By Sara Beggs, Exponent Philanthropy 

It’s well understood that high-performing businesses have high-performing leaders. But what about the social sector? Significantly less data has been collected on the nonprofit sector, but it wouldn’t be a far stretch to assume the same holds true.

To gain greater understanding about leadership in the U.S. nonprofit sector, McKinsey surveyed nearly 200 social sector CEOs and other top managers leading nonprofit organizations, foundations, social enterprises, and impact investing funds. Across the board, survey respondents found themselves and their peers to be deficient in critical leadership attributes, and, not surprisingly, rated their performance accordingly.

“The findings suggest that chronic underinvestment in leadership development within the US social sector, accompanied by 25 percent growth in the number of nonprofit organizations in the past decade, has opened a gap between demands on leaders and their ability to meet those needs.”

As funders are increasingly concerned about the impact of their grants, investing in leadership may indeed be one of the greatest ways to ensure impact. McKinsey identified three key ways to strengthen nonprofit leaders:

1. Commit more funds to leadership development.
2. Ask leaders what they need and then fund it.
3. Facilitate mentoring and coaching from the private sector.

“The time to act is now. The next generation of mission-driven professionals is considering social-sector careers. They expect mentoring, professional-development opportunities, and increasing responsibility. Funders (including foundations, individuals, and impact investors), government, and business have important roles in addressing the leadership opportunity in this critical sector.”

To get started in strengthening the leaders of organizations and causes you care about most, consider the following resources:

• Investing in Nonprofit Leaders (Exponent Philanthropy)
• Cultivating Nonprofit Leadership: A (Missed?) Philanthropic Opportunity (National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy)
• Decoding Leadership: What Really Matters (McKinsey)
• Generating Change Project (Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy)
• Nonprofit Leadership Development Toolkit (Bridgespan)
• Smarter Grantmaking Playbook, specifically the Support Nonprofit Resilience > Leadership Development section (GEO)
• Talent Matters series (Stanford Social Innovation Review)
• Talent Philanthropy Project

We’d love to hear examples of the ways you’re helping to support leaders. What is key to your success?

Senior Program Director Sara Beggs focuses her time and energy on Exponent Philanthropy’s Getting to Impact Initiative, an effort to equip philanthropists with the information and inspiration to achieve greater impact over time. Her greatest philanthropic joy is participation in Blooming Kids for Kindness, a group of ten families who encourage their children to care about their communities and recognize that each can make a difference through local and international volunteer and fundraising activities.