Help Wanted: Social Enterprise and Non-Profit Sector Leadership to Meet Deficit

According to The Bridgespan Group, a non-profit consultant agency that facilitates strategic and organizational development for other non-profits and social enterprises, over 500,000 new leaders will be needed in the next eight years to meet the staffing demands in these sectors. By 2016, the demand will increase to 80,000 new senior managers per year. Spurred by complex and urgent social challenges, exponential growth in these sectors has spurred the creation of new curriculum at major universities and colleges as well as the expansion of staffing specialists. If non-profits and social enterprises intend to provide critical community services, while serving as champions of the common good and incubators of social innovation, those new leaders must be developed now.

Harvard Business School developed a Social Enterprise Initiative, as did the Yale School of Management, escalating programs dedicated exclusively to Social Enterprise. In addition to Cornell, Duke, Stanford and Columbia, which have formally established renown social enterprise programs, many state universities now offer Social Enterprise majors.

In addition to college and university programs designed to focus business savvy students to develop the next wave of social entrepreneurs, New Sector Alliance, a social impact consulting and leadership development firm, promotes sustainable social solutions through cross-sector partnerships. By working with the world's leading management consulting firms, universities, non-profit organizations and the Corporation for National and Community Service/Americorp, New Sector Alliance collaboratively delivers capacity-building services to their clients, while simultaneously initiating a new generation of social entrepreneurs and social enterprise leaders. New Sector Alliance has four social enterprise program categories, each specifically targeting undergraduate students, young professionals, MBA students or experienced professionals.

The vital partnerships New Sector Alliance has established serve as catalysts to help non-profits and social enterprises confronted with harsh economic realities not only survive, but to actually accomplish more with less - less funding, fewer resources and staff. In order to meet the social challenges in spite of the current economic backdrop, these social enterprises and non-profits are using innovative business strategies and developing cost-effective, sustainable technologies to find new ways of doing business: exploring alternative funding streams; engaging supporters, donors and volunteers in more creative ways, particularly through social media; increasing operational efficiency and effectiveness; and planning strategically for the future. All of which relies on outstanding leadership deeply committed to creating positive change.

So if you or someone you know is headed off to college or returning to college without a clear focus on a major, perhaps one of the outstanding social enterprise or social entrepreneur programs would be worth serious consideration.

From the September 2007 Issue of FSB magazine