It’s raining and snowing and cold in Denver, Colorado today, but the mood at the Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy (EPIP) is anything but gloomy. This afternoon marks the opening plenary for their 2010 National Conference this weekend through April 25, prior to the Council on Foundations 61stAnnual Conference. The theme for this year’s conference is “Building a Movement, Making an Impact” and the plenary speaker, Robby Rodriguez, was the epitome of someone who is doing just that. Robby is the Executive Director of the Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP) and co-author of the awesome book Working Across Generations: Defining the Future of Nonprofit Leadership.
Robby became an Executive Director at 28 years old after the founder had passed away. He took over at a time when the organization’s partners were wondering what was going to happen to the work, so there was lots of pressure to Robby to succeed as a new executive director. Half of SWOP’s staff was under 30, yet the board was over 50. People had different motivations on why they worked for the organization based on their generation. Yet through new and shared experiences, SWOP learned to pull through and continue to support the organization and its work.
Robby talked about the conversation about the nonprofit leadership “crisis” and how it’s changed in the past few years. In 2007, the worry was: “The boomers are leaving!” A 2001 Daring to Lead study said that 75 percent of executive directors planned to leave their jobs within five years. Yet, five years later, when a second Daring to Lead study was published in 2006, that percentage was the same. And the boomers still hadn’t left their jobs yet. So in 2010, the crisis is: “the boomers are staying!” And indeed, the boomers are staying. The youngest baby boomers are in their mid-40s, so they have at least 20 more years left in the nonprofit workforce.
The generation differences include several challenging dynamics, and Robby was very vocal about the changes we face regarding race and leadership. Robby reminded us that the 2008 Ready to Lead study showed that there is more interest from people of color in becoming a nonprofit executive director, yet that desire doesn’t get reflected in the actual leadership of the sector. Daring to Lead 2001 showed that 17 percent of executive directors were of color, then five years later, that number was still the same.
Robby said that there were five frames within which to think about leadership change that will affect the solutions we come up with as a sector.
Frame 1: The Crisis
If we think we’re in a crisis , organizations will prioritize succession planning and ”pipeline” planning for new leaders. Yet, the search for those “new leaders” may simply generate more of the same: baby boomer white men.
Frame 2: There’s No Room at the Top
If we think the problem is that there’s no room at the top, organizations will seek to share power and make it possible for current leaders to leave or change positions.
Frame 3: It’s the Position
If we recognize that the problem is with leadership positions, then organizations will focus on providing support for new leaders. We will begin to rethink the executive director role, and realize that it’s not a model we should be taking into the 21st century.
Frame 4: We Have a Problem Recognizing Leaders
If we look at how we currently recognize our leadership, then younger leaders may not look like current leaders. Challenge assumptions about who assume everyone has leadership potential and be “leaderfull” organizations.
Frame 5: Another Organizational Form is Possible
We have to realize that organizations in the future might operate differently. We’re a sector in transition and we have to recognize that change is hard and we need to “fail faster” like in scientific inquiry.
Robby also outlined three points for young leaders in nonprofits and philanthropy to consider in our work:
1. The world is seriously jacked up and we have to do all we can to fix it. The tea party and right-wingers have done for racism what Justin Timberlake did for sexy. It’s back.
2. Philanthropy in the 21st century has to be a question of social justice. Where social justice lives is at the nexus of power and money and love. We have to put social justice front and center in our philanthropy.
3. The future will look different. That is a fact. So we have to as well.
Then, someone asked Robby the important question of when. When should our generation start taking the reins without having them given to us? Robby echoed my thoughts exactly: “I think it’s now. Right now. It’s not about passing the torch or taking the reigns, but about leading together.”
Be sure to watch the live video stream of this weekend’s EPIP conference sessions here: http://epip.org and my fellow bloggers Allison Jones and Trista Harris. You can also follow the conference happenings on Twitter!
Cozality on 
bsaunders on 
