Read more about Kristin's Call to Action
"Investing in Emerging Leaders" Panel Tackles Nonprofit Gap
The leadership development pipeline is currently an issue that has received a lot of attention in the nonprofit world. Last Monday, some of the most accomplished thought leaders in the field gathered to discuss their views on what we need to do to attract and develop new talent in nonprofit organizations. Co-sponsored by the New York Regional Association of Grantmakers, The New York Times, the Support Center for Nonprofit Management, and American Express, the “Investing in Emerging Leaders” panel addressed the challenges facing the nonprofit field and posited ways to close the leadership gap.
The panel’s participants included representatives from all fields: Rich Berlin, Executive Director, Harlem RBI; David Birdsell, Dean of School of Public Affairs, Baruch College; Patrick Corvington, Senior Associate, Annie E. Casey Foundation; Timothy McClimon, President, American Express Foundation; and Echoing Green’s own Cheryl Dorsey.
The panel identified a key problem in nonprofit training and leadership, in that young people are immediately locked into one field when they join a nonprofit. Since they are ensconced in their field, be it marketing, development or otherwise, they have limited opportunities to grow and learn about the organization as a whole. The speakers agreed that more resources, increased investment in professional development and mentoring, and including more young people on boards could help keep emerging leaders involved for years to come.
If you are interested, here are some resources you can read: Next Shift brought to you by Building Movements; Ready to Lead brought to you by The Annie E. Casey Foundation; CompassPoint Nonprofit Services; Meyer Foundation; Idealist.org
So, what do you think? How can we attract and retain more young talent to the nonprofit sector? What organizations are doing innovative work in this space?
April 18, 2008 - 1:53pm
Echoing Green Spark Newsletter
(Required fields are bold)
Contact Us
Echoing Green
494 Eighth Ave
2nd Floor
New York, NY 10001
(Entrance on 35th Street)
Phone: 212-689-1165
Fax: 212-689-9010
Email: info@echoinggreen.org
Staff Directory
For PR, marketing, website, or speaking inquiries, please contact Lara Galinsky (lara@echoinggreen.org).
To apply for an Echoing Green Fellowship, please visit our Fellowship section. Proposals submitted via mail or email will not be considered.
Site Map (xml) | Privacy Policy | Echoing Green is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.
* Echoing Green is proud to partner with wdydwyd?, a community art project created by Tony Deifell. Answer the question for yourself at wdydwyd.org.
Comments
using the "coach approach" for emerging leaders
I have begun a new "start up " non profit based on the honor of being given a grant for the First Global Visionary Fellow from the foundation of coaching (www.foundationofcoaching.org)This grant was for my visionary idea expressed in www.CoachingTheGlobalVillage.org
The purpose is
Coaching the Global Village (CGV) is a virtual organization that hosted its founding meeting in October 2006.
CGV has developed a “coach approach” training curriculum designed for NGOs and nonprofit organizations in the United States and abroad. Using skills from the field of professional coaching, the coach approach curriculum is designed to build NGO's capacity to fully develop expertise in their field.
Three pilot projects have been completed to date—one in Maryland in October 2007, one in Michigan in January 2008, and one in Colorado in February 2008. In Maryland, the group was multi-cultural including participants from Eastern Europe, Israel, Iran, India, Russia, Turkey, Korea, and more. Of these participants more than half used English as a second language. The Michigan group was traditional U.S. nonprofit professionals (AmeriCorps and Learn and Serve grantees.) The participants in Colorado all work with YouthZone, a youth-serving agency whose primary clients are involved with the juvenile justice system.
Through the pilot programs, we have learned that we need to modify the curriculum to be modular in nature so that it can be customized and adapted to meet the needs of the participants whatever their culture.
i believe this "coach approach" will be very beneficial to emerging leaders and in maintaining the enthusiasm and zest of new young employyes of non profits
what do you think?
Two other blogs with coverage of this event.
Check out:
The Chronicle of Philanthropy - http://philanthropy.com/giveandtake/index.php?id=572
and, Future Leaders in Philanthropy -
http://flip.typepad.com/
Leadership Divided
Although not proposing radical transparency, Leadership Divided by Ron Carucci (2006) is a very good resource on this very issue. Emerging leaders have different expectations than incumbent leaders.
open up!
I think all those non-profit's should just open up. Get modern. Make everything public, discuss as much as possible online, ready for anyone to join in. Ofcourse, this doesn't work if they have something to hide, so first they should make sure they have good intentions and are acting lawfully across all their operations. Then there's no need for secrecy anymore.
I can understand the need for secrecy in a for-profit setting, but not for non-profit.
The management of big open source projects like Linux, Firefox or Drupal could be good examples for them.