Nonprofit Boards and Personnel Matters #NonprofitBoards

A recent story from the Pittsburgh Business Times centered on a new report by the Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management which identified "looming human resources problems for southwestern Pennsylvania's nonprofits".  Succession planning would be one of the buckets I would categorize the problem for boards and financial threats for those who will need to be succeeded.  And, HR (human resources) was identified as the overarching bucket of dillemnas facing the area's nonprofit boards.

 

Based on my consulting experience I am not surprised by this news - yes, nonprofit managers do face HR challenges that range from recruitment to orientation, training and management.  One pattern: folks who are really great providers are often "moved-up" to management positions and are frequently ill-prepared.

 

Beyond this though the article's author noted that "66% of the 229 nonprofit respondents to the survey said they had board personnel committees.   The author asked, given the challenges "what are these committees doing".  I would counter to offer that personnel management is not a governance responsibility but a board responsibility and that the failures in the systems lay with the CEO's except of course for the succession planning.  For this area, CEO succession planning lays singularly in the lap of Boards as this is their one employee.

 

So, great that this challenge is brought to the forefront but the solution does not lay with boards other than to say that training and evaluation are values and training must be built into the strategic plan and annual budgets.  We must be clear about structures and responsibilities when we seek solutions to common nonprofit problems and recognize that boards are not responsible for day-to-day operations - that's why they hire a executive director.

 

Study: HR problems mount for Pittsburgh nonprofits

By Patty Tascarella  –  Senior Reporter, Pittsburgh Business Times

a day ago

 

Only one third of Pittsburgh-area nonprofits have succession plans, but 69 percent of executives in the sector either plan to or could retire in the next decade.

“What Now?” a new report released Friday by the Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management at Robert Morris University, drove home looming human resources problems for southwestern Pennsylvania's nonprofits, from a pending leadership gap to a lack of financial preparation by many facing retirement. The report can be accessed by clicking here.

Nonprofits employ one in five people in southwestern Pennsylvania.

“HR in many if not most nonprofits is abysmal,” said Peggy Morrison Outon, the Bayer Center’s executive director. “We were thinking about what’s next, but it’s not next, it’s now.”

The Bayer Center has conducted a wages and benefits study every other year since 2002. Outon said this revealed “themes and pattern we needed to explore more deeply.”

Last fall, 299 nonprofit leaders were surveyed about retirement, resulting in “What’s Next?”It found that 66 percent of the nonprofit boards had personnel committees, but only 33 percent had a succession plan.

“What are these committees doing then?” Outon asked.

A question about savings for retirement resulted in another alarming response. Almost half of local nonprofit professionals, “not the executives,” Outon stressed, had less than $50,000 in savings, not enough to ensure a comfortable retirement and meaning many will have to continue to work.

“We are trying to raise the flag for the community,” Outon said. “We have to figure out more solutions.”

That includes providing resources and education to people and organizations and getting those who fund the nonprofits to encourage better HR practices.

Succession is also a problem. The next logical leadership pool after the baby boomers, Gen X, is roughly half as big, she said.

“We’ll have a war for talent unlike anything we’ve ever seen in the nonprofit sector,” Outon said.