Over 100 people in the nonprofit sector and philanthropy gathered yesterday afternoon for the first summit of it’s kind called Who’s Got Next? Addressing the Leadership Crisis Among African-American Nonprofit Organizations. The panelists included:
- Alandra Washington, Kellogg Foundation
- Michael Watson, Girl Scouts USA
- Dr. William Pollard, former President of University of DC
- Wanda Jackson, National Urban League
- Yolanda Hunter, HR consultant
- Phyllis Wallace, American Humanics
- Patrick Corvington, Annie E. Casey Foundation
- …and myself
We discussed the need for more diversity in the sector, recruiting and retaining the next generation of leaders, the war on talent, succession planning, and leadership development strategies for students and other nonprofit professionals.
The best thing about the summit is that so many of the right people were in attendance that can help turn this issue around. Nonprofit practitioners and funders alike are beginning to understand the importance of recruiting and retaining top talent in nonprofits that serve communities of color. Here are some highlights from the conversation:
- Many of the issues facing African American leadership gaps are the same across the board for the nonprofit sector in general
- In order to recruit future leaders of color, we need to offer fair salaries and benefits, professional development and leadership opportunities, and opportunities for advancement, even in small organizations
- Diversity needs to be a top priority of the Board and CEO
- We need to screen our search firms and temp agencies to make sure that they will go the extra mile in seeking out qualified candidates of color
- It is a huge challenge to recruit people of color for fundraising and communications/marketing positions
- Nonprofits and foundations need to move beyond the “usual networks” to find people of color to fill positions, “intent” is not good enough
- There’s a “war for talent” and we need to promote the nonprofit sector as a viable career choice
- It’s hard for philanthropy to address this issue through grantmaking, as capacity building dollars are drying up
- We need to leverage the largely untapped the leadership networks of churches and fraternities/sororities
- We will have to address the issue of student debt if we want to attract college graduates to our organizations
- Over 60% of nonprofits don’t have a succession plan. We need to build a culture of leadership development and succession planning within our organizations.
- Nonprofit leaders who are ready to retire will need solutions to their empty or nonexistent retirement accounts so they can actually afford to leave
- More general operating support of nonprofits is needed so nonprofits can spend more “overhead” on leadership development for staff to begin building the pipeline
Another great thing is that the organizers plan to revisit this issue next year, focused on action to address these important issues.
Cozality on 
bsaunders on 
