Leaders Talk About Talent
At a Glance
Type
Case Making Tool
Date
January 2017
“Leaders Talk About Talent” offers powerful quotations from foundation and nonprofit sector leaders that will help you make the case for the necessity and potential of investing in nonprofit talent. Use them in your presentations, blog posts, memos, and conversations. Print out those that speak to you and post them on your office door or above your desk. We also encourage you to learn more about the leaders and the organizations profiled in these pages by clicking on the links provided.
Purpose of Tool
This resource offers powerful quotations from foundation and nonprofit sector leaders that will help you make the case for the necessity and potential of investing in nonprofit talent. Use them in your presentations, blog posts, memos, and conversations. Print out a few that speak to you and post them on your office door or above your desk. We also encourage you to learn more about the leaders and the organizations profiled in these pages by clicking on the links provided.
We want to build this collection of sentiments from the leaders and experts in the field of nonprofit talent investment. You can send your thoughts to info@fundthepeople.org.
Required Reading: To build your knowledge of this important subject, we recommend:
- Glossary of Terms
- Talent-Investment Menu
- Top Reasons to Invest in Talent
- Funder Myths & Realities
- Nonprofit Myths & Realities
- Guide to Investing in Grantee Talent
Leader Quotes
“It is people, at the end of the day, who make change. Yes, it takes money and strategy, buildings, infrastructure, and political will. But it is leaders who take up a cause and stoke an ember into a blaze. It is in our collective best interest that they be nurtured and sustained.”
— Carrie Avery and Claire Peeps, The Durfee Foundation
www.durfee.org
“Nurturing a performance culture begins with recruiting, developing and retaining the talented professionals you need to fulfill your mission. Failure to do so is, to me, literally a dereliction of duty of board and management.”
— Mario Morino, Morino Institute
“Investment in leadership can feel like a luxury compared with investing in needs at the heart of a nonprofit’s charitable purpose, but failing to invest in leadership as well as services puts the entire mission at risk.”
— Kirk Kramer and Preeta Nayak, The Bridgespan Group
www.bridgespan.org
“Unless we can figure out what is behind the nonprofit world’s chronic underinvestment in leadership and turn things around, we will continue to overlook one of the most important ingredients of positive social change.”
— Ira Hirschfield, President Emeritus, Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund
www.haasjr.org
“Leadership development is the highest order of capacity building. Without strong leadership in place, other efforts for organizational improvement will not succeed.”
— Kathleen Enright, Grantmakers for Effective Organizations
www.geofunders.org
“Leaders – at all levels – drive and create change. And for funders, there are fewer, more powerful levers to advance change than investing in leaders.”
— James E. Canales
www.barrfoundation.org
“The link between strong executive leadership and organizational performance is frequently discussed and widely accepted. Yet this connection does not seem to play a leading role in shaping our grantmaking.”
— Betsy Hubbard, John Glenn School of Public Affairs
www.glenn.osu.edu
“It seems reasonable to suggest that funders pay increased attention to the nonprofit talent pool. Whatever the line of work, if nonprofits are to survive and flourish in the current environment of tight budgets and increased competition, they must have a stable corps of talented leaders.”
— Paul C. Light, NYU Wagner School of Public Service
www.wagner.nyu.edu
About Fund the People
Fund the People is the national campaign to maximize investment in the nonprofit workforce. To achieve this goal, we make the case, equip for action, and build a movement to change the attitudes and behaviors of funders, fundraising nonprofits, and the intermediaries that support them. There is a long-standing, sector-wide deficit of investment in the nonprofit workforce. Nonprofit professionals work in environments typified by high burnout and stretched resources. So there is a real demand for equitable salaries and benefits, more and better professional development, improved human resources functions, and healthy organizational culture. Together, we can address these challenges by reshaping existing resources to prioritize nonprofit people as the central asset of nonprofit performance. Now more than ever, we can ensure that America’s civic leadership is diverse, well-supported, high-performing, and sustainable for the long haul. Launched in 2014 and headquartered in Beacon, NY, Fund the People (originally known as Talent Philanthropy Project) is a project of Community Partners. Our work is informed by an Advisory Council of diverse leaders and a team of skilled staff and consultants, and is supported by a coalition of regional and national foundations.
To learn more about Fund the People visit: fundthepeople.org
Acknowledgments
Fund the People is appreciative of the following individuals for reviewing, editing, and providing helpful input on content throughout the Fund the People Toolkit: Jessica Bearman, Yolanda Caldera- Durant, Biz Gormley, Rebecca Schumer, Mark Sedway, and Rusty Stahl. We’re also grateful to the following Fund the People Advisory Council members who provided informative feedback and guidance on the Toolkit: Caroline Altman-Smith, Kelly Brown, Cynthia Chavez, Gali Cooks, Amber Cruz-Mohring, Ann Goggins- Gregory, Lupita Gonzalez, Sonia Ospina, Pratichi Shah, James Shepard, and Sean Thomas-Breitfeld.
Financial support for Fund the People’s Toolkit has been generously provided by American Express, Annie E. Casey Foundation, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Durfee Foundation, Ford Foundation, Kresge Foundation, Robert Sterling Clark Foundation and W.K. Kellogg Foundation.