Nonprofit Talent Expands with New Offerings and Executive Advisor
March 14, 2018 – Pittsburgh-based search firm Nonprofit Talent has recently added James McDonald as executive advisor. It also announced a series of new service offerings.
Mr. McDonald is the retired managing director for global philanthropy and employee programs at BNY Mellon. He also served as a director of BNY Mellon Foundation and president of the BNY Mellon Foundation of Southwestern Pennsylvania.
“We are thrilled that someone with Jim’s background, network and knowledge of the nonprofit community will be another resource to our non-profit talent clients,” said Michelle Pagano Heck, president of Nonprofit Talent.
Nonprofit Talent has also implemented a growth strategy to provide its core clientele with additional products that will serve to strengthen non-profit and public-sector managers’ skill levels and provide counsel to those hoping to make a transition from the private sector to non-profit management.
“We are proud and humbled to work with a diverse set of clients across various foundations, non-profits, associations, and government agencies,” said Ms. Pagano Heck. “Each engagement deepens our understanding of the distinctions of the public and non-profit sectors, and our appreciation for the work they do.”
Non-Profit Sector Opens Up New Career Path for High Performing Leaders
One of the fastest growing sectors within executive search today can be found in non-profit. Presently, close to 150 recruiting firms specialize in some form of talent acquisition in this sector, which includes foundations, cultural institutions, and academia, to name a few.
New Offerings
The firm’s new products are called Executive Development and Career Transition and “represent areas of needs our clients are recognizing in their workplaces,” said Ms. Pagano Heck.
The Executive Development product is an individual learning program customized to focus on specific needs of the client. Topics could include board management, organizational structure and design, staff evaluation and performance enhancement, fundraising for executives or transition management. The Career Transition product, meanwhile, provides customized counseling for an individual interested in joining the non-profit sector. Topics might include exploring whether a move to the non-profit arena is right, identifying transferable skills, how to find opportunities and how to fill skill gaps.
Another element of Nonprofit Talent’s growth strategy is the expansion of its Job Board, an online tool in which employers and job-seekers can search for available talent and opportunities. Todd Owens, co-founder of Nonprofit Talent and Job Board manager, is expanding the geographic footprint of the firm to contiguous states. Since its inception in 2013, more than 5,000 jobs have been listed on the Nonprofit Talent Job Board. Starting this month, employers now have the option to pay a fee for a 30-day display of a job posting.
Non-Profit Executives On The Move As Sector Transitions
The non-profit sector has gained economic strength in recent years, making it the third largest employer in the country. Nearly two million not-for-profits employ 10.7 million people and produce $1.9 trillion in revenue. In the past decade, employment in the sector grew by 17 percent.
The Recruiters
Mr. Owens and Ms. Pagano Heck founded Nonprofit Talent in 2013. Previously, the partners worked together providing similar services at Dewey & Kaye. They have a combined 30-plus years working with non-profit organizations in a consultative capacity, primarily focused on healthy leadership transitions. The firm serves clients across the Mid-Atlantic states and has completed national searches for clients located in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and Washington D.C. /Virginia. Nonprofit Talent has recently found top leaders for AIA Pennsylvania, Crossroads Foundation, Fund for Advancement of Minorities in Education, Heinz Family Foundation, Mt. Washington Community Development Corporation, Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and United Way of Allegheny County, among many others.
“Nonprofit Talent helped us pull off a groundbreaking reinvention of municipal hiring in Pittsburgh,” said Grant Oliphant, president of the Heinz Endowments. “Despite coming under significant time, budgetary and media pressure, they facilitated a top-notch and incredibly broad search process that identified high caliber candidates and allowed our city to fill top positions based on qualifications and merit.”
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor; and Will Schatz, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
