ProInspire: Addressing the Nonprofit Leadership Deficit by Utilizing Business Talent

Over the last several years interest in working in the social sector has soared. President Obama has brought considerable attention to the importance of volunteerism and civic engagement since the beginning of his presidency. Fellowships and post-graduate programs have steadily gained popularity over the last few years with volunteer and service programs like Teach for America, AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps experiencing a stark increase in applications. Even schools across the country, especially MBA programs, are incorporating courses like social entrepreneurship into their curriculum in response to growing interest in the field.

The Nonprofit Leadership Deficit

With this trend, the recruiting and hiring opportunities for nonprofits are tremendous. More importantly, this couldn’t be a more critical time for such an opportunity to arise. In 2006 The Bridgespan Group released a white paper called The Nonprofit’s Leadership Deficit. In it the author Thomas Tierney identified three areas that nonprofits need to address in order to manage this deficit:

1. Investing in leadership capacity
2. Refining management rewards to retain and attract top talent
3. Expanding recruiting horizons and foster individual career mobility

The Founding of ProInspire

In 2008 ProInspire’s Founder and CEO, Monisha Kapila, attended an event where Tierney discussed the leadership deficit, which he declares is “the greatest challenge facing nonprofits over the next ten years.” In his white paper he suggested that the nonprofit sector would need to attract and develop 640,000 new senior managers — 2.4 times the number currently employed, a level of demand that current pools of talent would not be able to fill.

It was there that her idea for ProInspire began to take shape. Having had much experience moving back and forth between the for-profit and nonprofit sectors throughout her career, she was very familiar with transitioning. She was often asked how to find opportunities in the nonprofit sector by friends and colleagues. At the same time she often found herself being asked by employers how to find other candidates with her similar business background and skillset.

It was then that she made a connection between these experiences and the leadership deficit Tierney talked about, realizing that it was an industry-wide issue. Naturally, she decided to do something about it.

Addressing the Leadership Deficit

Business professionals aren’t new to the nonprofit world; the social sector has been utilizing business talent for years. However, ProInspire’s approach to recruiting for its flagship program, the Inspire Fellowship, specifically addresses each of the issue areas identified in the white paper.

Invest in leadership capacity.
Through the Inspire Fellowship, ProInspire recruits outstanding business professionals with 2+ years of business experience that want to use their skills for social impact. It is a highly competitive program that offers targeted positions with leading nonprofits, monthly trainings with a cohort of peers, a coach, and a network to support career growth. In doing so it helps nonprofits solve for the challenge of recruiting, investing in and developing skilled managers.

Refine management rewards to retain and attract top talent.
Business professionals interested in transitioning into the social sector commit to the job search understanding that they will have to take a pay cut. However, finding out what range of pay to expect is a frustrating and discouraging endeavor. ProInspire makes the pay completely transparent by setting a clear expectation of the salary for each fellowship class. This has proven to be a critical aspect in attracting top talent, particularly since applying for jobs requires them to be strategic about which applications are worth their time.

Expand recruiting horizons and foster individual career mobility.
ProInspire helps organizations find qualified talent outside of the organization’s current network, something that is critical according to Tierney. More importantly, ProInspire taps into a pool of young professionals who are interested in transitioning careers from the private sector in order to do work that is more fulfilling. He refers to these individuals as “young managers in training” as they are committed to public service and eager to make a difference.

With the 2011 Inspire Fellows starting in August, this year marks ProInspire’s third year in operation. Since the initial pilot program there have been a lot of lessons learned along the way, all of which are helping to shape the growth strategy for the organization as we seek to further address the nonprofit leadership deficit.

Want to get involved with the work that ProInspire is doing? We’d love to talk to you about having your organization become a hiring partner or even discuss your career transition if you’re a business professional.