November 25, 2004 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Many nonprofit groups are not filling senior-manager vacancies, according to a new study conducted by BridgeStar, a nonprofit group in Boston that recruits senior executives and provides other management-consulting services to charities.
The survey, which was conducted in September, asked 138 organizations across the country about their plans for hiring senior managers in the next six months. Forty-one of the organizations reported that, over the past year, they had each lost one senior manager, while 30 reported that they had each seen two or more managers leave, and 67 said they had not lost any senior employees. At 54 of the groups surveyed, no new senior managers were hired, while 58 of the organizations each hired one person. Only two of the groups said they hired four or more top executives to make up for the departures of senior executives.
Nonprofit groups said resignations, retirement or illness, and firing of top executives were the top three reasons for the turnover. Eleven organizations said their managers left due to staff restructuring and cutbacks, while three said the departures were caused by salary issues.
When asked about recruiting, 43 organizations reported that they are looking for senior managers to join their staffs, while 95 groups said they are not currently hiring. Educational institutions, human-services groups, and charities that provide management training to other nonprofit groups were most likely to say they were not hiring new managers.
According to the survey, the top two skills that organizations seek in potential senior managers are fund raising and program oversight. The study, however, notes that while many nonprofit groups need “stronger fund-raising talent,” many lack the funds to hire job candidates with those skills.
Restructuring Jobs
The survey’s results showed that organizations are also taking a tentative approach to creating new positions, says Kathleen Yazbak-Chartier, director of talent and recruiting at BridgeStar.
“What I’ve been seeing is that a lot of organizations are refocusing some of the jobs, such as creating a chief operating officer [position], meaning that one or two other people in the organization at a somewhat senior level may have left, and that the idea is to create that new function,” she says.
Ms. Yazbak-Chartier says concern about the potential for government cutbacks is causing many groups to hold off on hiring. As demand for services grows, she says, many nonprofit groups are torn about how much they should spend on programs and how much on hiring senior managers.
“Organizations are not yet feeling they’re in a confident position to go out and recruit without any view as to where funding is going,” Ms. Yazbak-Chartier says.
Copies of the survey can be downloaded from the BridgeStar Web site, http://www.bridgestar.org. (Registration is required to view the survey.)
