By Doris Rubenstein
Several stories appeared in the mainstream media over the past month about the fact that women now outnumber men on college campuses. Commentators drew implications ranging from the “romantic difficulties” of highly-educated women finding even better-educated mates to what might happen fifteen to twenty years hence when these women start to significantly outnumber the “old boys” in top management and governance.
One area where women have taken the lead for many years is in the nonprofit and government sectors. Business leaders of both sexes should pay attention to how women are running these operations and see what lessons they may bode for the future.
Two of the most influential nonprofits in Minnesota are the Council on Foundations and the Minnesota Community Foundation. The former was led for many years by Jackie Reis. She left that organization three years ago to head up the Building Business Involvement in Community initiative. That group issued the first of a series of important reports on the interaction between the business and non-profit sectors that are serving as a guide to more productive cooperation.
Judi Dutcher recently joined the Minnesota Community Foundation as its President. Her direction will take that umbrella organization to new levels in advancing philanthropy in Greater Minnesota at this crucial time when rural communities are losing population and resources.
Dutcher came to the Minnesota Foundation after serving in State government. This past election, the Minnesota legislature lost several seats previously held by women. Still, the number of women serving in the Executive Branch has continued to grow over the years, until the point where women are the majority there.
Many women legislators play double-duty and are highly involved in governance in nonprofit organizations. Both Senator Becky Lourey (DFL-Kerrick) and Rep. Laura Brod (R-New Prague) have been involved in starting up new nonprofits in their districts.
Minnesota’s Latino community took the lead years ago in bringing in women to lead their nonprofit organizations, particularly in the social services area. As far back as 1991, according to a survey done by the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, the most successful of the social services groups organized by and for Latinos were dominated by women both on their boards and in their executive offices.
Where do women stand in leadership in our nonprofit sector today?
According to the Business Journal’s “Top 25 Lists” of both Civic and Cultural Nonprofits, of the combined Top 50 nine are headed by women -- nearly twenty percent. I would venture a well-educated guess that the percentage of women leaders grows in inverse proportion to the size of the nonprofit organization, and that a much more impressive percentage of the leaders of the hundreds of smaller groups are women. Combining the values of services and the payrolls of those organizations would show women in control of a formidable portion of that sector’s economy. In addition, four out of the Top 25 Colleges and Universities are also headed by women, including the University of Minnesota/Duluth.
Serving on a nonprofit board or working in a nonprofit is excellent training for women and men in leadership and management. There are women who can make the jump from nonprofit into the business world, like Lou Dickmeyer, former President of the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce, who is now a consultant to businesses. The connections and respect she created at the Chamber will open the door to her as a businesswoman. Others, like Dutcher, take the opposite track and go into nonprofit after serving in business or government. Those same kinds of connections can do wonders in bringing resources from business to community philanthropic enterprises.
It’s clear that women are on the move in business. With the unprecedented increase of women taking higher education degrees, the velocity in the next two decades is certain to accelerate. It’s up to today’s women in business management and nonprofit leadership to open the doors even wider for this new generation when they graduate college. All women and men who believe in Minnesota’s progressive social and economic traditions should celebrate and encourage this demographic trend which can only bring new vitality and vision to our State.
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