Recent data from a national CompassPoint survey of two thousand executive directors found that 75 percent of them stated they planned to leave their jobs in five years or less.¹ Similar surveys report between 45 percent and 75 percent expecting to resign within five years.²

Demographics are also a big factor. Baby boomers came into the nonprofit sector in big numbers in the 1960s and 1970s, many as the founding executives of their angecies. As they retire, sheer numbers say we don’t have enough skilled managers to fill the slots opening up in the next ten years.³

Resources

¹ Jeanne Bell, et al., Daring to Lead 2006 (San Francisco: CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, 2006), 5.

² 4. Ibid., 5.; Paige Teegarden, Nonprofit Executive Leadership and Transitions Survey 2004 (Baltimore, MD: Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2005), 4; David Birdsel and Douglas Muzzio, The Next Leaders: UWNYC Grantee Leadership Development and Succession Management Needs (New York: United Way, 2003), 5; Gail Randall, et al., Executive Director Tenure and Transition in Southern New England (Worcester, MA: New England Executive Transitions Partnership, 2004), 12.

³ Peter C. Brinckerhoff, Generations: The Challenge of a Lifetime for Your Nonprofit (St. Paul: Fieldstone Alliance, 2007).