Exciting Developments in the Nonprofit World
On Tuesday November 15, 2011 the White House sponsored its first Forum on Nonprofit Leadership conference in Washington DC. I had the honor of attending, along with key representatives from the nonprofit sector, foundations and funding organizations, the corporate sector and several departments of the Government.
This was truly a ground breaking experience—in part because it was the first meeting of its kind to bring these disparate yet relevant groups together in a formal way, but more importantly, because of what we were convened to discuss—leadership development in the nonprofit sector.
Both the Government and the corporate sector understand the importance of leadership development as it relates to mission achievement and organizational effectiveness. And of course, both have the resources to invest in this important pursuit. When it comes to the nonprofit sector, however, providing development opportunities to current and emerging leaders isn’t quite so straightforward.
Central to the issue is the fact that when a nonprofit receives a monetary grant, there is an expectation that the money be used only for programs that benefit the nonprofit’s clients. In fact, it is almost frowned upon for nonprofits to allocate money to developing their own people—that’s considered overhead.
And yet, people are the cornerstone of any nonprofit, just as they are in any corporate or Government organization. Perhaps more so than in any other sector, providing nonprofit employees with opportunities to grow, develop and get engaged in their work is critical to mission success. One of the core objectives in the conference was to begin the process of changing that.
The White House Forum on Nonprofit Leadership provided all of us the opportunity to hear insights and observations from many key thought leaders in the nonprofit sector, the corporate sector and the Government. But perhaps the most exciting part of the day was when we broke into four groups of approximately 60 people each to tackle key issues and propose solutions for:
- Making leadership development widely available for nonprofits
- Tackling issues of funding for leadership development
- Bringing greater diversity to the nonprofit employee population
- Developing a talent pipeline for nonprofits
- Building a framework for social innovation
Most impressive to me was the fact that all of us came together to put our best thinking on issues that confront the nonprofit sector as whole. Although we all represented unique organizations, our task was to focus on the nonprofit landscape, as opposed to certain organizations or pillars within the nonprofit sector.
Many ambitious and innovative ideas came from these sessions. But we all know ideas are only interesting thoughts unless you act on them. The commitment of this group was to continue working through the ideas and strategies proposed in the forum, and to reconvene in six months to assess progress and determine next steps. On whole, it was an incredible “starter conversation” that—if followed through to fruition—promises some exciting developments in the nonprofit sector.
To learn more:
http://about.americanexpress.com/news/pr/2011/whf.aspx
http://www.nonprofitalternatives.org/page/the-white-houses-views-on-nonprofit-leadership/
Julie Brandt is the Executive Director of the Cornerstone OnDemand Foundation.