Small to mid‐sized nonprofit leadership development initiatives: organizational lessons learned

Abstract

PurposePresents findings of a recent survey conducted on small to mid‐sized nonprofit organizations about the types of leadership development initiatives they offer employees.Design/methodology/approachSurvey and interview methods used to collect data from nonprofit executive directors who participated in this study.FindingsMost survey participants do not have the financial and other organizational capacities to offer leadership development initiatives to employees. In‐service workshops are the most frequent type of initiative and unfortunately often this learning initiative has a low impact given its limited short‐term exposure to participants. Other leadership development initiatives may be more beneficial to employees in terms of their long‐term impact.Practical implicationsProvides recommendations for small to mid‐sized nonprofit executive directors about ways to fund leadership development initiatives.Originality/valueOffers nonprofit executive directors with suggestions about not investing in leadership development initiatives.