The Push and Pull: Declining Interest in Nonprofit Leadership

For over two decades the Building Movement Project (BMP) has been documenting the experience of leaders of color in the nonprofit sector. A new report titled The Push and Pull: Declining Interest in Nonprofit Leadership finds a “steady decline in the aspiration to lead for respondents not already heading organizations” (3).

More specifically, “A quarter of BIPOC respondents in 2016 (25%) and 2019 (24%) were not interested in becoming an Executive Director/CEO of a nonprofit. The percentage climbed to almost one-third (32%) in 2022” (6).

The report further finds that rather than being “pulled” into leadership—described as “encouragement, skills development, opportunities for advancement, positive role models, and the beliefs that they can make an impact by building on the foundation laid by their predecessors”—respondents “often appeared to be pushed towards leadership to correct their negative experience in the sector” (3). Specifically, they seek to address “negative organizational structures and/or obstacles to advancement” (3).

nonprofitquarterly.org/pushed-into-leadership-hung-out-to-dry/