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V O L . X X I I I N O. X X I I A t the height last decade's great repression, predictions were that nonprofi t organizations would take a huge hit in coming years, that the retirement of many of the baby boom generation who led the organizations, combined with economic fallout, would doom many nonprofi ts to elimination or mergers. e prediction turned out to be off the mark, but as leadership roles from those retiring boomers are fi lled by the next generation, nonprofi ts still face changes that are shifting their cultural landscape. At many Maine nonprofi ts, that charge into the future will be led by women who have recently been named to lead high-profi le organizations. In July, Quincy Hentzel became the fi rst female CEO in of the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce in its 163-year history. Some others include Kristina Egan, who became executive director of the Greater Portland Council of Governments in July 2016; Betsy Beimann, who took over as CEO of Coastal Enterprises Inc. in May 2016; Jennifer Hutchins, who became executive director of the Maine Association for Nonprofi ts in June 2016; Heather Davis, executive director at LearningWorks last September; and Kelsey Halliday Johnson, who was named executive director of SPACE Gallery in Portland last month. "Public sector organizations are not always known for being ahead of the private sector in their business practices," says Elizabeth Fisher Turesky, an associ- ate professor of leadership and organizational studies at the University of Southern Maine. "But, when it comes to gender balance, they are ahead of the curve." Turesky adds, " e appointment of women to top leadership positions can represent a departure from past practices and helps the organization capture the symbolic representation of progressive change and innovation." One woman's story Egan, who took over as executive director of the Greater Portland Council of Governments last year, is the fi rst female to serve in that role. She replaced Neal Allen, who had the job for 18 years. "I really believe Maine has a lot of history with prominent female leaders, particularly in politics that's created a culture in Maine of male employers working with female candidates," she says. "I found my hiring process extremely fair." Egan was most recently Massachusetts' director of transportation, a coalition of 58 business, environ- mental, planning and transit organizations. She says women are changing the way nonprofi ts collaborate. "I don't want to generalize about women being more collaborative," but that many local nonprofi ts, many led by women, are getting together in a way they haven't before to make a cultural impact. "It's not about ego. It's a real opportunity to fi gure out how we can all row in the same direction and what we can give up if we're going to move forward," she says. "A lot of issues have seemed intractable for a long time" — including housing, poverty, climate change. "We have a responsibility in the nonprofi t sector, we really have to step up to the plate," she says, adding: "No nonprofi t can make it on its own. It's easier for us to form partnerships to make a bigger impact." Change is 'glacially slow' e National Council of Nonprofi ts reported earlier this year that about 73% of charitable organizations in the country are led by women. e larger the non- profi t, the more likely the leader is to be male. e Chronicle of Philanthropy reported in 2015 that 71% of large nonprofi ts, those with assets of $25 million or more, were headed by men. Of Maine's top 10 charitable foundations, two are run by women: Maine Health Access Organization, led by President and CEO Barbara Leonard, and the Davis Family Foundation, which is led by Anne Vaillancourt. Advancement of women to top leadership positions is "glacially slow, but progress is being made" says Turesky. She says it's notable that some of the women recently named to top positions at Maine nonprofi ts are heading ones that aren't in education, human resources, arts, childcare fi elds or other fi elds that tend to gravitate toward female leadership. Hutchins, the executive director of MANP, which has 840 members, says that she sees the changes as more generation-related than gender-related. "It's cool to see Gen Xers take on leadership roles, and a lot of us are women," says Hutchins. She says that change, as well as changes in the culture of how nonprofi ts operate, has to do with the previous generation retiring and is "a refl ection of changes in the workforce in general." New era, new challenges for nonprofi ts In a 2015 study about the future of nonprofi t leadership in New England, ird Sector reported that a decade ago, "as the recession kicked in, observers inside and outside the sector posited that it would lead to a wave of closures and mergers of nonprofi ts." "But guess what? e number of nonprofi ts has shot up since 2008," the study says. at year, there were 44,688 reporting nonprofi ts in New England. At the time the study was compiled six years later, there were 73,410. "People who see a need and have the wherewithal to start a new nonprofi t are still doing it," the report says. "Some of these new nonprofi ts are exhibiting high levels of growth, innovation and impact." at's the good news. e challenge is that the changes to nonprofi ts not only come at a time when many face leadership changes, but also as their sig- nifi cance grows as governments shrink social and economic programs. "Maine relies heavily on nonprofi ts," Hutchins says. "All of the state's nonprofi ts are really impor- tant to the fabric" of the Maine community. Maine, which has 1.3 million people, has an estimated 6,000 registered 501c3 and c4 nonprofi ts, she says. Women taking the lead Nonprofits get ready for new era with leadership changes B y M a u r e e n M i l l i k e n P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY Kristina Egan, pictured here in her offi ce, was named executive director of the Greater Portland Council of Governments in July 2016. She is the organization's fi rst female leader. G I V I N G G U I D E 2 0 1 7 – 2 0 1 8 6

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