment. Fellows would earn $25,000 to $35,000 a year (depending on living costs in the areas where they worked) and receive full fringe benefits paid by the charities where they worked. Young recruits could try out real jobs with real responsibilities and develop some roots in the nonprofit community. During their tenure, fellows could establish their reputations and learn about long-term nonprofit career opportunities.

Assuming an average annual salary of $30,000 per person, 100 fellows would cost only $3 million a year or $6 million for two years. An increase to 200 two-year fellowships would cost $12 million. A crucial element of the program would be matching fellows with appropriate, nurturing organizations at the local, regional, and national levels. This matching function, job placement assistance during the second year of the internship, and other administrative costs would be included in the program. The last feature would be periodic meetings – once or twice a year – of all the fellows for sharing and exchanging ideas and training by skilled nonprofit practitioners and academics. 

Other forms of leadership training, from short internships to mid-career programs, have an important place in an overall effort to strengthen the sector’s leadership. They should continue to be supported. So should ongoing efforts to strengthen nonprofits’ middle management capacity. A few foundations and corporations have started and support leadership development initiatives that are more recognition programs than development efforts. These have focused primarily on celebrating the accomplishments of mid-career nonprofit executives. They have paid little attention to the development of young leaders, where the return on such investment can be much greater. Unless capable and dedicated young people can find full-time opening level jobs and, thereby a meaningful entrée into the nonprofit community, we will not succeed in developing that new generation of leaders we so desperately need.

Given the huge amount of money foundations and other donors spend each year on capital campaigns – many of them for strictly bricks and mortar projects – shouldn’t we be thinking about investing more in human capital? For far less than the price of a building, a hospital wing, or a campus research laboratory, a few foundations could help shape the future leadership of the nonprofit sector. The billions of dollars that Americans and their philanthropic institutions give each year won’t make much of a difference unless we do something now to produce the leaders of the 21st century.
 

Pablo Eisenberg is a senior fellow at the Georgetown University Public Policy Institute. He is a member of many nonprofit boards and is Vice Chair of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy. He was the Executive Director of the Center for Community Change for 23 years.

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