In the Bridgespan Group's white paper entitled, "The Nonprofit Sector's Leadership Deficit" it is estimated that:
"...in 2006, U.S. nonprofits with revenues greater than $250,000 will need to add more than 56,000 new senior managers to their existing ranks. Cumulatively, over the decade from 2007 to 2016, they will need to attract and develop some 640,000 new senior leaders - or the equivalent of 2.4 times the number currently employed."
Tierney, Thomas (retrieved on October 15, 2006 from www.bridgestar.org)
Nonprofits exist to improve the human condition. Whether the nonprofit setting is human services, arts and culture, health care, education, or religion, their mission will be to improve the quality of people’s lives. Nonprofit professionals work for organizations whose missions give them a means of living out their calling. Some people who work in nonprofits research, plan and implement programs that increase reading skills, reduce juvenile crime, introduce children to the arts, keep seniors independent and safe, and respond to emergencies. Some people who work in nonprofits are making strides that will lead to the end of homelessness, mental illness, discrimination, family violence and unemployment. Some people who work in nonprofits introduce children to jazz, an endangered species, the excitement of a city or the tranquility of backpacking. They hear, “Without your program I would be homeless, illiterate, unemployed, useless, lonely, sick, abused, bored or on drugs.” Nonprofit employees are paid to help.
The work is never dull. There are no simple/single solutions to community or individual problems. Nonprofit leadership is for those who thrive in the midst of chaos, uncertainty, and ambiguity. Progress requires collaboration, experimentation, risk, compassion and lots of patience.
You will work with diverse people. You will build connections between government, other nonprofits, churches and synagogues, and the private sector. Volunteers and paid professionals, bankers and people suffering from substance abuse, a ten-year-old afraid to speak and a senior who has seventy years of stories, a CEO and someone just burned out of their home will come together to plan a strategy to revitalize a neighborhood.
The highest paying jobs in nonprofit leadership are in top management (CEO, CFO), development, and technology. Larger nonprofits pay more than smaller nonprofits. The mean salary in Michigan for Development Directors in organizations with budgets between $1,000,001-2,500,000 was $52,268 plus benefits according to the “2008 Michigan Nonprofit Compensation and Benefit Survey” published by the Michigan Nonprofit Association.
There will be at least 50,000 jobs waiting when you graduate and millions of missions to fulfill. Give your life meaning by helping children and families set new goals, learn new skills, appreciate beauty and create it, acquire new knowledge, make new friends, and preserve our planet and its many wonders.
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