Posted on April 22, 2009

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Nonprofit Leaders Fear Shortage of Senior Management, Qualified Candidates, Report Finds

Even as they tighten their budgets, nonprofits will need to fill 24,000 vacant or new positions in 2009, a new report from the Bridgespan Group finds.

Commissioned by American Express, the report, Finding Leaders for America's Nonprofits (21 pages, PDF), surveyed more than four hundred U.S. leaders of nonprofits with $1 million or more in revenues about their hiring needs and plans, and what they're looking for in senior management. Faced with growing management complexity and baby boomer retirements, many respondents said they needed to fill positions in finance and fundraising. The survey also found senior-level job openings running at a rate of 77,000 in 2008, which is 43 percent higher than the gap forecast in Bridgespan's 2006 study, The Nonprofit Sector's Leadership Deficit.

The new survey found that 21 percent of the nonprofit leaders hired between June 2007 and December 2008 were "bridgers" — individuals transitioning into the nonprofit sector from the for-profit sector — while only 15 percent of respondents said they lost an executive to a for-profit company, resulting in a net gain for nonprofit organizations relative to their for-profit counterparts. At the same time, 73 percent of respondents affirmed they value private-sector skills, while 60 percent believe they will face a shortage of qualified candidates.

For the first time, online job boards surpassed external networking as the most popular way to reach potential job candidates, with 49 percent of organizations saying they used job boards and 44 percent saying they relied on external networking to identify candidates. Thirty-eight percent of respondents also said they relied on general print advertising to find job candidates but reported it to be among the least effective tools, while only 13 percent of the organizations surveyed said they employed search firms.

“Nonprofits Seek to Fill 24,000 Leadership Roles in Downturn.” Bridgespan Group Press Release 4/20/09.

Primary Subject: Philanthropy and Voluntarism
Location(s): National

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