Why Women are Still Underrepresented in Nonprofit Leadership and What We Can Do About It

The serious underrepresentation of women in the booming tech industry has garnered a lot of attention in recent years, and the outcry recently reached a fever pitch when a Google engineer released an internal memo arguing against gender diversity initiatives. However, the tech industry isn’t the only area where women are underrepresented. Gender inequality is also a major issue in the nonprofit sector, especially at the leadership level. As both a woman and a CEO who works directly with nonprofit organizations every day, I’m acutely aware of the problem, and I’m hungry for a solution. The lack of diversity in

National Breast Cancer Foundation on Prioritizing Your Team’s Health and Wellness: Q&A

Guest blog: written by Michael Watson National Breast Cancer Foundation was founded in 1991 by breast cancer survivor, Janelle Hail. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1980 at the age of 34. At the time of her diagnosis, there was little information about the disease, and she was forced to make a decision about her health with few options. After her treatment, Janelle made a commitment to help women around the world by educating them about breast cancer and the importance of early detection. Today, NBCF’s mission is to provide help and inspire hope in women affected by breast cancer

It’s Time for Nonprofit CEOs to Lead Diversity and Inclusion Efforts

I was shocked and pleasantly surprised when 150 corporate CEOs established the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion earlier in June. Despite unprecedented levels of pressure from shareholders and activists for higher stock returns, greater competition from unexpected sources and other pressures, they stepped forward to publicly support diversity and inclusion.   This group is committed to working toward fostering an environment in their organizations where diversity and inclusion conversations can occur. They also agreed to implement and expand unconscious bias education and share practices that worked, as well as those that were unsuccessful. The group’s steering committee meets in November.

Common HR Outsourcing Myths Debunked

According to our 2017 Nonprofit Employment practices survey, half of nonprofit organizations expect to create new positions this year. However, despite this expected growth, less than 1% of nonprofit funding goes toward supporting talent. This is a problem. Could outsourcing your human resources function to an expert firm be part of the solution? Could doing so help you give talent the focus and strategic support it deserves? Let’s take a deeper look. What is outsourced HR? When an organization outsources its human resources function, the organization engages an external partner to manage everything that would typically be handled by an

Four (new) Millennial Retention Tactics for Nonprofits

Millennials bring a new outlook and innovation to your nonprofit organization, but some also have different priorities than the Gen X and Baby Boomer employees who came before them. Combatting high Millennial turnover rates has long been a hot topic for both for-profits and nonprofits, but few organizations have truly cracked the code for retaining these employees. According to our 2016 Nonprofit Employment Practices Survey, one in three nonprofits report retaining staff under the age of 30 as their biggest staffing challenge. Clearly, Millennial turnover is a very serious issue for the social sector, especially considering turnover costs can be as

Talent: The Missing Piece in Nonprofit Sustainability

In Nell Edington’s recent article “What is Nonprofit Sustainability?” she answers that important question this way: “Nonprofit sustainability occurs when a nonprofit attracts and effectively uses enough and the right kinds of money necessary to achieve their long-term outcome goals.” Being the passionate nonprofit talent advocate that I am, I’ve put my own “yes, and” spin on Nell’s well-crafted definition. To me, “Nonprofit sustainability occurs when a nonprofit attracts and effectively uses enough and the right kinds of money and people necessary to lead and achieve their long-term outcome goals.” Much like the varying perspectives on nonprofit sustainability that Nell

The Real Solution to Nonprofit Leadership Elitism

In the March issue cover story “Elites at Work,” The Chronicle of Philanthropy explored a growing concern among many in the social sector that nonprofit leadership is becoming too elite, and thereby too disconnected from the populations their organizations serve. This concern has only grown in recent months as the November election and ensuing political shakeup has shined a bright light on the disconnect between American elites and the working and middle classes. In the article, reporter Nicole Wallace shared the story of Paul Schmitz, who battled drug addiction in high school and was once homeless, but went on to

How to Invest in Talent When Your Nonprofit’s Budget is Tight

Talent plays a critical role in nonprofit performance, but according to our 2016 Nonprofit Employment Practices Survey, 84 percent of nonprofits don’t have a formal retention strategy in place, and nonprofit employee turnover has gradually increased over the past few years. These data point to an ineffective approach to talent across the sector, and often, budgets are to blame. Less than 1% of nonprofit funding has historically gone to supporting talent, and a mere .03% of the social sector’s annual spending has historically been allocated to leadership development. Those numbers are in danger of shrinking even further in the year

Five Key Takeaways from the 2017 Nonprofit Talent Management Priorities Survey

Earlier this year, we surveyed nearly 300 nonprofit leaders and HR professionals about their most pressing talent priorities. There is a severe shortage of data available about nonprofit talent, and our newly released Nonprofit Talent Management Priorities survey is one of several new data initiatives we are developing to fill that gap. The resulting data both inform our approach to serving the nonprofit sector and help nonprofits like yours set accurate benchmarks and priorities relative to peer organizations. We shared the results in a public data portal several weeks ago, but here are five key takeaways worth exploring in more

9 Women Paving the Way for All Nonprofit Leaders

In light of Women’s History Month, we’d like to recognize a few amazing nonprofit leaders that we admire. But before we do that, we need to put a few things on the table. As much as we’re delighted to pay tribute to these dynamic nonprofit leaders who are at the forefront of social causes, we remain deeply concerned about the gender inequity that continues to live in and across the nonprofit sector. Women – despite dominating the nonprofit workforce – still make up less than a third of social sector CEOs. And of those who are in the top-spot in