Changing the World from the Bottom Up: Leadership in Grassroots Social-Change Organizations

Abstract

The challenges of leadership in grassroots social-change organizations (SCOs) are daunting: the task is large, but funding is limited and uneven, and there is often a tension between financial stability and mission accomplishment. In addition, the aim of serving and empowering excluded groups requires leadership that is not only skilled in a technical sense, but is reflective of and open to the diversity of people and perspectives that exist within the community of service. Finally, if the work of social change is to continue and progress, there must be ongoing development of new leaders. How do grassroots social-change organizations manage to address these multiple demands? This paper draws on data from a study of grassroots social-change organizations in which understanding leadership and leadership transition were motivating research problems. Following a brief description of our research methods, we begin the substantive discussion with a definition of the requirements of leadership as reported by those working at different levels in SCOs. We summarize the current leaders’ assessments of their own strengths and weaknesses, and the paths to the positions of formal leadership in these kinds of organizations. We turn next to the uneven work of leadership development that goes on in SCOs, the processes of succession, and the structural barriers to broadening and diversifying participation in leadership. We conclude the discussion of findings by examining the benefits and challenges posed by the close link between leadership and mission in SCOs. The paper ends by highlighting particular features of the leadership challenge facing these organizations and suggests recommendations for strengthening leadership development within this context.