The Talent Crisis Hurting Nonprofits — and America
Teach for America founder and Teach for All CEO Wendy Kopp says young people are being forced to turn away from public service and take jobs that insulate them from America's inequity. Here's how to win them back.
By Wendy Kopp
CEO, Teach for All
January 6, 2026 | Read Time: 5 minutes
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For more than three decades, I have worked with others to recruit, train, and support young people — chiefly recent college graduates — who want to address major social issues. Through Teach for America, launched in 1989, more than 70,000 individuals have devoted two years to leading classrooms in low-income, underresourced urban and rural public schools. Through Teach for All — a global network of independent, locally led organizations created in 2007 — another 50,000 in more than 60 countries have made similar commitments in their communities.
Over the years, we have found that working in close proximity to social issues such as poverty, hunger, discrimination, trauma, and struggling systems can transform young professionals and their communities. Young people who step into roles facing such systemic challenges develop the identity, insights, and skills that shape their careers, according to research on Teach for All’s network. They gain a deeper understanding of inequity, come to believe even more in the potential of the communities they serve, and see their power to contribute. Also, their priorities shift: Seventy-five percent of Teach for All teachers continue to work full-time for the rest of their lives to tackle these issues as educators, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and more.
In short, these early professional experiences develop the collective leadership — people working toward a shared purpose across disciplines and causes — that is essential for strong communities. The opposite is also true: When young people begin their careers in skyscrapers far removed from day-to-day realities, we risk deepening social division and polarization. In my recent talk at Emerson Collective’s annual Demo Day, I underscored how early careers spent close to marginalized communities narrows the gap between those shaping decisions and those affected.
That’s why the current moment is so concerning. Public service organizations are finding it harder to attract young people. Even at universities with strong traditions of civic engagement, more students are entering the corporate world. At Harvard, almost half of last year’s graduating class went into consulting, finance, and technology, up from about a third a decade ago. Fewer are choosing roles that bring them close to the realities of the world and the issues they care about.
Financial pressures contribute to this shift. Rising costs and the burden of student debt make pursuing public service more challenging. Programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness offer debt relief, making public service a feasible choice. But that program has faced periodic threats of rollback or major change, heightening young people’s anxiety. Even the perception that loan relief may not be dependable can tip early-career decisions.
Yet affordability alone does not explain the trend. Students with the most privilege, and the least financial pressure, are the most likely to choose corporate tracks. Over time, early corporate recruiting has come to set the cultural tone on campus. Aggressive outreach begins as early as the first year of college. Those who choose public service often navigate the path alone, with less institutional support and fewer clear entry points.
We must shift the broader economic and cultural forces shaping young people’s decisions. That includes asking universities — whose missions call for preparing students to contribute to society — to align their practices with those principles. Today, many institutions run career centers where employers often “pay to play” for access to students. This inevitably advantages corporate recruiters, who can invest early and heavily, while nonprofits, typically limited by their smaller budgets, struggle to gain visibility. If universities want to live into their mission statements, reducing these access barriers would be a meaningful place to start.
The Nonprofit Advantage
Social sector organizations also can adapt to make public service a viable, compelling early-career path. Living wages and wellness benefits widen the pool of candidates who can consider public service. Young people carrying debt or supporting family members cannot pursue purpose-driven work unless it is financially feasible.
Strong early-career development is just as essential. Clear responsibilities, structured mentorship, and a culture of continuous learning help young people build mastery and avoid burnout in demanding roles. When organizations invest in such support, they offer something the private sector cannot always match: rapid leadership development. Public service can’t always match corporate salaries, but it can offer more responsibility, growth, and learning — precisely the development opportunities young professionals crave.
Increasing the visibility of the social sector is also critical. Corporate recruiters reach students early and consistently through well-developed systems. We need to be equally intentional. To help students see what public-service jobs look like in practice, the field should emphasize paid internships and fellowships with real-world responsibility, partnerships with university career centers and social-impact faculty, alumni ambassadors who speak plainly about the work, and day-in-the-life windows into public-service careers. Students are far more likely to choose these pathways when they have met young professionals who look like them, share their values, and can describe how the work shaped their trajectories.
Most important, we need to help young people see themselves in these roles. When they ask for advice at a career center, or even at a family dinner table, we can shift the conversation from prestige and compensation alone to include proximity, purpose, and the realities of the world they hope to change.
The next generation’s early-career choices will shape our shared future. We must help young people recognize how they can help tackle social issues and support them to make these choices. At a time when committing to public service is getting harder, the social sector can lean into what we uniquely offer: early responsibility, meaningful work, and the chance to contribute to systemic change.
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