Why Invest in Building a Culture of Talent and Leadership Development?

“This is a way to support the growth and development of our grantees. AchieveMission’s efforts will strengthen them and make them more sustainable, which also benefits our portfolio. It’s another way we can add value to their work. It’s also been exciting for us to join with other funders, like W.K. Kellogg Foundation, who are committed to these same issues.”

—Caroline Altman Smith, Kresge Foundation

Download the REALIGNMENT case study (383k).

Understanding how to bridge the gap between talent needs and talented people, while preparing a team for growth or expansion, can stymie even the strongest leaders and the highest-performing organizations. That’s the challenge that recently faced the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH).

An industry leader in providing supportive housing for vulnerable populations, CSH was preparing for some significant changes in its environment. New populations were emerging that needed its services. “We saw an opportunity to take CSH in an expanded direction,” explains President and CEO Deborah De Santis. “This would expand our work, taking us into new sectors, so we needed new people with different experiences coming into CSH. We talked for a long time about the need to recruit ‘rock stars.’ But once we got them, how would we retain them? How would we develop the skill set of the rest of the organization? How would we groom both specialists and generalists?”