Nonprofit Executive Search Firms – A Good Filter

by Bruce Scott, M.S.W.
Moran Company Senior Search Consultant

Facing the task of an executive search for a nonprofit position immediately presents information to sort and filter – beginning with job duties for the vacant position and ending with the job offer to the chosen candidate. Clay Shirky, author and consultant on the social and economic effects of internet technologies, wrote “Mass amateurization of publishing makes mass amateurization of filtering a forced move.”[1]

Put another way, we have information overload from the great digital dissemination tools available to everyone, but really it’s only a problem when our filters are faulty. Using that metaphor, “amateur” filters are simply too porous or too clogged to catch the target information, in this case the best nonprofit executive to hire.

A nonprofit board, made up of volunteers, has limited resources to devote to this sorting and filtering task. The executive search firm specializing in nonprofit searches provides many assets, beginning with a portfolio of professional filters.

• Filtering Job Duties & Qualifications – We sometimes see job descriptions that are bloated with duties and short on qualifications that predict the ability to complete the duties. Other times the job description is too vague to determine what background the client really needs in a good candidate. A review of the internal documents and interviews with key players reveals a list of duties to begin filtering toward agreement on what-exactly-are-you-hiring-for, and then we can consult with you on the qualifications for the search.

• Filtering Candidates – This obvious task requires sophisticated filters that begin with customized postings in outlets where the right candidates are looking. Applying basic qualification screens is the simple part of the resume review task but after that, the filters must capture qualities and work experience that may make a great match. A 2006 study by the Bridgespan Group[2] added to a chorus of studies about the growing challenge of filling nonprofit leadership roles predicting that the demand for senior leaders over the ’07 – ’16 decade would increase 2.4 times. We face a very real shortage of people ready and willing to assume executive positions and unlike both government and the private sector, the nonprofit sector has done very little to address the growing need and the demographic shifts that are impacting supply. The best searches can identify people at career stages who are ready to peak, as well as cross-over candidates who will be successful in a move from the private to the nonprofit sector. At the time of a search, the ability to sift and filter through candidate qualifications and self-descriptions presented in innumerable ways is critical to identifying the best possible people from a small but often diverse pool.

• Filtering the Job Offer – When your nonprofit board has made a selection, the candidate’s compensation package must be crafted from multiple sources of information. Obviously the organization’s resources, patterns, and policies are a primary consideration and that must be balanced with the salary history and requests of the new executive. Comparability in the market is not always easy to determine, and your search firm should help you balance that data. Again, filtering information from sources and between parties is a task best left to experienced professionals.

Clay Shirky’s comment on the flow of internet data applies: “It’s not information overload. It’s filter failure.” A load of information well serves your executive search, and a search firm specializing in nonprofit recruiting provides a key filter to make it work.

[1] Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations, Clay Shirky, Penquin Press, 2008

[2] The Nonprofit Sector’s Leadership Deficit, Thomas J. Tierney; The Bridgespan Group, Inc., 2006

The Moran Company, specializes in nonprofit executive searches for executive directors, directors of development/fundraising staff and other top nonprofit leadership.

© 2014 The Moran Company
“We find great nonprofit executives”