Making the
Case for Recruiting and Retaining Talent
The following article was published in the Conference
of Southwest Foundations newsletter, Connections (Vol. 33, Number 3, Fall 2009):
An old Indian guru once said, “Be realistic, plan for a miracle.” Sage advice, indeed.
How do we navigate our way through the storms of tomorrow, when who knows what tomorrow will bring? Shoring up the social
sector? Wisdom points the weathervane: build financial resources and human capital.
Every year, sports
recruiters from America’s colleges and universities scour the country for the nation's best players. They log countless
miles and no state is ignored. So which states have the most to offer this year? Scouts examine the overall talent level,
name the top prospects, find players whose names you should remember and also break down which programs are doing the best.
Amazingly, colleges begin to scout talent beginning in the 8th grade! Yet, in world of philanthropy and nonprofit
organizations, is there a multi-year commitment to recruit, develop and retain the best talent to do the vital work of saving
the world? Unlikely. No, highly unlikely. “We’ve got five minutes. Does s/he have a pulse? Ok, good, you’re
hired.”
A principal theme of CSF’s Annual Conference this
year was Inspiring Excellence. So let’s take a look at that as it relates to our own backyard. Economic issues
set aside for the moment, allow us to focus on human resources—specifically, leadership development and how grantmakers
and grantees can, no, must work together on succession planning. For truly, excellence doesn’t come easily;
inspiring excellence no more easily—but it can be done.
A number of individuals featured at this year’s conference offer fine examples of this, among them Sandra
Day O’Conner, Darian Rodriquez-Heyman, Michele Monse, Nan Ronan, Wendy Kopp and Richard Barth. And in part
what they have in common is a strong desire to invite others to join them on their path—to build the human capacity
to empower and embolden civil society—to find or invent ways to draw people into the fold—to recruit and retain
talent into the nonprofit/NGO arena. For they know . . . without this, our world will wholly suffer.
It is estimated that over the next decade, nearly 80% of nonprofit executive directors will leave
their posts. Another study warns that 640,000 senior managers will do the same. Yet, it is entirely unclear who will come
behind them! Extensive research shows that the only thing that is clear is that people can’t connect the dots.
Some attention has been directed at ‘encore careers’ for Baby Boomers, but we view this as a short-term solution.
Meanwhile, highly energized and well-meaning young people don’t know how to relate their ‘service learning’
experiences to the concept of a ‘nonprofit career,’ with less than 1% having a conversation with guidance counselors
about nonprofit career opportunities. Mid-career transition “wannabes” with tremendously valuable skills and experience
likewise have no roadmap. No one in their worlds suggests a nonprofit career choice as a realistic option; it is not a topic
that is earnestly discussed in any venue. In all seriousness, far more people can name the judges on American Idol than can
name three nonprofits in their home community.
So, it falls squarely
on the shoulders of both grantmakers and grantees to carry forth this critical mission: to lend intentional focus to multi-year
development strategies and succession planning aimed at scouting for, hiring, maintaining, and retaining talent. Emphasis
should be placed on, among other things, professional development, capacity building, creating service learning links, career
ladders, seamless transitions, and defining measurable results. These are our two cents worth. Some additional thoughts come
from conference presenters . . .
In her luncheon plenary speech, Justice
Sandra Day O’Connor remarked: “In almost every case, major projects all start with a single individual. Here we
are gathered to talk about organizations, including fundraising and investment strategies, but I want to mention something
a little more basic that is sometimes overlooked—the individual. Ours is a nation built on pride and sacrifice and commitment
to share things on a willingness of our citizens to give of their time and energy for the good of the whole. It is the individual
who can bring a tear to my eye and cause me to take my pen in hand. It is the individual who often will not only force a decision
to be made but will have a hand in making the decision. Whether the individual acts in the legal, the governmental, or the
private realm, one concerned dedicated person can meaningfully affect what some say is a very indifferent world. Many of the
individuals who have made significant contributions to their communities have done so while in the course of ordinary life
they saw a great need, and after identifying the need, they had the insight to envision a solution and the capacity to inspire
others to help make the solution a reality. These individuals draw on their own experiences and education to tackle problems
that they saw around them . . . When we talk about funding which is critical to making any great idea work, it helps to remember
that our most abundant, our most important premise, comes in the form of ideas. And you know what? Ideas are recession proof,
so we can keep those coming!”
Michele Monse, CSF Board member and Executive
Director of the Carl B. and Florence E. King Foundation, discussed the challenges of career transition: “The last couple
years I was in practice I was a real estate lawyer. But I didn’t really care whether these apartment complexes or that
shopping center got built, or whatever. So the ‘carrot and stick’ approach works if you like carrots. People need
to really pay attention—and by that I mean pay attention to those moments of disquiet with what you’re doing and
not just kind of paper that over, or stay on that moving sidewalk at the airport. People need to really pay attention in their
heads and hearts as they’re moving through their lives. People I know who have been successful at changing careers have
been brutally honest with themselves about what’s important to them and what their values are. If you don’t have
that kind of honesty with yourself you’re not going to be able to change your career successfully into working for nonprofits
or anything else.”
Nan Ronan, CEO of the
National Alliance to End Homelessness, emphasized how rewarding the work can be: “I’ve been very happy in the
nonprofit sector! I’m successful in making things happen, because I’m strategic. So particularly if you are making
progress, then it is very rewarding!”
Darian Rodriguez Heyman,
who is working on ‘next generation leadership’, said: “We really need to expand our pool of diverse, young
and talented leaders, but the pipeline is leaking. We also need to work on retaining our younger nonprofit workers and maintaining
our talent. We need to create a repository of research on the subject with an eye toward best practices and making this information
actionable.”
Richard Barth, CEO of the KIPP Foundation,
added: “A large company like Proctor and Gamble shows up on a college campus and they’ve got it down. So can 100
smaller nonprofit organizations pull together and make the case to recruit this talented younger workforce? How
does scale play into this? As a sector, we don’t yet do a good job of career planning or career pathing—it’s
not in our culture.”
Wendy Kopp, Founder and Director of Teach America, addressed the potential of having true impact over time: “Beyond
just adding to the [racial/ethnic] diversity of teachers in communities, the fact that we are bringing folks in with such
a diversity of experiences overall is important. And we know that we may lose some, but we’re also going to get a whole
new crop and they are going to be great! The surprise is that about 30% of them stay [in their teaching positions]. In fact,
70% of our folks stay in the urban communities that we are in. So over time, you gain this critical mass of folks that are
serving on school boards and moving up ladders in school districts and running high performing charter schools and doing all
sorts of other things. This makes a real impact!”
Finally, we would like
to add a few sage words shared with us by Desmond Tutu: “As I look into the eyes of people who serve, I see into their
hearts. They may not be the same eyes. Some are dark, some light, some old, some fresh—but they share a devotion to
a cause that is dear to them. They may not share the same cause. They may dedicate themselves to the earth, humanity, or the
arts—but I see the same passion in their hearts, and fulfillment in their lives.” So yes, let’s be realistic and plan
for a miracle!
Alexandra Mitchell &
Jeffrey Pryor -- November, 2009
