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Rewarding Leadership

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Daring to Lead 2006

Relentless fundraising pressure, weak boards of directors, low salaries, and lack of management support are causing many executive directors of small to mid-sized nonprofit organizations to leave their jobs.

Interesting Facts:

  • 3 out of 4 executive directors plan to leave their job within the next five years.
  • Citing lack of adequate compensation, burnout, and a sense of overwhelm at amount of time and resources dedicated to fundraising.
  • Only 29 percent have succession plans in place.
  • Most will stay in the sector – 70 percent.
  • Only 26 percent have ever negotiated a raise.
  • Nearly 2 in 3 executives believe they have made a significant financial sacrifice to do this work.
  • Despite being 33 percent of the executive population overall, men are overrepresented among large organization and make more than women in every budget size.
  • Only 18 percent of e.d.s under 45 are people of color.

Rewarding Leadership is a three-year, $2.2 million initiative designed to stabilize and strengthen the executive leadership of the Meyer Foundation's grantees. The goal of Rewarding Leadership is to increase the voice and visibility of some of the region's most effective nonprofit leaders and to help them attract additional resources to their organizations.

Components

  1. Increasing the quality and availability of training, networking, and professional development opportunities for executive directors in the region.
  2. Expanding support for executive coaching, transition planning, and other activities that strengthen executive leadership through Meyer's existing Management Assistance Program.
  3. Launching a new award program, The Exponent Award, to recognize five outstanding executive directors annually. The award includes a two-year grant of $100,000.

Strategic Partnerships Support Executive Directors

Over the next three years, the Meyer Foundation will increase its grant support and expand its existing partnerships with the Center for Nonprofit Advancement and the Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington to make more networking, training and coaching, and leadership development opportunities available to Meyer grantees and all nonprofits in the region. This includes support for the Center for Nonprofit Advancement's ongoing executive transitions program, along with its launch in 2006 of an intensive training and coaching program to help new executive directors build their skills and increase their confidence. The Meyer Foundation is also an early supporter of the Nonprofit Roundtable's new leadership initiative, which will focus on helping executive directors become more visible and effective external leaders in the broader community.

Expanded Availability of Grants

Through Meyer's existing Management Assistance Program, which provides grantees with grants to strengthen their management and leadership so they can serve the community more effectively, the Meyer Foundation will increase the availability of grants for executive coaching, transition planning and other support for executive directors.

The Meyer Foundation

The Meyer Foundation believes that strong and effective executive leaders are essential to the success of our grantees, the health of our communities, and the visibility and influence of Greater Washington's nonprofit sector. For more than sixty years, the Meyer Foundation has identified supported visionary and talented nonprofit leaders and has supported their work by providing management assistance and capacity-building support.