🔹 The Leadership Pipeline is Broken: Why Nonprofit Talent Development Needs a Rethink

Across the nonprofit sector, we hear the same refrain: “We can’t find strong leaders.” Leadership transitions are rising, burnout is intensifying, and organizations are scrambling to build stable leadership teams that reflect their values and communities. But is the issue really a shortage of talent? Or are we simply relying on outdated models that aren’t built for sustainability or equity?

Defining the Problem

The nonprofit sector represents over 12 million jobs in the U.S., making it the third-largest workforce in the country (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2023). Yet most organizations do not have formal pipelines for internal leadership growth, and BIPOC leaders are dramatically underrepresented in executive roles.

According to Building Movement Project’s “Race to Lead” report, over 50% of BIPOC staff aspire to leadership, yet face greater barriers in mentorship, funding access, and board support compared to their white peers. Similarly, Bridgespan found that only 20% of leadership positions in nonprofits with budgets over $50M are held by people of color, despite more diverse staff and constituent bases.

Digging Deeper: Why the Pipeline Fails

Leadership gaps in the nonprofit world are not due to a lack of qualified or visionary people. They’re due to structural and cultural barriers that exclude, overburden, and underinvest in those already doing the work.

Here are four key issues:

1. Underinvestment in Professional Development

   
   

   Many organizations treat leadership development as a luxury—not a core capacity. Training and coaching are rarely budgeted for, and staff are expected to “grow into” roles without support.

   
   

2. Board-Level Biases and Risk Aversion

   
   

   Boards often default to hiring leaders who reflect traditional executive models—white, male, corporate-trained—regardless of cultural fit or movement experience. This limits transformative leadership opportunities.

   
   

3. Burnout and Role Creep

   
   

   Nonprofit leaders, especially women and BIPOC leaders, report doing more with less—taking on emotional labor, underpaid work, and crisis response without structural support. According to SSIR’s (Stanford Social Innovation Review) 2023 survey, over 60% of nonprofit leaders considered stepping down in the last year due to exhaustion and lack of organizational support.

   
   

4. Lack of Succession Planning

   
   

   Fewer than 30% of nonprofits have a formal succession plan (BoardSource, 2021). This leads to leadership vacuums, rushed transitions, and missed opportunities to promote internally.

   
   

Toward a Solution: Rethinking Leadership Development

To build an equitable and sustainable future, we must treat leadership development as infrastructure—not an afterthought. Here’s what that looks like:

✅ Make Leadership Coaching Standard. Just as other corporations fund executive coaching, nonprofits should offer coaching as part of leadership compensation or as professional development for emerging leaders.

✅ Create Intentional Pathways to Promotion. Organizations should map internal advancement paths and pair them with training, mentorship, and cross-functional growth opportunities.

✅ Center Equity in Succession Planning. Build inclusive transition plans that include internal candidates, staff voice, and community stakeholders—not just the board’s contact lists.

✅ Funders Must Fund Leadership. Philanthropy plays a critical role here. Unrestricted funding and leadership development grants help organizations retain and grow talent—especially in under-resourced and frontline communities.

✅ Reframe Leadership. Shift from heroic, individual-centered models to shared, networked leadership structures that value collaboration, healing, and power-sharing.

At Atabey Strategies, we support nonprofits and funders in building leadership ecosystems that are strategic, inclusive, and sustainable. From executive coaching to leadership transition planning to cross-racial board facilitation, we help organizations grow not just their programs—but their people.

📩 Interested in building a stronger leadership pipeline in your organization or portfolio? Let’s talk.