What if we were to paint a picture of the life of an average nonprofit executive director? Some of you already know what that portrait looks like. Well, let me tell you what it doesn’t look like. It sure ain’t nothing like the 1997 hit song “Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems” by famed hip hop artists Notorious B.I.G., Sean “P. Diddy” Combs and Mase. The song was very popular when it was released with the catchy refrain:
“I don’t know what they want from me, it’s like the more money we come across, the more problems we see”.
Well unfortunately, the life of a top nonprofit leader is more like “No Money, Mo’ Problems”. Most executive directors are underpaid and have to deal with a myriad of stressful issues to achieve the missions of their organizations. Here are some interesting facts from the 2006 Daring to Lead report by the Meyer Foundation and CompassPoint Nonprofit Services:
- 3 out of 4 executive directors plan to leave their job within the next five years – citing lack of adequate compensation, burnout, and a sense of overwhelm at amount of time and resources dedicated to fundraising.
- Only 29 percent have succession plans in place.
- Most will stay in the sector – 70 percent.
- Only 26 percent have ever negotiated a raise.
- Nearly 2 in 3 executives believe they have made a significant financial sacrifice to do this work.
- Despite being 33 percent of the executive population overall, men are overrepresented among large organization and make more than women in every budget size.
- Only 18 percent of executive directors under 45 are people of color.
Given all of the issues that face nonprofit leaders today, it’s a wonder there are still nonprofit professionals that rise to the task of leading important organizations. There is really no glitz and glam for most of us; no reason to do this work if not for the missions we are so passionate about. That’s why it’s so important to make sure the passion remains the focus of our nonprofit jobs. Once we get bogged down in all the other mess, we lose sight of what’s really important: social change. So I say, let’s see what we can do to make it easier to work for a cause than for a corporation. Let us be determined to strengthen our field so that our leaders don’t get burned out and we lose their talent in our communities.
Because like P. Diddy would say: I thought I told you that we won’t stop.
