COLUMBUS, Ohio, March 26, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The average time an executive-level pregnancy help leader stays in his or her current role is on up-tick, at 7.5 years, up from a 2013 average of 5.37 years, according to a report released jointly by Heartbeat International and Care Net early Thursday.
The report, "2015 Pregnancy Help Center Salary Survey," gathered responses from over 500 of the life-affirming pregnancy help organizations, serving in more than 800 locations throughout the United States.
Among responding executive directors in the survey, 28 percent (147) had served at least 10 years at their center, including five directors who have served 30 or more consecutive years at their current ministry.
"The new findings on tenure of executive directors is encouraging," Heartbeat International Vice President Jor-El Godsey said. "The research reveals not only the tenacity and strength of those serving in that role, but the stability of the organization as well. The increase in tenure of Executive Directors is as much about fundamentally strong organizations as it is innovative and energetic leaders."
Of respondents, 64.1 percent (302 total) hold at least an undergraduate degree, 24 percent (74 total) of which have earned a post-graduate degree. Capturing its primary role of training and equipping leaders of life-affirming organizations, Heartbeat International spent 77 percent of its 2014 annual budget on leadership development.
Heartbeat International's opportunities for learning and growth for executive directors, client services directors, development directors, nurse managers and other staff include Heartbeat's Annual Conference, Institute for Center Effectiveness, and online learning through the Heartbeat Academy.
"Equipped leaders with good resources and support are better able to engage the mission, empower the effort and excite the community," Godsey said. "Certainly boards that care and staff that contribute well are part of the picture of increasing tenure."
The 2015 Pregnancy Help Center Salary Survey is the fifth edition of the Salary Survey, which has been produced and distributed bi-annually to Heartbeat International affiliates since 2007. It was distributed to affiliates of Heartbeat International and Care Net via email as a benefit of affiliation, and is available to non-affiliates for a $50 fee through Heartbeat International.
Heartbeat International and Care Net, in partnership with the National Leadership Alliance of Pregnancy Care Services, hold a common ethical code of practice for affiliation, known as the "Commitment to Care and Competence," and the two organizations co-founded Heartbeat's 24/7 pregnancy helpline, Option Line in 2003.
About Heartbeat International
Heartbeat International is the first network of pro-life pregnancy help organizations founded in the U.S. (1971), and now the largest and most expansive network in the world. With nearly 2,000 affiliated pregnancy help locations—including pregnancy help medical clinics (with ultrasound), resource centers, maternity homes, and adoption agencies—Heartbeat serves on all six inhabited continents to provide alternatives to abortion. For more information, see www.HeartbeatInternational.org.