"The Network allows for a discussion of best practices in the field,
which benefits all members and their clients and candidates. It has also enabled members to get to know each other better which is helpful in terms of referrals to appropriate other search firms when we are unable to take on a search." -- Jay Berger  First organized in September 2002, the NNSC emerged in response to a growing concern expressed by a handful of search consultants who were recruiting for nonprofit organizations. The concern was that the niche industry represented by nonprofit executive search had become more complex and sophisticated, but that few resources existed for developing best recruiting practices or for addressing contemporary nonprofit leadership transition issues.
Even though nonprofit organizations have been around for hundreds of years, the engagement of executive search firms by nonprofits to recruit their leaders had been more the exception than the rule, except for the mega-nonprofits. For a variety of reasons both practical (cost, internal promotion opportunities, lack of search firm interest) and cultural (voluntary governance, mission-oriented focus, organizational standards) the emergence of the specialty of nonprofit executive search had been slow to expand. Today, things are quite different, for several reasons.
1. Nonprofit organizations have become larger and more complex. Thousands of new nonprofit organizations are incorporated each year by individuals joining together to promote common charitable interests. Despite economic downturns, political influences and international crises, charitable contributions keep going up and competition for funds is fierce. Leading and managing these enterprises has become more challenging, and this has caused nonprofits to seek new competencies to address these new challenges. With more resources available, nonprofits are now more likely to use outside search counsel to solve leadership transition problems.
2. Nonprofit compensation has reached higher levels. For years, minimum fee structures set by corporate search firms served to exclude most nonprofit organizations as potential clients, except for the largest institutions. Because nonprofits paid executives much less than the corporate side, there simply was no business reason to do nonprofit recruitment. Over the years, however, nonprofit compensation has increased so that even the largest search firms now recognize nonprofit recruitment as a business opportunity. Today, more search firms specifically devoted to serving nonprofits exist as compensation has increased.
3. Nonprofit boards have raised the bar of performance standards. Long before the current state of affairs regarding corporate accountability, nonprofit boards were taking a more serious role in exercising their fiduciary responsibilities for the public trust they hold. The risk and embarrassment of selecting the wrong CEO has been even more acute. Running a nonprofit in “a more business-like manner” became a common objective for many organizations. Attentive board members have translated this into higher standards of performance for their nonprofit leaders. And this has all translated into more careful selection of leadership and more definitive performance criteria, both of which have increased the need for and use of outside search counsel.
4. Competition for nonprofit leaders who can truly make a difference has become more intense. The high expectations placed on nonprofit leadership have resulted in organizations becoming more conscientious in their search for new leadership. The older, more passive methods of attracting the best candidates simply do not work. The thinning of the talent pool has cut across every nonprofit sector. As the bar is raised, as board expectations increase, as organizations become more complex, the search for talent becomes more difficult. And the need for experienced search counsel becomes more apparent.
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