Becoming a nonprofit leader that makes an impact in the community is a nuanced and intricate responsibility. Nonprofit and social sector organizations are complex, and leadership structure should reflect the diversity and shared interests of all those who participate in the mission of the organization. Jim Collins speaks to the importance of nonprofit leadership in his book Good to Great and the Social Sectors and lays out what is required for success. This article expounds and adds to this list of leadership requirements for nonprofit leaders.

  • System Building and Planning – It is essential for successful nonprofit leaders to plan well and have systems put in place to make their organization run smoothly. Social sector leaders must know how to manage a complex power structure and convince people that their decisions are right, while also ensuring that people have the resources they need to fulfill their missions. Likewise, leaders should be able to teach others how to develop programs that impact the community.
  • Relational Development and Intelligence – Nonprofit leaders need to build relationships with all constituents. From participants to board members to staff, it takes great leadership to guide others to act as they should and make people feel important. This is especially true of staff members. If a leader of a nonprofit values their team, their team will value who they serve. This allows the organization to reach the needs of the community. Leaders of high-growth organizations are responsible for directing people in the proper places to act fairly and efficiently. Leadership and management of people is vital, especially in high-tech, rapidly growing nonprofit organizations.
  • Fundraising and Financial Stewardship – Management of the finances of a nonprofit is crucial. It is challenging to balance the need for substantial resources while delivering great service to the community especially because nonprofit organizations are often working on low-income and small budgets. Fundraising is necessary to provide the kind of support that nonprofits need to operate effectively. It is essential that nonprofit leaders have a good understanding of how to create and maintain relationships with donors and to engage them in the planning process.
  • Communication and Program Knowledge – Leaders should have good communication skills and a strong focus on the issues that are important to the organization. They must be knowledgeable in the area in which they work, and they must also be able to transfer their experience to communicate to those around them. This level of communication must be so effective that in the context of the organizational system, staff members become vision carriers. Good nonprofit leaders understand the people who work or volunteer in each of the various positions that his or her team plays. It is not enough for leaders to have good intuition to help them make decisions, they must be able to communicate this intuition and articulate these insights to constituents to advance the mission and allow the organization to function effectively.
  • Resilience – All leadership, but especially nonprofit leadership, requires thoughtfulness and decisiveness. Leaders should not compromise in order to obtain consensus. Nonprofit leaders need to do what is best for an organization, even when that is painful.

Ultimately, leaders who are truly effective in the leadership of the communities that they work for are different than those in the business world. There is a higher level of complexity to nonprofit or social sector leadership because it involves more than just executing orders, but doing things that are meaningful to others.

If you’re looking for someone to help you identify ways to be a more effective and mission-focused leader, MyCommunity can help! MyCommunity exists to build relationships and tools that equip organizations so that they can maximize their impact. Our suite of tools is designed to help organizations of all sizes focus on their mission without worrying about the logistics. We understand the importance of building strong relationships, so we provide the necessary tools to maximize impact and make a difference like our easy-to-use platforms MyDonors and MyVolunteers. Likewise, MyNonprofitCoach equips nonprofits with the training they need to be successful. Schedule a demo for any of our solutions here.

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Sources: https://vialogue.wordpress.com/2008/08/09/good-to-great-and-the-social-sectors-notes-review/
https://gracelead.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/good-to-great-social-sectors-summary.pdf