It is time that Australia developed and implemented a strategy to increase the availability of, and reduce the marginal cost of participation in, executive education programs for the NFP sector.

The non profit sector in Australia accounts for about 11% of non-farm private sector employment which is valued at about 5% of GDP. In total there are about 580,000 employees and 558 million volunteer hours across the 31,000 employing non profit organisations. The services provided by the sector are extremely diverse and range from drug rehabilitation to environmental lobbying to performing arts organisations.

Developing an accurate and sympathetic view of the management and leadership competency of an entire sector of the economy is not an easy task. Turning the learnings into an implementable strategy is even harder.

That said, much good work has been completed and some clear recommendations are emerging. Initial research findings have led to the following conclusions:

1. There is definitely a need to lift the management and leadership competency of executives and board members in the non-profit sector. It was important that this conclusion was in fact correct as it forms the base hypothesis upon which the remaining work rests.
2. There are in the order of 30,000 individuals (executives and board members) that need competency development / education.
3. The market (individuals needing education) is fragmented by industry, current organisational role, educational need, learning style etc. Some of the fragmentation is real while other aspects are driven by perceptions.
4. Educational offerings for the sector exist today but will need to grow in scale and quality to have the impact we seek.
5. There are substantial financial and non-financial barriers that limit the amount of education delivered to the sector. Overcoming these barriers is one of our major tasks.
6. There are four criteria that can guide the selection of roles that the centre could undertake:
     - Flexibility
     - Avoid duplication
     - Feasibility and low risk
     - Impact / cost
7. There are four distinct roles that we can take:
     - Research
     - Education provision
     - Funding source
     - Coordinator Catalyst.
   The centre could choose to take on any combination of these distinct roles that it chooses.

At this stage the needs of functional and junior management have been ignored since professional development at the technical level is more readily sourced. The needs of this audience may be addressed at a later date.

A national sector wide solution requires the inspiration and intelligence of the entire sector. Therefore you are invited to participate in the problem solving via this web site.