Choice, The Magazine of Professional Coaching

Reproduced with the permission of choice Magazine, www.choice-online.com
By Miguel Bonilla, MS, MA, CC and Bobbi Hahn, MPA, CC
Meaningful
Impact
Coaching & consulting in the nonprofit sector
Over the past several years, we’ve been working to
provide coaching and consulting to local nonprofits. At
the same time, we became certified coaches ourselves
and learned more about the coaching field. What has
become clear is that consulting has a long history and
presence in the nonprofit sector, but a lot of evidence
now supports the increased effectiveness of coaching to
produce the desired results within the sector.
In this article, we will show why coaches should consider
the nonprofit sector as a viable means of expanding
their coaching clientele and how that differs from
consulting in the nonprofit sector. We’ll explain how
these approaches differ, what some of the critical needs
are, and how coaches can position themselves to have
maximum impact.
Why Nonprofits?
There are over 1.5 million nonprofits in the U.S. alone,
accounting for over eight percent of all wages and salaries.
In some cities, like New York, they account for 14 percent
“A lot of evidence now supports
the increased effectiveness
of coaching to produce the
desired results within the
nonprofit sector.”
of the labor force. Nonprofits are seven percent of the
GDP. This is significantly higher than the utilities industry
at 2.3 percent, the construction industry at 5.1 percent
and the financial industry including banks, insurance companies
and financial services firms, at just 5.6 percent. 1
As interest in social issues continues to rise, the number
of nonprofits has also increased. Between 1995 and 2005,
the number of organizations registered with the IRS grew
by more than 27 percent. More than one hundred new
nonprofit organizations file with the IRS every day. 2
Although the nonprofit sector constitutes a large
portion of the labor market, nonprofits have had a difficult
time communicating what they do. Most people
think the nonprofit sector is made up of poorly paid,
altruistic community organizers, folding flyers in a
church basement. These nonprofits exist and provide
critical services to needy communities, but the sector
has also produced many organizations that are business
savvy and complex. Most hospitals and universities, for
example, are nonprofits and function more like corporations.
They invest heavily in professional development,
they depend on fees for services for their income,
and they have staff in the thousands. The majority of
nonprofits, however, are those in the middle: those that
have been around for more than three years, have a staff
of at least five people, are reasonably stable but have a
need to strengthen their human capital.
Private vs. Nonprofit
It is clear that the nonprofit sector continues to grow,
but similar to the the IT industry in the mid-’90s, there
is little understanding of how nonprofits actually function
and the challenges they face. What is certain is that
nonprofits are battling fierce funding and political environments
that would make Enron execs cry for mercy.
Here are some leadership and organizational challenges
nonprofits face:
VOLUME 8 NUMBER 2
impact
43
Reproduced with the permission of choice Magazine, www.choice-online.com