Future Leaders CLEAR Circles
Addressing the Leadership Gap as Emerging Leaders Learn Together
If you’re paying attention, you’re aware of the coming leadership gap in the nonprofit sector. Studies indicate that by 2016, we will need to attract and develop 640,000 new senior managers to replace departing leaders. That’s 2.4 times the current number currently employed in those roles. The Nonprofit Center’s own survey found that 71 percent of our current leaders plan to exit their jobs in the coming year. So where will tomorrow’s nonprofit leaders come from? How are they being prepared to take over these formidable responsibilities. The future of the nonprofit world really lies in the answers to these questions.
The Nonprofit Center is addressing this looming problem through programs designed to develop and nurture potential future leaders and if you are an executive or board member committed your organization’s survival, you need to be developing its “bench strength,” by supporting emerging leaders while there’s still time.
And if you are part of this next generation, you need to be committed to developing the skills, strengths and leadership attributes that will guide the organizations you will serve.
CLEAR Circles are a cutting-edge program The Nonprofit Center has developed, first to provide a unique forum for executive directors to jointly problem-solve, brainstorm and support each other. We have now taken this concept a step further by forming CLEAR Circles for Emerging Leaders, which begin in Spring 2010.
We are currently offering two opportunities for the development of future leaders, through the support of two funders:
- Emerging Leaders CLEAR Circle – subsidized by The William Penn Foundation for up to eight men and women from nonprofit organizations of interest to the foundation.
- Empowering Emerging Women Leaders of Nonprofits Serving Women and Girls – subsidized by the Valentine Foundation for up to eight women in area nonprofits that primarily serve females. NOTE: THIS PROGRAM IS CURRENTLY FILLED TO CAPACITY.
Our leaders are among the top two resources (after funding, of course) we depend on to fulfill our missions. The greatest gift you can give to ensure your organization’s future is to create a legacy of leadership by fostering its future leaders.
And if you are possibly among the next generation of nonprofit leaders, you owe it to yourself to be prepared for the responsibilities that may await you. Your participation once a month for eight months in a CLEAR Circle of your peers, directed by a trained facilitator, will help empower you with the insight, confidence and problem-solving skills that will serve both you and your organization.
For years, nonprofit executive directors have found problem-solving strategies and shared emotional support through this program, which consists of groups of up to eight peers who meet monthly in two hour increments for nine months. These professionally facilitated Circles provide new insights in a supportive and confidential environment that enables them to learn from each other and share experiences that they would never raise with co-workers or board members. This same theory is being successfully applied to future leaders.
For more information about CLEAR Circles for current or future leaders, contact The Nonprofit Center at 215-951-1701, nonprofitcenter@lasalle.edu/
An additional program subsidized by the Valentine Foundation is the Career Development Roadmap project (CURRENTLY FILLED TO CAPACITY), which consists of a workshop and two individual consulting sessions with a professional career coach. Eight fortunate female aspiring leaders on nonprofits serving women and girls, will have the opportunity to participate in this concentrated effort to identify strengths and weakness and clarify goals, resulting in a well-planned career roadmap for moving forward.
To download a copy of the Emerging Leaders CLEAR Circle (men and women) with the William Penn Foundation, click here.
Read the news release about this innovative Emerging Leaders opportunity
