Research Fellow
at Co.act Detroit

My role in the Leadership Pipeline Project (LPP), led jointly by Co.act Detroit and Michigan Community Resources (MCR), involved conducting research and interviews to understand and address challenges in the nonprofit leadership sector. Through this experience, I gained insights into the complexities of nonprofit leadership, highlighted the need for a sustainable leadership pipeline, and recognized the dynamic nature of social innovation in achieving lasting social impact.

Co.act Detroit is a nonprofit organization that aims to foster a collaborative environment for Southeast Michigan's nonprofit community, such as opening its physical space for nonprofit professionals and hosting webinars and workshops.

My project, Leadership Pipeline Project (LPP), was jointly led by Co.act Detroit and Michigan Community Resources (MCR), a nonprofit organization that serves low-income communities in Michigan. LPP started with a trend in the nonprofit sector in Southeast Michigan and throughout the nation: a high turnout rate of nonprofit leadership. Based on personal and professional interactions, Co.act and MCR have hypothesized how cultures in the nonprofit sector contribute to many challenges including burnout and lack of DEI which burden many executive directors and leaders to the point of leaving the sector. LPP thus started as an effort to understand this phenomenon and provide further growth potential for the sector.

I chose this experience because I was interested to know what it takes to become a nonprofit leader. I wanted to contribute to investigating ways to strengthen the leadership pipeline, something that I will be part of later on. The experience was innovative as it required me to come up with new recommendations based on the research and interview findings for Co.act and MCR to move forward with and improve the leadership pipeline of Southeast Michigan.

My role was divided into three distinct yet interconnected phases. The first is research. Covering subjects such as burnout, leaders of color, and nonprofit organizational models, I tried to understand the trend's relevant explanations. Additional research was also conducted on leadership qualities/skills and existing programs for nonprofit staff of all levels within the organization to overcome any barriers to becoming or maintaining leadership positions. The second is the interview. Because there are limitations of research which are mostly based on scholarly articles that are not specific to Southeast Michigan, I also interviewed different nonprofit stakeholders (e.g. retiring leaders, search firms, and philanthropies) mostly in Southeast Michigan for more personal, diverse, rich insights into the topic. The third is the summary of findings and recommendations to provide guidance for the rest of the Co.act and MCR members to decide what their next steps should be.

Figure 1. Final presentation laying out literature review, methodology, results, analyses, and recommendations

Through LPP, I hoped to learn the status quo of the nonprofit ecosystem, the responsibilities and skillsets of nonprofit leaders, and the leadership pipeline. I achieved these learning objectives through both research and interviews with different nonprofit stakeholders. Some intimate, personal accounts of my supervisors and fellow Co.act members deeply moved and educated me as well.

The experience highlighted the flaws of some existing organizational structures in the social impact world—more specific to nonprofits. The project especially emphasized the importance of a sustainable, internal leadership pipeline with emerging leaders with diverse experiences including entrepreneurial ones. Furthermore, conversations with nonprofit professionals demonstrated social innovation as a process, a continuous re-direction, based on the core purpose: a positive social impact. There may be no single, tangible product. There may be no sign of impact for several weeks, months, or even years. Nonetheless, social innovation persists. Its direction may have changed appropriately based on the observed circumstances. But it maintains its target of achieving social good.

Weekly prompts and blogs: