I’m a member of the Women Donors Network .  Today, one of the members posted that Compass Point  link on our confidential listserv that I shared with you earlier here .  It’s the study showing nonprofit executives who take sabbaticals are better at their jobs when they return to work.

But she added something else, and I want to share that with you.  Every two years, the Durfee Foundation  offers up to six people the opportunity to receive a $35,000 stipend for a sabbatical .  There are a lot of conditions  – the biggest one is that you’ve got to be a nonprofit exec for an organization headquartered in Los Angeles County.

Even if you don’t qualify for this particular program, perhaps the fact that it exists will inspire you to seek out previously unimagined sources of support for your sabbatical.

And now, back to mine.

 ”Sabbatical is the new black,” I said earlier this year, and I’ve been told that a sabbatical is also the new “status symbol.”

More importantly, sabbaticals are a new way to reinvigorate employees, and their workplaces are the eventual beneficiaries.

Compass Point  provides some proof in a new study of nonprofit leaders  who took three months of sabbatical leave. 

I shared this with Elizabeth Pagano of YourSABBATICAL  (a priceless resource if you’re dreaming about a sabbatical, or if you’re a visionary corporate leader interested in offering sabbaticals to your employees).  In turn, she sent me her company’s white paper on corporate sabbaticals.  Drop her a line (epagano@yourSABBATICAL.com) and she’ll send you a copy, too.

I think it’s risky for employers to do this – just like it’s risky to offer coaching to employees. What if the employee decides to chuck this job as a result of my generous offer of sabbatical time (or coaching)?  I have chosen to offer the services of professional coaches to people on my team.  It’s a gamble. Perhaps they will discover that “finding themselves” means leaving my employ.

Would I really want to hold anyone back from their greatest happiness and opportunities for personal and professional fulfillment?  No, I would not, even if it’s inconvenient for me.  I’m committed to helping people tap their untapped capacity. It would be hypocritical to stunt someone’s growth for my own selfish reasons.

I seriously contemplated not putting that in writing.  If it’s this difficult for me to do, I can imagine what a challenge that will be for a corporate manager in this economy.

Sabbaticals will continue to be “status symbols” until the culture undergoes a powerful change.  YourSABBATICAL and Compass Point are agents of that change. 

I’d join them, but, you know, I’m on sabbatical.