Since 2006, the State of the States report by Equality Federation has documented the strength and sustainability of state-based advocacy organizations that advance equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the communities they call home.

Over the past eight years, State of the States has faithfully documented our movement’s triumphs and trials as reflected in the capacity of our state-based organizations. This year, we will maintain this spirit, while telling the story of our movement not just in numbers, but through the incredible work of our members.

In Part 1 of State of the States, we looked at how the state-based movement is funded. For Part 2, we turn our focus to organizational leadership, and the data we’ve collected from our member organizations reveal some interesting trends.

At Equality Federation, we’ve seen time and time again the difference that effective executive directors make in building state equality groups and the power of our movement. That’s why a top priority of our State Leadership Project is doing all we can to help state groups hire, develop, and retain the strong, resilient, and adaptive leaders they need.

Right now, 30 groups have executive director positions—68% of our 44 member organizations. The other 14 organizations operate with working volunteer boards.

Tenure

As we’ve looked at what makes executive directors successful, one critical factor is longevity. A few years back, we saw that all too many state leaders weren’t lasting more than a year or two—too little time to make a lasting impact in most cases. Sometimes this was because under-prepared candidates were hired for the jobs and sometimes talented leaders didn’t get the support they needed to last.

This year’s State of the States survey revealed some good news:

• The average currently serving executive director has been in their job for 37 months, up from 18 months in 2011. 
• Forty-eight percent of current executive directors have a tenure of 2 years or more, while 28% were hired within the past year.

While there is still more to be done to ensure executive directors can survive and thrive for the long run, this represents significant progress. This change is thanks to the talented leaders who take on these roles, the support of their organizations, and, we believe, our work at the Federation to strengthen executive leadership.

From helping search committees recruit and hire the right people to providing executive coaching and a strong peer network to those in the job, we strive to partner with leaders and their organizations throughout their tenure.

A centerpiece of that effort is our annual New Executive Director Boot Camp. It’s a chance to help new leaders learn best practices and figure out what questions they should be asking in all aspects of their job, from managing the organization's finances to working with their boards to navigating the personal challenges of being a community leader.

“The New Executive Director Boot Camp is one of the most practical and useful programs in which I've ever participated,” said Fairness Campaign’s Chris Hartman, who attended last year’s Boot Camp. “From logical best practices for board management and development, to some simple communication tools that have proved invaluable, there was never a moment in which I was not learning something new.”

This December we’ll be welcoming new state leaders Andy Bowen at Garden State Equality,  Elise Johansen at EqualityMaine, Dave Montez at One Colorado, Andrew Schneider at Fairness West Virginia, Todd Simmons at Equality Hawaii, and Troy Williams at Equality Utah, to an intensive two days of learning together.

Compensation

In our survey, we also looked at executive compensation for the 27 organizations that provided it. In 2013, the median salary was $75,000 -- with the lowest at $22,880 and the highest at $180,000. As shown below, we see a wide range of salaries among organizations with similar budgets. This range may be due to differences in the local cost of living, the level of experience and tenure of the executive, and the competitiveness of the local market for non-profit and political professionals. This data offers one benchmark, along with in-state non-profit salary studies, for assessing how competitive an organization’s executive compensation package is.

Looking Forward

Of course, looking at tenure and compensation only shows part of the picture. Ultimately, successful leaders are judged by how they mobilize others to achieve real progress for LGBT people. In our daily work with state organizations, we’re consistently inspired by the remarkable acts of leadership we see from both new and long-serving executive directors who are working for change in their communities.

• At Equality Florida, Nadine Smith—our longest-serving state leader—has built the organization into a multi-million dollar political powerhouse that’s won remarkable protections for LGBT people in local communities despite a challenging, conservative state legislature.
• At Equality North Carolina, Chris Sgro has used his first year on the job to chart a new course in the aftermath of a painful loss at the ballot in 2012, forging innovative new partnerships with communities of color to address voter suppression and fostering new levels of engagement statewide.
• At Equality New Mexico, Amber Royster is closing out her second year as executive director in a state that recently achieved marriage equality, and is building a powerful program to address bullying and school pushout with restorative justice practices.

Those are just three of the amazing executive directors who, along with their staff, boards, organizational partners and supporters, are making a difference every day. Through our State Leadership Project, Equality Federation is proud to continue developing and supporting the people who are winning equality in the communities we call home.

Methodology
The State of the States survey is distributed in the spring of each year to all current Equality Federation member organizations. The survey is sent by email as part of our member recertification, and responses are collected over several months. The most current data was submitted by 41 organizations. Each year, the survey includes approximately 25 questions, some with multiple responses. Some organizations choose not to complete every question, leaving some answers blank. Additional data on executive director tenure comes from Equality Federation’s own tracking data.