Leadership in Development Central to Nonprofit Survival and Success:
Developing Staff as Leaders a Key CEO Priority

Highlights from the June 11, 2010 Educational Program: “Views from the Top: A Conversation with Non-Profit CEOs” as summarized by Elizabeth A. Kaye, executive coach and consultant

Leadership and development took center stage at the June 11 AFP panel presentation featuring a diverse group of Chicago’s most visionary and successful nonprofit CEOs. Moderated by Marilyn Foster Kirk, CFRE, Associate Chancellor for Development at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the panel featured Larry J. Goodman, M.D., President and CEO of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago; Pamela Jordan, Head of the Chicago Academy for the Arts; and Reverend Stan Sloan, CEO of Chicago House.

Keeping with the leadership theme, the session began with recognition of and comments by two of AFP Chicago’s own remarkable leaders, Nike B. Whitcomb, CFRE, President of Nike B. Whitcomb Associates, and Donald A. Campbell, Jr., CFRE, Chairman Emeritus of Campbell & Company. Each of these past chapter presidents was instrumental in the founding and development of the AFP Chicago chapter as one of the largest and most influential in the country.

The panel began when Marilyn Foster Kirk posed a series of incisive questions on the relationship of leadership and development in these demanding and stressful times. The panelists responded with thoughtful and wide-ranging comments, covering everything from how best to engage their constituencies to how to measure development leadership. Here are a few of the highlights:

Marilyn Foster Kirk: What about the role and timeframe of strategic planning in this current context of sky-high stress?
Stan Sloan: We can no longer work in an extended timeframe, so we do a yearly strategic plan update, involving clients and donors in the process.
Pamela Jordan: Our strategic plan is NOT perfunctory; it’s evolving into an ongoing strategic process.
Larry J. Goodman: These plans are more important than ever; we can’t afford to be purely reactive. Involving hundreds of people in creating our new plan, focusing on communication around mission, vision, and values, is one of my highest priorities.

MFK: How do you measure your own leadership and performance?
LJG: My top 3 criteria are: recruiting, retaining, and developing staff leadership; bringing different disciplines together as teams; and assuring that all staff know and incorporate our mission, vision, and values into their work. These take a HUGE percentage of my time.
PJ: I evaluate my skill set, desire, and energy: am I still energized and willing to keep learning here?
SS: I work with our staff, Board, and clients to meet our financial bottom line and keep the doors open.

MFK: How do you bring your development team into leadership for the institution?
PJ: We are partners and have strategic conversations. I encourage them to push back on what I’m saying and thinking; and I hold the top development staff accountable to help me do what I should be doing.
SS: I ask them to keep our focus on the needs of our clients and donors; and we wrestle with what our priorities need to be in our toughest year yet.
LJG: The development staff have to be part of the decisions in order to raise the money we need. I have a great staff, and it’s important for them to be confident enough to guide the medical faculty and staff in their communications with the lay community.

Bottom line: these CEOs look to their development staff to partner with them in leading their institutions with strategic focus and confidence in this most challenging of times. The time is ripe, then, for development officers to step up and meet the challenge of energizing and sharpening their leadership skills as well as their fundraising expertise.

Elizabeth A. Kaye is an executive coach and consultant who helps leaders navigate change to create success in radically challenging times. Building on her development work over two decades, she assists strong leaders and their organizations to grow into greater effectiveness and impact. Contact Elizabeth at 708-206-1412, collaborate@elizabethkaye.com, or via www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethkaye.