NONPROFIT BURNOUT

• Executives who:
  • Expect to leave jobs within five years: 75 percent
  • Leave jobs annually: 9 percent
  • Eventually are fired or forced out of job: 33.3 percent
  • Have discussed succession plan with boards: 29 percent
  • Stay in nonprofit sector after leaving jobs: 70 percent
  • Strongly agree their boards challenge them in ways to make them more effective: 33.3 percent
  • Strongly agree their funders have good understanding of nonprofit executive job: 33.3 percent

Source: Daring to Lead 2006: A National Study of Executive Leadership – A Joint Project of Compasspoint Nonprofit Services and The Meyer Foundation

EXECUTIVE PROFILES

• Gender
  • Women: 66 percent
  • Men: 34 percent
• Age
  • Under age 40: 18 percent
  • Age 40 to 49: 25 percent
  • Age 50 to 59: 41 percent
  • Age 60 to 69: 15 percent
  • Age 70 and older: 1 percent
• Race/ethnicity
  • White: 82 percent
  • African American: 7 percent
  • Latino: 4 percent
  • Asian Pacific Islander: 4 percent
  • Other: 3 percent
• Country of origin
  • U.S.: 92 percent
  • Other countries: 8 percent
• For-profit management experience
  • No: 57 percent
  • Yes: 43 percent
• Highest level of education completed
  • High School: 6 percent
  • Bachelor’s: 32 percent
  • Master’s: 49 percent
  • PhD or other advanced degree: 13 percent
• Nonprofit sector experience
  • None to 5 years: 16 percent
  • 6 to 10 years: 18 percent
  • 11 to 20 years: 33 percent
  • 21 or more years: 33 percent
• Years in current job
  • Less than 2 years: 20 percent
  • 2 to 5 years: 30 percent
  • 5 to 8 years: 18 percent
  • 8 to 11 years: 11 percent
  • 12 years or more: 21 percent
• Public sector management experience
  • No: 79 percent
  • Yes: 21 percent
• Prior nonprofit executive experience
  • No: 70 percent
  • Yes: 30 percent

Source: Daring to Lead 2006: A National Study of Executive Leadership – A Joint Project of Compasspoint Nonprofit Services and The Meyer Foundation

NONPROFIT GOVERNANCE

• Annual salaries, nonprofit chief executives reporting to survey:
  • $50,000 to $100,000: 46 percent
  • Under $50,000: 29 percent
  • Over $100,000: 25 percent
• Chief executives’ tenure:
  • Over 5 years: 54 percent
  • Three to five years: 17 percent
  • Three years or less: 29 percent
• Chief executives’ seat or vote on board:
  • No board seat: 82 percent
  • A vote on board: 18 percent
    • Up from 9 percent, 1994
• Average board size: 17 members, 2004
  • Down from 19 members, 1994
• Organizations with larger budgets tend to have larger boards
• Board membership by:
  • Gender
    • Men: 55 percent
    • Women: 45 percent
  • Race/ethnicity
    • White: 91 percent
    • Black: 4 percent
    • Latino or Hispanic: 2 percent
    • Asian American: 1 percent
    • Native American: 1 percent
    • Other: 1 percent
  • Age
    • 40 to 59: 64 percent
    • 60 to 69: 15 percent
    • 70 and older: 5 percent
    • Under 30: 2 percent
  • Field
    • For-profit world: 40 percent
      • Down from 54 percent in 1996
    • Nonprofit world: 18 percent
    • Self-employed: 14 percent
    • Retired: 13 percent
• Top three criteria for selecting board members
  • Commitment to mission
  • Professional skills
  • Community visibility
• Frequency of meetings:
  • Monthly: 41 percent
  • Bimonthly: 25 percent
  • Quarterly: 24 percent
• Audits
  • 84 percent of boards hire auditor to conduct annual external financial audit
  • 18 percent have audit committee
• Conflict-of-interest policy
  • 76 percent of boards
    • Up from 61 percent in 1994
• Directors’ and officers’ liability insurance
  • 87 percent of organizations
    • Up from 76 percent in 1994
• Fee or honorarium paid to board members for service
  • 2 percent
• Evaluation of chief executive
  • 80 percent of boards conduct annually
• Organizations requiring board members to:
  • Identify donors and/or solicit funds: 57 percent
  • Attend fundraising events: 57 percent
  • Make personal monetary contribution: 55 percent
• Boards that assess own performance: 43 percent
  • Up from 38 percent in 1999
  • Up from 23 percent in 1994
• Chief executive and board members generally agree board performance is:
  • Strongest in understanding organization’s mission and financial situation
  • Weakest in understanding individual responsibilities and making personal commitment

Source: Nonprofit Governance Index 2004, BoardSource