Gay pride flag Photo by Benson Kua

Investing in LGBT Leaders or Burning Them Out?

Building resilient leadership to drive daunting movements

Program director Matt Foreman writes on addressing high turnover in the LGBT movement with leadership training that makes an impact.

“The overwhelming majority of organizational leaders feel besieged from all sides, including the demands of fundraising, managing personnel, keeping up with new technologies, and handling hostile media,” writes Haas, Jr. Fund senior director Matt Foreman. “It’s little wonder there is so much burnout and leadership turnover in the movement.”

To tackle this problem, the Haas, Jr. Fund developed the Flexible Leadership Awards to make impactful investments in nonprofit and social movement leaders. This 2012 blog post looks at a case study on the National Center for Lesbian Rights, a Fund grantee and FLA recipient. The results: “significant returns in the ability of movements to advance fundamental rights and create opportunities for all.”