01/29/2024

Fewer People Want to Lead Nonprofits

Many aspiring leaders are not being pulled into leadership roles

Important strides have been made in the past decade to support new nonprofit leaders. But just as more baby boomers are stepping down from the top spots, fewer people want to take their place, and those who are interested — especially people of color — are moving into leadership out of dissatisfaction with the way their organizations are run.

That's the conclusion of the newest report in the Race to Lead series, “The Push and Pull: Declining Interest in Nonprofit Leadership,” released on Thursday by our organization, the Building Movement Project.

We found that the percentage of respondents of color who aspire to lead an organization had dipped to the lowest level across three surveys we’ve conducted since 2016 — from a high of 52 percent in 2019 to 46 percent in the new report, which reflects data collected in 2022. These findings were particularly alarming since our previous surveys showed an increase in the percent of nonprofit staff of color who expressed an interest in leadership positions.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Chronicle of Philanthropy.