\u201cIt doesn\u2019t take long to learn that no matter how brilliant a strategy is or how well it\u2019s funded, if you don\u2019t have the right people at the helm, something will go wrong or it won\u2019t meet potential.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe initially wanted to help grantees with the basics of sustainability, but we found that the challenge was personnel, skills, and capacity. We realized we needed to invest in staff, not just in tools and processes.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Those words of wisdom from Marianne Philbin, executive director at the Pierce Family Foundation in Chicago, come from years of experience in the nonprofit sector. That experience, coupled with the interest of the Foundation\u2019s donor, drove the Foundation\u2019s emphasis on capacity building in general, and its evolution to investments in talent development specifically.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe initially wanted to help grantees with the basics of operations and organizational development, especially fund-raising, but we found that the challenge wasn\u2019t just in filling gaps in areas like donor management software or budgeting \u2014 it was personnel, skills, and capacity. We realized we needed to invest in staff, not just in tools and processes,\u201d Philbin explains.<\/p>\n
Investing in staff capacity is not something that the nonprofit sector has historically done well, especially when compared to the for-profit sector. And while many foundations make grants to help fund the technology, tools, and processes that Philbin mentions, few invest in nonprofit staff development in other critical areas, such as organizational leadership or employee management. \u201cThere are a lot of cultural and market forces working against them. There\u2019s a belief \u2014 even among many board members \u2014 that nonprofit staff don\u2019t need or deserve corporate-style support and investment. And there\u2019s a misperception that if an individual chooses to\u00a0work in a nonprofit, they know what they\u2019re getting into. These are shortsighted and often destructive ways of looking at nonprofit work.\u201d<\/p>\n
As talent development became a clearer part of the vision for the Pierce Family Foundation, Philbin explains that \u201cit took us a little time to figure out what would be most effective, and what specific programs would make the most sense for us.\u201d The foundation staff leaned into their relationships with grantees, listening carefully to the challenges nonprofits were facing and developing responses to address them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a belief that nonprofit staff don\u2019t need or deserve corporatestyle support and investment; that if an individual chooses to work in a nonprofit, they know what they\u2019re getting into. These are shortsighted and destructive ways of looking at nonprofit work.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The Foundation focuses most of its talent development investments on 12 \u201ccore grantees\u201d: organizations to which the Foundation has made a five-year commitment that includes $25,000 in annual general operating funds\u00a0and access to consultants who serve as \u201cgrantee support specialists\u201d who are retained by the Foundation to provide technical assistance upon request.<\/p>\n
Targeting Mid-Level Talent<\/h2>\n
The Foundation\u2019s signature programs also include the Top Talent Institute (TTI), targeted specifically to mid-level managers from all disciplines, including development, finance, human resources, programs, and more. TTI is open to the Foundation\u2019s core grantees and was designed by Grantee Support Specialist Kris Torkelson.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my first year of working with Pierce grantees, I saw so many people who had never had any kind of management training, yet they were supervising staff,\u201d says Torkelson. \u201cAnd while there were places for executive directors to go to learn these skills, the next generation of leaders coming up had no place to go. We realized that Pierce could offer that training and support before those middle managers took the next step.\u201d<\/p>\n
Torkelson hunted for mid-level talent development models to adopt at Pierce but found none. So she developed her own approach, based on her knowledge of executive programs and her own experience as a training program participant. The result was a cohort-based, nine-month program of three-hour, monthly sessions for 15\u201318 participants.<\/p>\n
One unique aspect of TTI is that each cohort designs its own curriculum. \u201cWe really wanted participants to choose the curriculum, rather than mandate what it would be,\u201d says Torkelson. \u201cI expected them to choose general nonprofit management topics \u2014 like how to do finance, run a board, or read a budget. But I quickly found that our participants really wanted to know more about how to manage people and teams, improve their leadership skills, and manage up the ladder. TTI became all about that.\u201d<\/p>\n
TTI sessions have covered topics such as understanding and applying personal management styles, building teams, resolving conflict, hiring and firing, understanding intergenerational differences, managing through\u00a0change, breaking down departmental silos, and preventing burnout, among others. They\u2019ve also included core operations skills such as understanding budgets, effective storytelling, and board management.<\/p>\n
Torkelson intentionally populates each cohort with an eye toward diversity of all types, including age, race, ethnicity, gender, and roles. \u201cThere are always problems with different functions in an organization understanding each other,\u201d she explains. \u201cWe wanted our program to break those barriers by helping all participants understand and learn from one another.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2011, the Pierce Family Foundation piloted a oneon- one coaching program for interested TTI alumni. Although the six who participated gave the experience favorable reviews, it was determined to be cost prohibitive and was not continued.<\/p>\n
The biggest program that the Pierce Family Foundation developed is Peer Skill Share<\/strong> \u2014 a peer learning exchange that matches grantees who have particular areas of expertise with grantees wishing to learn. This system, which Philbin describes as \u201ckind of like Match. com for expertise,\u201d was initially open to all of Pierce\u2019s 90+ grantees and quickly grew so large that the Foundation handed its operation over to Forefront (formerly the Donors Forum) in January 2016. There are now 700 agencies in the \u201ccrowdsourcing\u201d pool and 15 foundation partners that offer access to the Peer Skill Share exchange, which makes more than 300 matches each year. Many of those who participate in the Top Talent Institute go on to seek and offer knowledge via the exchange.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeer skill shares can be as detailed as how to work with a specific tab in a software program or as general as how to deal with difficult board members,\u201d Philbin explains. \u201cWe customized some off-the-shelf software to run it, and now it can cover any topic that any nonprofit employee wants to discuss with someone else in the field. Many of those volunteering their expertise come from a different role or experience than those they\u2019re matched with, so that makes for an even richer cross-pollination of ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Internal Investment<\/h2>\n
The Pierce Family Foundation staff is lean. Philbin works with one program director, an IT chief, and one administrative person. As a result, she views talent development as everyone\u2019s responsibility. In addition, the Foundation\u2019s 12 core grantees receive allowances for work with a number of outside support specialists, like Torkelson.<\/p>\n
For Top Talent Institute, the Foundation invests roughly $15,000\u2013$18,000 each year for planning, facilitation, logistics, and food, as well as administrative staff time to coordinate feedback surveys of each exiting cohort.<\/p>\n
In addition, Pierce staff and board have made investments to help promote the idea of better compensation within the nonprofit sector \u2014 including compiling and distributing annual compensation information to area nonprofits, and helping Forefront launch a regional \u201cReal Talk about Real Costs\u201d initiative that drew national attention to the cost of delivering quality nonprofit services (of which talent compensation is a part).<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re all about general operating, so we\u2019ve been very active in getting nonprofits and funders to look at real, direct, and indirect costs of running an organization and understanding the cost of people you\u2019re employing to do that work,\u201d says Philbin. \u201cWhen people are underpaid, their tenure is short-lived, and the next person who comes in is often barely trained. That\u2019s a perpetual barrier to longer-term planning and investment in a nonprofit\u2019s own organizational development. In response to our own talent conversations with grantees, one of our support specialists now accesses annual salary survey data, compiles it, and scrubs it down to usable information. Then she meets with groups to talk through where they want to fall in terms of leading, lagging, or meeting the average. Often this helps them see where salary might be a factor in turnover.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quick Case 1<\/h3>\n
Sarah Borgeson, director of corporate and foundation relations at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, likes learning from others. She\u2019s curious and loves sitting down with someone new. That\u2019s not an opportunity that many mid-level nonprofit employees get to embrace in the Chicago area.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have a lot of entry-level training and then there are executive director boot camps, but the middle is so key and a lot of institutions are still trying to figure out that space,\u201d Borgeson observes. \u201cThe Top Talent Institute was one of the most valuable experiences I\u2019ve found.\u201d<\/p>\n
The multidisciplinary nature of the program was particularly attractive to Borgeson, who at the time had been senior associate for corporate and foundation relations at a housing organization for several years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a chance to get outside and see how others approach different lines of business,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s always beneficial to hear about similar experiences and share wisdom and knowledge. And it\u2019s helpful to hear the anecdotes and stories \u2014 the real-life experiences that people will share in a safe, confidential space \u2014 versus a training where you\u2019re thinking in the abstract). That\u2019s a great value of the cohort approach.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn particular, I learned a lot from the differences in experiences between different age groups. So often you interact with people who are similar to your own age, and learning from intergenerational dialog was key.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the biggest benefit overall, says Borgeson, was developing management skills. \u201cI got a great overview from TTI, including conflict resolution, hiring, firing, and more. And I did it at a faster pace than I would have on my own. I interacted with people who have gone through various issues and experiences that I may not even have imagined. But now I\u2019m ready, or at least have an idea of how to deal with those issues if they arise.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI got a great overview of conflict resolution, hiring, firing, and more. And I did it at a faster pace than I would have on my own. Now I\u2019m ready to deal with those issues if they arise.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
A couple of years after completing TTI, Borgeson moved to a higher position in a new organization. However, she emphasizes that TTI was not just a career-builder for her. It gave her the capacity to strengthen development practices at her past and current organizations as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cExperiences for mid-level staff are invaluable to organizations because they are a way to engage and retain talent and expand knowledge. The multidisciplinary approach provides knowledge about different types of fields, and I was able to bring back examples of what other organizations were doing. That helped my agency connect with and learn from other nonprofits in the community. To have that kind of resource available \u2014 at no cost \u2014 is an incredible value.\u201d<\/p>\n
Borgeson also brought her new knowledge to a new post where she supervises a staff of her own. Although this organization is not a Pierce Family Foundation grantee, she hopes her staff will have similar development opportunities.<\/p>\n
\u201cResources like TTI have shown me the importance of developing staff in a way that I might not have realized otherwise. I will highly encourage my staff to take advantage of any opportunity like this that comes their way. I\u2019ll definitely be proactive in presenting opportunities and making the space and time for them to engage. We owe it to our communities to do the best job we possibly can. And if you want to do the best you can, you have to invest in the people who are doing the work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quick Case 2<\/h3>\n
Coming Full Circle<\/h4>\n
When she was director of development at Spanish Coalition for Housing, Gabriela Rom\u00e1n saw very few opportunities in the Chicago area for middle managers who wanted to grow professionally, learn about different areas of operation within an organization, and learn how to manage other staff. When she heard about Pierce\u2019s Top Talent Institute, she jumped at the chance, never realizing how quickly she\u2019d need to apply her new learning.<\/p>\n
Toward the end of her TTI experience, there was a sudden leadership departure at her organization, and the board asked Rom\u00e1n to take the reins as interim executive director. Because the TTI curriculum had covered issues beyond development, such as HR and finance and management skills, Rom\u00e1n felt more confident in accepting the interim post. But the support from the Pierce Family Foundation didn\u2019t stop there.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter TTI, I immediately engaged in the Peer Skill Share,\u201d Rom\u00e1n says. \u201cI asked to be matched with other interim EDs, because I had a lot of questions. I was able to talk with those who had been interims about how they worked with their staff and the board, and how they managed the change within the organization. As an interim ED, one big challenge is that it\u2019s not a permanent job, so you must get things done in a short time frame. The peers I talked to explained that I had to accept that the organization was mine to run now and made sure that I had a short-term action plan for all the activities I needed to do. They gave me excellent advice, which ultimately helped me secure the full-time executive director job.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn order to fulfill our mission, we need the best set of people. From my experience, it\u2019s been better to develop our own people than to hire from the outside. Programs like Top Talent Institute and Peer Skill Share enhance my staff\u2019s skills so they are ready to lead and advance.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Now Rom\u00e1n uses Peer Skill Share to convey her own knowledge to others, and she has participated in sessions about supervising people, using social media, and even what it\u2019s like to be an interim executive director.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt all came full circle,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
The same is true for TTI. After her own experience, Rom\u00e1n sent four other staff members through the program: an accounting manager, an HR manager, a development manager, and a counselor. Since completing TTI, two of Rom\u00e1n\u2019s staff have been promoted within the organization.<\/p>\n
The same is true for TTI. After her own experience, Rom\u00e1n sent four other staff members through the program: an accounting manager, an HR manager, a development manager, and a counselor. Since completing TTI, two of Rom\u00e1n\u2019s staff have been promoted within the organization.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn order to fulfill our mission, we need the best set of people,\u201d says Rom\u00e1n. \u201cFrom my experience, it\u2019s been better to develop our own people than to hire from the outside, because our line of work is so narrow. I definitely want to develop a pipeline of leaders, especially among those who have been here for a while, so that our organization can replenish itself. Programs like Top Talent Institute and Peer Skill Share enhance my staff\u2019s skills so they are ready to lead and advance.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\n\n\nLessons Learned<\/h2>\n
1<\/h3>\n
Tie talent investments to outcomes<\/h4>\n
If funders want to see a particular outcome from grantmaking, they must take into consideration the capacity of the staff who will be expected to achieve it. If the capacity is not there, the outcome is not likely to happen. Funders should ask, \u201cWho\u2019s going to staff this effort, and how reasonable and realistic is that?\u201d \u2014 then fund talent needs accordingly.<\/p>\n
2<\/h3>\n
Talent turnover is not a bad thing<\/h4>\n
There are many examples of individuals who have increased their personal capacity and then left their organizations for greener pastures. Turnover is a fact of life, but it shouldn\u2019t be seen as a deterrent to talent development. Instead, funders and nonprofits should look for ways to institutionalize the knowledge that individuals develop so that it stays with an organization even if individuals leave. Funders also should realize that when talented individuals move from one organization to another, they are further benefitting the sector overall because they are sharing and applying the skills and knowledge they\u2019ve learned more broadly.<\/p>\n
3<\/h3>\n
Supervisory skill is a growth area<\/h4>\n
In the nonprofit sector in general, there is very little focus on teaching people how to supervise and manage, nor on how to develop the talent of those they supervise. This is an area in which skill development is sorely needed, and it\u2019s an area of potential investment for funders who want to help create a nonprofit-specific curriculum, approach, or model that could be widely applied in multiple disciplines.<\/p>\n
4<\/h3>\n
Acknowledge participation<\/h4>\n
Small financial investments can make a big difference. The Pierce Family Foundation has supplied agencies of TTI participants with $250 parking stipends, as well as providing individual participants with commemorative desk sculptures to mark their completion of the program. It also provides small stipends to those who offer their expertise through Peer Skill Share. While minimal in terms of cost, these actions show participants and their organizations that the Foundation values their time and their contributions to the programs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\n\n\nLooking Forward<\/h2>\n
When contemplating the future of Pierce\u2019s investment in talent development, Philbin envisions a deeper relationship with a smaller number of organizations. Now that the broad Peer Skill Share program is operated by Forefront, the foundation can add more to the menu for its core grantees.<\/p>\n
Pierce will explore new ways to build out the Top Talent Initiative, using suggestions from participants as a guiding light. It also hopes to do more to support succession planning within its grantee base, as it sees a number of nonprofits facing leadership transitions in the near future.<\/p>\n
And while they\u2019re at it, Philbin and her team would like to figure out a way to conduct board education about the importance of investments in talent compensation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re asking, as a funder, what we can do to advance conversations about making compensation more appropriate for nonprofit employees,\u201d she says. \u201cWhat makes sense for us to look at? You can\u2019t just say to a nonprofit, \u2018You should pay your people more.\u2019 It\u2019s all connected to talent development and capacity building. For example, an agency can\u2019t recruit more effectively until it can compensate; it can\u2019t compensate until it has strong fund-raising; and it can\u2019t have strong fund-raising until it has strong talent. It\u2019s all tied together, and it all has an impact on our effectiveness as a sector.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\n\n\nPierce Family Foundation Leadership Programs<\/h2>\n
\n\n
\n \nTop Talent Institute<\/th>\n Flexible Leadership Awards<\/th>\n Peer Skill Share<\/th>\n Mid-level Coaching
\n(no longer funded)<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n\n Target participants<\/th>\n Mid-level leaders at 12 \u201ccore grantee\u201d organizations<\/td>\n Any staff at all grantee organizations supported by participating funders<\/td>\n Mid-level leaders at core grantee organizations<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Number of participants per year<\/th>\n 15-18<\/td>\n 300 + matches involving 600+ people<\/td>\n 6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Content partner<\/th>\n Contracted grantee support specialist and various experts<\/td>\n Now operated by Forefront of Chicago (transferred in 2016)<\/td>\n Various vetted coaches<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Topics covered<\/th>\n Determined by preferences of each cohort<\/td>\n Tailored to the needs of the individual<\/td>\n Tailored to the needs of the individual<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Time commitment<\/th>\n 9 months<\/td>\n One meeting to several meetings<\/td>\n 6\u20138 months<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Annual program cost<\/th>\n $15,000\u2013$18,000<\/td>\n $30,000\u2013$40,000 for contractual coordinator\/ admin, software fees<\/td>\n Tailored to the needs of the individual<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Year started<\/th>\n 2011<\/td>\n 2008<\/td>\n 2013 pilot<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cIt doesn\u2019t take long to learn that no matter how brilliant a strategy is or how well it\u2019s funded, if you don\u2019t have the right people at the helm, something will go wrong or it won\u2019t meet potential.\u201d \u201cWe initially wanted to help grantees with the basics of sustainability, but we found that the challenge … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":17,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"sidebar-none.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-19","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P8xk77-j","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"amp_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fundthepeople.org\/toolkit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fundthepeople.org\/toolkit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fundthepeople.org\/toolkit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fundthepeople.org\/toolkit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fundthepeople.org\/toolkit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/fundthepeople.org\/toolkit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1390,"href":"https:\/\/fundthepeople.org\/toolkit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19\/revisions\/1390"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fundthepeople.org\/toolkit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fundthepeople.org\/toolkit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}