Nonprofit recruitment faces new mission

By Mary Helen Gillespie, 2/21/2006

Why is FEMA the new F-word right now?

Because government agencies, despite their best attempts, often fail at civic engagements. Hence it becomes a more efficient use of US tax dollars to fund private, nonprofit, or not-for-profit organizations that specialize in specific social missions for the good of us all.

But what about those nonprofit organizations? How are they run?

Let's just say right off the bat that nonprofit employees and volunteers are this millennium's missionaries, regardless of whether they work for a faith-based organization, an advocacy group, a social services agency, a relief charity, the arts, or any other categories I might have missed.

Think of what our society would be like without Head Start, the American Red Cross, and Habitat for Humanity. Many faith-based organizations promote social and economic justice not only to their communities but to other organizations as well.

But the mission is at a crossroads.

As anyone who manages or leads a nonprofit is well aware, while the external mission to enhance civic engagement may stay the same, internally there is an almost paralyzing shift in the organizational model. Wealthy people just don't write big checks, show up at board meetings to rubberstamp the next fiscal year's budget, and then meet up at the annual fundraiser with golf clubs, black ties, or wearing a little Chanel suit.

It's not enough to harbor the passion in one's heart to change the world for the better. All nonprofit organizations must be visible to the public to fulfill their missions. Therefore, nonprofit leaders and their entire teams must know how to promote their organizations to current and potential supporters, the broader public, and the mass media.

And therein lies the rub. Nonprofit organizations have to recruit, promote and retain employees who are willing to embrace this new accountability and explore the traditional and nontraditional ways to manage a nonprofit and promote it to an array of audiences. This requires going beyond the nonprofit's traditional core competencies and embracing the NPO's strategic mission across all functions, including fundraising, regulatory controls, financial management, human resources, marketing - especially branding and public relations - and, most importantly, change management.

Thus the ideal nonprofit candidate can demonstrate that he or she has the ability to work outside program boundaries and reveal a "hidden value" to the organization that will allow it to:

Strengthen strategic and operational decision-making skills so the organization can identify sound opportunities to reach as well as exceed its goals
Develop an increased understanding of what is required to achieve competitive advantage
Extend private sector relationships, concepts and ideas to the nonprofit management environment, learning from mistakes as well as success stories
Address best practices and news-making events as a team in regular forums
Emphasize behavior on issues of ethical, legal, regulatory and in some cases, faith-based practices in fundraising, financial management, operations, and marketing

To succeed in the nonprofit world, management must hire candidates with more than just an MSW or a certificate in diabetes education. These candidates must also exhibit a mastery of robust communications skills that clearly keep the NPO's mission top of mind (if not heart) of other team members, including:

Clients/customers/patients
Leadership (including the board)
Donors
Volunteers
Service agencies
Media sponsors
Regulators
Competitors
Suppliers
Strategic partners

As a rule, most nonprofit employees have already developed an other-centered mindset. That is why they give up weekends to keep a 15-year-old convicted prostitute from going back out on the street on Saturday night, or make yet another call to yet another potential corporate donor so elders don't have to make a decision between heat, food, or medicine once again this winter. Many such employees do so barely earning a living wage themselves.

In order to sustain this level of performance, nonprofit managers and their boards must look again to their corporate counterparts and integrate compensation and performance reviews with professional and organizational development, including succession planning and diversity.

Does this mean, for nonprofit managers, time away from programs and services? Yes.

Will this require additional funding to ensure the entire staff has the resources to innovate and create the necessary changes? Absolutely.

Are nonprofits that are unable or refuse to update their hiring models in danger of going out of business? You betcha.