Pending leadership transitions in the nonprofit sector present a timely need to understand the career path to the executive position, but very few studies on nonprofit career paths have been conducted. A systematic study would help make sense of the existing leadership pipeline to the executive office and offer promising insights that contribute to theory building in the sector. This study investigates the career paths of a national random sample of nonprofit executives serving health and human service nonprofit organizations. Primary and secondary data were collected and analyzed on the experience, education, and credentials these executives hold. The analysis evaluates variations among career characteristics, as well as applies career typologies from within and beyond the nonprofit sector. Respondents also provided qualitative descriptions of their path to executive office, which are insightful about influencing factors that are beyond a resume’s depiction of credentials. The findings are rich in descriptive value and are discussed in light of their utility for nonprofit boards charged with executive selection responsibilities. Finally, the findings are also applied to formulate propositions for future research about how individual career movement may be shaping the nonprofit sector.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, nonprofit organizations face increased demands for services alongside decreased revenues and must make tough choices on how to weather these stressors. Alongside these organizational changes, COVID-19 impacts nonprofit workers and could be a career shock for these individuals, potentially altering how they think of their work and career intentions, even jeopardizing their commitment to the sector. Therefore, this paper outlines a research agenda to understand how the pandemic impacts nonprofit workers and their commitment to working in the sector. Several areas for future research are identified including human resource policy, leadership development, generational differences, gender effects, nonprofit graduate education, and mission-specific work effects. K E Y W O R D SCOVID-19, critical incidents, nonprofit sector commitment, organizational change | INTRODUCTIONNonprofit organizations are frequently called upon and play vital roles during times of crisis (Simo & Bies, 2007). What is different during the COVID-19 pandemic is that many nonprofit organizations "are struggling with how to help their communities while also trying to endureThe authors are listed alphabetically as they are sharing equal authorship for this manuscript.

Graduates of nonprofit education programs have seemingly opted in to the nonprofit sector by means of their field of education, but prior research on worker sorting depicts a complex rationale for sector selection. This research study uses a sample of 153 alumni of nonprofit education programs to sort among factors influencing sector commitment. Given that these alumni have seemingly indicated a sector commitment by way of their education field, this analysis investigates factors that may disrupt sector commitment, and finds that individuals who view their work as a calling or have a nonprofit identity were associated with a commitment to working in the nonprofit sector. This study adds to the growing body of sectoral differences literature and helps inform human resource management and leadership about employee characteristics that should be prioritized for development and promotion.

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Evidence about millennial work motivations and the increasing importance of compensation questions the durability of the donative labor hypothesis in explaining nonprofit sector commitment. Nonprofit graduate education offers an employment pipeline into the sector, but what if the importance of compensation is partly driven by the financial burden accrued from education? Could it be that financial burden contributes to choices about work and commitment to the nonprofit sector? Using longitudinal data of nonprofit education alumni, we inquire about their sector commitment in light of the financial burden from their degree. Findings of this exploratory study offer a starting point for future research into how nonprofit education alumni view career opportunities in the nonprofit sector.