Monthly Archives: June 2010

June 23, 2010, 4:15 pm

The Decline of Leadership Development for Nonprofit Professionals of Color?

Yes, it’s 2010. And no, diversity is not dead.

Businesses like PriceWaterhouseCoopers understand that “diversity and inclusion is essential for business success,” especially when it comes to cultivating and supporting their talent. many of my colleagues and I often wish that more nonprofit groups would share this same priority in our work.

So, of course, I was really sad to see that two longstanding leadership-development programs for emerging foundation leaders of color are going away — at least temporarily. The Associated Grant Makers Diversity Fellowship and the ABFE (Association of Black Foundation Executives) Connecting Leaders Fellowship Program list both similar and different reasons for ending or halting their leadership-development program for leaders of color.

Associated Grant Makers Diversity Fellowship

Here’s a recent statement from AGM about discontinuing its diversity…

June 9, 2010, 5:14 pm

Three Myths About Generation Y

By Rosetta Thurman

In my conversation with my peers around the country, it seems like one of the biggest hurdles in developing the now generation of nonprofit leaders is the mindset of current leaders.

That’s right, I said it.

It’s not the economy or the lack of funding available for leadership development. It’s the fact that many older nonprofit professionals don’t see younger generations as viable candidates for leadership.

Look, I’ll prove it to you. A recent BoardSource report highlighted several disincentives for nonprofit boards to actively seek out younger members, including skepticism about the need to have younger generations on boards.

Why the skepticism? One reason may be because there are a bunch of myths out there that need to be debunked about what young people can and cannot contribute. Those myths are especially strong when it comes to Generation Y. Let’s pull back the curtain on some of…