5 Ways to be an Effective Nonprofit Leader

As the leader of a nonprofit organization, you have an essential and challenging job. You're in charge of motivating and inspiring employees, raising money, and running day-to-day tasks while balancing your organization's mission with the needs of donors and society at large. And you can do it! Here are five ways to be an effective nonprofit leader.

1) Empower Team Members

Every person on your team is a leader in their own right. As a nonprofit executive director, you might wear many hats, but it is essential to identify tasks that would best be left to others you have empowered to take them on. What job responsibilities can you delegate? Leaders empower those around them by empowering themselves first.

2) Make Strategic Plans… And Measure Against Them

Your organization's vision and strategy should outline your goals and determine what you aim to accomplish and how you plan on doing it. It provides a starting point for making decisions and allows you to adapt when necessary. If there is no clear vision or strategy in place, it can be hard for people in your organization to work together effectively because they will not know what direction your team is headed in. This creates confusion among members of your nonprofit leadership team and makes them less likely to make good choices.

Making the plan isn't enough, though. It's important to make sure you're measuring your organization's performance and impact. Identifying key metrics that indicate your programs are a success is essential leadership. Measurement is also important because it can identify systemic issues within your organization and pinpoint where you're doing something right—or areas for improvement. 

3) Manage Expectations

The nonprofit executive director's role is not easy, but it's not impossible. One of your most critical tasks as a nonprofit leader is managing expectations. It's up to you—the founder or executive director—to set realistic targets and hold everyone else accountable for delivering on them. That doesn't mean you have to manage every tiny detail, but it does mean that you need to keep on top of what everybody else is doing and ensure they know what they need to do.

4) Always Be Willing To Learn and Grow

When it comes to nonprofit leadership, no matter how experienced you are or what methods you use, you will always have something new and vital to learn. Be open and willing to accept new ideas and new perspectives. When the time comes, these tips will prove to be invaluable. When in doubt, it's always a good idea to reach out.

The world is constantly changing. You will experience unexpected changes and unplanned events. In these times, you need to be a leader. As a nonprofit founder, one of your most outstanding qualities is your empathy for others. The ability to relate to those who benefit from your work comes from genuinely caring about them and their success and seeing yourself in them. Use that empathy when approaching challenging situations that arise, and you'll be able to lead with change on your side.

5) Be YOU and Empower Others

People connect with people. People give to other people. Know your story and your organization's impact on your community and share it whenever you can. But as you're telling it, listen to your friends, colleagues, and potential donors as they speak back, learn what drives them and the part of your mission that they feel most passionate about or empowered by, and then stoke that flame– find ways to connect their strengths to your mission. Give them straightforward ways that they can help your organization reach your goals! You'll also find that people are more willing to help out when they know who you are and your goals. The more goodwill you spread, the more likely people will want to work with you in various ways.