Hiring Your Next Nonprofit Leader: How to Succeed in a New Era of Fundraising and DEI
Last month, I wrote about the seasons changing.
About how there are five generations of donors.
And the wealth is passing from one generation to the others.
How each generation has different needs.
Different expectations.
Different preferred methods of communication.
And this is also happening in executive leadership at nonprofits.
Baby boomers are retiring.
Baby boomers who have held leadership roles for decades.
And now nonprofit boards of directors are tasked with finding replacements.
Do they look internally?
Someone who may or may not have the same skillset as the person they are replacing, knows the institution, but likely never done the job before.
Do they look externally?
Someone who will have outside experience and have to adapt to the culture and build the trust of the people they will now be leading.
Do they consider a co-led model?
Instead of trying to find the one ideal person to fill a role, they instead look for two people to share the responsibility, share the execution and share the decision-making.
Regardless of the approach, we are in a time where many nonprofit boards are tasked with finding some new talent.
Here are some thoughts on what to consider:
Don’t just replace who you had. Consider what you need next.
Let’s say you’re replacing your executive director. They’re fantastic. They brought your nonprofit from an annual budget of $500,000 to $5 million. They have made your nonprofit known in the community. But what are the challenges now?
You know you will need to pivot into a new community
You know you will need to raise additional capital for a new building
You know there is more government oversight in your sector than a decade ago (and it’s continuing to evolve)
So you want to hire for those situations – not what you have already done.
Give them time to be successful.
I see this a lot with development hires. They’re expected to get immediate wins. Raise lots of new money in the first month.
And while that is not impossible, it shouldn’t be the expectation.
The development professional needs time to build relationships.
Really develop their talking points.
See the impact of the work.
This doesn’t happen overnight.
Fundraising is changing. Will your leadership create a strategy to adapt to these new norms?
Fewer donors are giving each year.
Younger donors are more focused on a cause and less loyal to the organization.
So you have to make the case more and more each year about why YOUR nonprofit is where their support should go.
More high net-worth donors are first giving to their own Donor Advised Funds or Family Foundations instead of giving directly to a nonprofit.
The fundraising strategy over the past several decades will not necessarily bring you the same success in the future.
Adaptability and Learning
When the last wave of new leadership started, they might have just started to have a computer at every desk. They might have just started to use email.
And now? We are just starting with artificial intelligence (AI). We are just starting to figure out the hybrid workforce. We are moving more and more into freelance and gig workers.
The workforce is changing. People no longer have loyalty to their company nor expect to stay with them for decades.
So your next executive leaders at your nonprofit need to be people who can adapt quickly. Who can learn new technology. Who can pivot as staff come and go.
Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)
Thirty years ago, this was not a priority. No one talked about an entire leadership team being all white men.
Now? It’s considered unacceptable.
How will your new leadership support initiatives to provide parental leave for new parents?
How will your new leadership consider how to elevate underrepresented voices?
How will your new leadership prioritize hiring decisions and vendor selections that are diverse?
Will they be representative of the types of people you support as a nonprofit?
The success of your DEI initiatives will not take place by checking off items on a list, but through ongoing learning, leadership and evolution.
Look, the seasons are changing.
And so do the leaders at your nonprofit organization. What made sense a decade ago for whom to hire, may no longer be a priority.
Regardless of who is brought in, fundraising is going to be important.