Nonprofit leaders are integral to their organizations’ success. Their talent, spirit, energy, and drive influence organizational impact create social value for the communities they serve. Yet investing in leadership development is not a funding strategy or priority for many foundations. Many funders question whether investing in leadership development makes a difference in the work itself. Does it help nonprofit leaders get better results for their organizations or is an indulgence?
Please join us for a three-way look at how the leadership bench is being built. Research from Rusty Stahl of Talent Philanthropy Project and Margi Clarke of RoadMap Consulting will ground our conversation as we examine how funders are supporting and building internal benches of leadership. Using social justice organizations as a case study we will learn about what these organizations are doing internally to sustain themselves for the long haul.
Bay Area social justice organization, East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE) and Mujeres Unidas y Activas (MUA). will join the funders to talk about their processes to create policies, practices and structures that make the work more sustainable and deepen internal leadership. Funders from the Evelyn & Walter Haas Jr. Fund and General Service Foundation will share some of the tactics they are employing to support deepening the leadership bench to both address the internal organization’s work and the external movement work.
Please Join Us To
- Discuss obstacles, challenge assumptions that lead to low philanthropic investment in movement leadership programs in organizations
- Understand the benefits of greater efforts toward staff development and retention in social justice organizations
- Share models of how front-line organizations and funders are attempting to make this work more sustainable
- Talk about the tensions in the practice
Target Audience
This program free and open to NCG members and invited non-profit guests. If you are not a NCG member and would like to register, please email registrar@ncg.org
Presenters
- Dana Kawaoka-Chen, Bay Area Justice Funders Network
- Rusty Stahl, Talent Philanthropy
- Margi Clarke, RoadMap Consulting
- Kate O'Hara, EBASE (East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy)
- Juana Flores, Mujeres Unidas y Activas (MUA)
- Linda Wood, Evelyn & Walter Haas Jr. Fund
- Holly Bartling, General Service Foundation
Goals
- Raise consciousness regarding the benefits of greater efforts toward staff development and retention in social justice organizations
- Discuss obstacles /challenge assumptions that lead to low philanthropic investment in movement leadership programs in organizations
- Share models of how front-line organizations and funders are attempting to make this work more sustainable
Tentative Agenda
1:05 – 1:15 Welcome & Context Setting
1:15 – 1:30 Opening Exercise
1:30 – 2:00 Talent Philanthropy and RoadMap: Share their research
2:00 – 3:00 The moment we realized . . .
Nonprofit organization: Recount when they realized something needed to change
Foundations: Recount when they realized something needed to change
Q&A
3:00-3:30 Table Conversations
How do we talk about what people are “worth”?
How do we negotiate the tensions around supporting “the leader” and “deepening the bench?”
What structures and policies really make a difference?
How can foundations raise questions of staff retention and development in productive ways?
3:30 – 3:45 Table Report-Out
3:45 - 4:00: Summarize and Close
Program Partners:
This program was designed in partnership with Bay Area Justice Funders Network and Talent Philanthropy.
Sponsors:
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, and General Service Foundation