YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY

Springfield, MO

Log in Subscribe

Ben McBride has levered his experience as an attorney into a position at the helm of I Pour Life.
McKenzie Robinson | SBJ
Ben McBride has levered his experience as an attorney into a position at the helm of I Pour Life.

Springfield charities see executive changes

Shifts in nonprofit leadership reflect local and national trends

Posted online

 A little more than a week on the job at I Pour Life, attorney Ben McBride is settling into a new role and a new career.

A former Greene County assistant prosecutor and owner of McBride Law LLC, he has met a lot of people who needed some help turning their lives around after getting involved in crime.

“Normally, what brought them to my door was not the issue at all,” McBride said, pointing to mental health issues or neglect as the common root of their problems. “They needed help so they weren’t escaping into crisis mode.”

Now the executive director of I Pour Life, a nonprofit serving those with social and economic disadvantages, McBride can leverage his experience to help people avoid making the types of devastating decisions that could land them in the legal system.

Although McBride’s background isn’t in nonprofits, the board of directors at I Pour Life was looking for someone with his type of experience. He said he has a business mindset, the ability to lead people, and a passion and vision for the mission.

“It was kind of a no-brainer for me,” he said.

McBride is one example of a trend among Springfield nonprofits. Local charitable organizations are experiencing a flux in top leadership, and other executive directors are taking note.

“I was talking with a counterpart of mine just the other day,” said Allison Gregory, who has served as executive director of FosterAdopt Connect since 2018. “We were looking at each situation, and they were all very different.”

In the past month, Springfield Business Journal also has reported on new director hires at Care to Learn, Child Advocacy Center Inc. and Price Cutter Charity Championship.

Gregory said the transitions correlate to the coronavirus pandemic, which gave people a chance to reevaluate their lives. She noted that it can be difficult work to lead a nonprofit organization, and the job is often not as lucrative as top jobs in the private sector.

“You do it because you love it,” she said.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought extra challenges, Gregory said, and major shifts in how nonprofits operate, including replacing live events with virtual ones. FosterAdopt Connect recently completed a capital campaign almost entirely online.

“Some people were more flexible, more able to pivot and shift,” she said. “If you didn’t, you weren’t going to survive.”

Krystal Simon, the incoming executive director of Care to Learn, also has noticed the flux in leadership, and she attributes it largely to COVID.

“There’s been a lot of transition and change over the last 15 months,” Simon said. “It’s caused a lot of people to reflect and think about why they’re doing what they’re doing.”

It comes down to a question of what people feel called to do, she said, and that’s true in both the public and private sectors.

The pressure adds up for nonprofit executives, but Dan Prater, senior managing consultant with BKD LLP and a researcher in the field of nonprofits, said the leadership turnover is a national trend that predates the pandemic.

Prater agreed with Gregory that low pay and benefits is one of the main reasons.

“While these have consistently improved over the past few years, they still don’t match the for-profit sector,” he said.

Prater said that a 2020 national study by Nonprofit HR found 45% of nonprofit employees planned to seek different employment in the next five years, and compensation was the main impetus.

The leadership transition has been on the radar of Prater and other nonprofit researchers. A 2013 paper by Frances Kunreuther, “The Leadership in Leaving,” estimated up to 75% of U.S. nonprofit leaders plan to exit their positions in the next five to 10 years. Stanford Social Innovation Review cites Kunreuther, saying, “With over 1 million nonprofits and philanthropic institutions, the implications of the expected turnover are enormous.”

That study suggested half-a-million nonprofit executives would exit their positions by 2028. Prater said that low pay is one factor in the exodus, but the lack of opportunity for advancement is another factor.

“Many don’t offer long-term career ladders,” he said. “Many hire outside their organizations when filling leadership positions, rather than mentoring younger talent.”

Additionally, some organizations have boards that make life difficult for leadership, according to Prater.

“Smaller, younger organizations may have members that are controlling and overly involved, in some cases doing the work of the executive director,” he said.

Other contributors to leadership turnover include burnout and stress or a lack of professionalism, Prater said.

But hidden within the problem of leadership transition could be the solution to another problem: lack of diversity in the nonprofit sector. The journal Philanthropy News Digest cites a study by consultancy Battalia Winston that found men make up the majority of the field, as only 42% of organizations are led by women. Additionally, 87% of all executive directors are white.

Prater notes that women comprise 75% of nonprofit leaders “until you hit a certain point.” Male leaders dominate the highest-funded nonprofits. This national trend seems to be reflected on the local scene as well.

Prater also brought up some misperceptions about nonprofits – namely that directors must take a vow of poverty to work for a mission-driven organization or that they are for people who can’t succeed in the business world.

“Sometimes a person from the business world, even without nonprofit experience, could be a great fit,” he said.

Enter Byron Shive. He’s a Bolivar attorney currently being groomed to lead the Price Cutter Charity Championship and Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. Longtime director Jerald Andrews is stepping down as CEO of the organizations after the 2022 PCCC tournament, and  Shive is closing down his private practice.

At a June 14 PCCC media breakfast, Shive said, “I’ve always been a sports fanatic, always wanted to do something in sports. I loved what I was doing helping people in a solo practice. I can still help people, but on a larger scale, and involve sports.”

An infusion of business know-how into area nonprofits through executive hires is one strategy for responding to the turnover.

Gregory, at FosterAdopt Connect, said professionalism is key to a successful nonprofit.

“I am really an advocate for running your nonprofit like a for-profit business,” she said, citing the need for strategic planning, infrastructure and appropriate pay.

“We talk about ‘running on a shoestring,’ or ‘wearing all of these different hats’ – all of these things nonprofits are known for. It doesn’t make a lot of sense. Give them the resources they need to make a difference.”

A director who is bucking the trend with his longevity is Carl Rosenkranz, leader of the Ozarks Area Community Action Corp. Rosenkranz will hit his 50-year anniversary with OACAC on Sept. 13, with 47 of those years as executive director.

“I’ve outlasted everybody,” he joked.

The nonprofit serves a 10-county area, and when he started, OACAC’s budget was $2 million. It’s over $30 million now, with multiple programs available to help low-income residents.

But it’s work he loves, with the goal of assisting people to improve their quality of life.

“We’re always trying to improve our ability to reach out to people,” he said.

Editorial Vice President Eric Olson contributed.

Comments

1 comment on this story |
Please log in to add your comment
user39184

Excellent article!

Tuesday, July 13, 2021
Editors' Pick
Open for Business: The Kebab Shack

The Kebab Shack opened; Hitch Goods launched; and The War Zone Springfield moved.

Most Read
Update cookies preferences