At the end of this year I am stepping down as Executive Director of my organization, Rainier Valley Corps in Seattle, Washington. While my transition is extremely positive—my board is awesome and supportive; the team is really great; it’s completely my decision to step down; and we have a nice timeline to find my replacement—the reality is that I’m also exhausted. And I am not the only one.
Executive Directors and CEOs of color have been leaving their positions in the nonprofit sector left and right - I know of at least a dozen in my region who have left their positions in the last few months. There’s not many of us to begin with, as only 10% nonprofit leaders are People of Color (POC), so this is a serious problem. The attrition of POC leaders is an urgent issue we’ve been ignoring, and it will have serious implications for our sector. All of us need to pay attention to these issues, especially funders.
So why are POC leaders leaving their ED jobs, and what can we do about it? There are several reasons, and it is important for us to understand them. There has been some important research done on this topic. The Race to Lead report by the Building Movement Project, for example, discovered that EDs/CEOs of color were more likely to experience leadership challenges like inadequate salary (49% POC leaders reported experiencing this problem vs. 34% of white leaders); lack of relationship with funding sources (49% POC vs. 33% White); and being called on the represent one’s entire community (53% vs. 23%).
