HAWAI'I'S NONPROFITS
Nonprofit leadership needs support to reduce high rate of burnout and turnover

By Kelvin H. Taketa

Nonprofit organizations in Hawai'i are facing a leadership crisis.

According to a recent national study conducted by San Francisco-based CompassPoint Nonprofit Services in conjunction with the Hawai'i Community Foundation, one-third of the nonprofit executive directors in the Islands expect to leave their job within the next two years and only 27 percent expect to remain in their leadership position for more than five years.

Most respondents to the survey were first-time executive directors who said they do not plan to take another executive position once they leave their job.

This high rate of turnover should concern everyone. We all depend on nonprofit organizations for a vast array of services and benefits in our communities. They are our houses of worship and our schools, they take care of our young and elderly and those who are in need of assistance, and they help preserve our culture and our environment.

In addition, most nonprofit organizations heavily depend on their chief executives to fulfill a number of different roles in an arena that is chronically understaffed, and to serve as the primary means of institutional memory. When an executive director leaves, there is a big void to fill.

As you would suspect, most executive directors choose to work in the sector for intrinsic rewards. Mission and personal satisfaction rank highest as reasons for their current career choices: The survey found that 98 percent of respondents took their jobs because of the organization's mission and 90 percent because they wanted to give back to the community.

They come to the job with great enthusiasm and promise, hopeful that they can help to make a difference.

What they encounter is challenging. High stress, long hours, and anxiety about agency finances and fund-raising are at the top of a list of concerns contributing to an incredibly fast burnout rate.

While many of the leaders are coming from within the nonprofit sector and are seemingly well trained in the sense that nearly 60 percent have graduate degrees, it is clearly a job that is more than what they initially thought.

And compounding this phenomenal turnover rate is that fact that nearly 90 percent of the executive directors in Hawai'i are older than 40. As the baby boomers age and retire, it will be difficult to recruit a new group of leaders for the sector.

Still, there are some things we can do right now that will help:

• Donors and board members need to recognize that executive directors need assistance beyond the old "sink or swim" approach. Few complex businesses would consider training for key executives to be a frill and we need to quit treating such expenses as beyond the scope of an organization's mission.
• Board members need to establish clear performance expectations, share timely feedback and support the executive in the accomplishment of critical priorities. These leaders need more than a boss and more than a friend, they need a partner.
• Succession and recruitment must become an integral part of an organization's long-range thinking. Unlike many businesses, nonprofit organizations are often created with the intention of a mission and institutional life that will endure past the tenure of a key executive. Looking within the organization, at other like organizations in the sector and at customers and partners, can help develop ideas of potential successors.
• Donors, board members and the public must recognize that nonprofit executives (and other nonprofit staff) deserve fair compensation. Hawai'i executives made 13 percent less than the average of the Mainland cities in the survey. These organizations and their leaders perform vital services for our community and if we expect them to be effective, we should be willing to seek out excellent leaders and pay them accordingly.

When this important group of leaders is at risk of being overwhelmed or forced out because of low pay, or when the pool cannot be sufficiently replenished, all communities pay the price. The success of nonprofit organizations relies heavily on skilled executive direction.

In better understanding and supporting executive directors, we'd better support nonprofits and contribute to making Hawai'i a better place.

Kelvin H. Taketa is president and chief executive officer of the Hawai'i Community Foundation, a statewide, charitable-services and grantmaking institution endowed with contributions from many donors. HCF also serves as an information resource on philanthropy, and community issues and trends.