Bridgespan’s latest report on the leadership deficit

Last week the Bridgespan Group published Finding Leaders for America’s Nonprofits – an update to their leadership deficit study from 2006. Many people have been wondering if the leadership deficit is no longer an issue because of the recession. Bridgespan polled 433 nonprofit EDs with revenues greater than $1M in Q1 of 2009. Bridgespan’s findings were surprising because they found the gap was even larger than originally anticipated.

Key learnings from their latest report:
1. The leadership deficit in nonprofit organizations remains large: There were an estimated 77,000 senior openings last year. 25% were filled through internal career progression, 41% through in-sector hiring, 21% through bridging talent from the corporate sector. (That is from the study, I don’t know how the remaining 13% were filled). There will be an estimated 28,000 vacancies in 2009.

2. Functional skills matter and are transferable across sectors: 79% of respondents rated functional experience as “very important”. Almost 1/4 of the positions filled in 2008 were newly created due to growth and increasing organizational complexity. This seems to be a major factor in why organizations are seeking talent that has deep functional experience in areas such as finance, marketing, operations, technology and HR.

3. Cultural fit is the deal breaker: While relevant functional experience can get a bridger into an interview with the organization, cultural fit is critical in getting the job. This has been echoed by my interviews with nonprofit leaders who get turned off by candidates who refer to nonprofit “companies” and assume that there is a clear cut “bottom line”.

4. Job boards, networks and search professionals most effectively connect talent to jobs: 49% of respondents use job boards, 44% use external networking, and 13% use executive search firms to identify their candidates.

There is lots of interesting data in the study, so I encourage you to check it out.