Being at the helm of a nonprofit organization is exciting. You get to be strategic, make bold plans, and find new ways to make a bigger impact on the world around you.
With this leadership comes great responsibility. Nonprofit management can be complex, with lots of moving parts. Nonprofit management is the running of an organization, usually to make the best use of your resources to help make the biggest impact possible. It’s up to you to plan ahead, embrace challenges, nurture your team, and bring in enough income to sustain what you do.
Here’s a closer look at all things nonprofit management — plus plenty of leadership tips to help you steer your organization towards prosperity.
Who Is Involved in Nonprofit Management?
Lots of new or smaller organizations in the nonprofit sector have a tight-knit management team. Sometimes it’s just the CEO or executive director. They’re the main person in charge of strategy, direction, and leadership in the organization. CEOs or executive directors are also the link between the nonprofit organization and its board of directors.
In bigger nonprofits, you’ll probably find a larger management team with multiple leadership roles. These managers will each be responsible for their own service area or team. You might find roles like:
- Chief financial officer
- Chief operating officer
- Fundraising manager
- Program manager
The nonprofit’s board of directors also get involved in management. They’re there to help steer the organization towards its goals, make decisions about the future, and make sure there’s enough resources to support the work.
Together the combination of your CEO or executive director and board of directors means you’ve got a healthy amount of skills, diversity, and qualities to help drive your nonprofit organization towards success.
Nonprofit Management Qualities That’ll Help You Lead Your Way To Success
The best nonprofit managers excel at leadership, communication, and empathy. They know how to get to know their team, motivate the people around them, and make the right decisions — even if they’re tough to make. Here are some of the best qualities that a stellar nonprofit management team will have.
Visionary
Attitude, culture, and passion can come from anywhere but they make a real impact when they come from the top. Don’t underestimate the influence that leaders can have on an organization.
Great nonprofit management teams live and breathe their mission and vision. It’s part of who they are and it drives them forward. This kind of energy moves through your organization and helps everyone else stay hyped, encouraged, and positive even through tough times.
Strategy-Minded
Someone’s gotta make the decisions around here. Nonprofit management teams have to make decisions all the time, but the truly great ones base their actions on research, insight, and strategy.
This is true for both the big moments and the small, everyday decisions too. Using data from past years to plan your fundraising activities or volunteer engagement strategy is a major step above basing it on your favorite events. And choosing the right stationery supplier might only save a few dollars here and there, but it all adds up.
People-Oriented
A lot of the time, management involves making the best use of your resources. And one of your most valuable resources is your people.
Great nonprofit managers take the time to listen to their team, their board, and other advisors around them. They’re not driven by pride or ego — instead they understand the value of other people’s experiences and how they can shape the organization for the better.
Here are some great ways to listen to your team and hear their ideas:
- Host regular catch-ups with your employees
- Set up a weekly or monthly team meeting
- Create a suggestion box
- Host a Q&A session with the management team
It’s not just about listening to ideas or criticism, either. Sometimes your employee or volunteer will just need someone to talk to about an issue. Offer support, encouragement, and plenty of empathy to those around you. Be someone that others feel they can approach, be open with, and call on in times of need.
Resilient Under Pressure
Nonprofit life isn’t all smooth sailing. Sometimes a grant will fall through, or you’ll run into an issue while planning a major fundraiser. The best nonprofit management teams can handle this in their stride and stay cool under pressure.
This resiliency trickles down through the rest of your organization, too. Display courage and stability and you’ll find your employees and volunteers feel less nervous, and more proactive about trying to solve the situation in front of you.
Our Top Nonprofit Management Tips
Running a nonprofit takes a lot of special skills. You need to be strategic, understand the numbers, and be able to lead a diverse group of people towards one common goal.
To help you excel at what you do best, here are some of our top nonprofit management tips.
Assemble the Right Team
To lead your nonprofit the right way, you need to have the best people on your team. Surrounding yourself with bright, imaginative, passionate, and talented people goes a long way.
Look for board members, managers, and employees that embody the values of your nonprofit organization. Check that they have the skills you’re missing, and that you can all work together as a team.
Here are some great skills to look for when hiring your team:
- Open and honest communication
- Accountability
- Resilience
- Great at working well as a team
- Innovative and curious
- Talent and experience in a useful area — e.g., grant applications
It’s tempting to look at your close network or family for people to help out with your organization. Make sure they bring value to the table though — that’s way more important than making sure your relative feels involved.
Your management team is hugely influential, so make hiring the right people your top priority. Keep the same mindset as you grow, when you hire your board, and as you bring on each new employee or volunteer.
Work Collaboratively
What’s the use in having a great team if you never work together on anything? Create opportunities for your management team to work collaboratively and see the benefits of a well-connected team.
Having distinct roles means you can cover more ground. Plus, there’s likely to be less duplication or confusion. But make sure there’s plenty of room for collaboration, so you can all work together and see better results. After all, a recent study suggests that collaboration drives performance in the workplace.
Not only does collaborative working make it easier to achieve your goals, but it’s great for morale and atmosphere too. It’s fun to work together with people who share your passion for what you do, and it’s a good way to get to know the people you work with more closely.
Sometimes team collaboration can be tricky — especially if you’re in different locations. Here are some ways to make team collaboration easier:
- Make sure everyone understands what their roles and responsibilities are
- Be open to ideas and suggestions from your whole team
- Update each other on projects as part of a weekly meeting
- Use team communication tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams to stay in touch
- Switch to collaborative document creation using Google Docs and Sheets
Hold Each Other Accountable
The best nonprofit management teams hold each other accountable. They’re comfortable with challenging each other, recognizing where something’s gone wrong, and being open and transparent about what they’re doing.
Sure, lots of us make mistakes from time to time. Maybe someone’s dropped the ball and missed a deadline, or didn’t schedule enough staff for an event. Accountability isn’t about blame — it’s about taking responsibility for what you do.
Make it easy to hold each other accountable by being organized. If you’re running projects and events, invest in project management software. Use a calendar, create a to-do list, and assign tasks to help keep everyone on track and see who’s responsible for what.
Build Personal Relationships
You’re going to spend a lot of time with each other as your nonprofit develops and grows. This means it’s probably a good idea to get to know the people you work with really well.
Life doesn’t pause just so we can run an organization. We work with people every day, and part of the magic is understanding who they are and what drives them. It makes working together feel more fun, and it’s easier to pull together in challenging times.
Aim to build real, genuine relationships with the nonprofit professionals around you. Create opportunities for your team to get to know each other. Here are some fun ideas:
- Backyard BBQ
- Family day
- Office bake-off or potluck
- Team volunteering day
It’s also important to note that you won’t have the same relationship with every director, manager, employee, or volunteer. Some people don’t enjoy social events, or may be more reserved. And that’s totally okay.
For a fun way to share news and gratitude with your team, try using our automated platform to create personalized thank you videos.
Be Open To Training Opportunities
Professional development is so worthwhile. It’s not enough to be curious as a fresh face — you’ve gotta keep up that enthusiasm for learning as you move through your nonprofit career. You’re never too old for homework.
While you don’t need a nonprofit management degree to succeed, some people do like to take a more formal career route. It’s never too late to head to college and enroll in a degree program if that’s something you’re interested in.
If you already have a bachelor’s degree and want to learn more, consider a graduate program or master’s degree. It could give you a new opportunity to research an area like social impact, public policy, or strategic planning in more detail.
There are also lots of great nonprofit management programs to consider. You could also look at sharpening your skills in a specific area — like communication, strategy, grant writing, public relations, or human resources.
Plenty of courses these days are online programs, so you can remotely study full-time or part-time. Don’t forget to ask about financial aid options, too.
Ready to start looking? Here’s a list of top management courses in the United States.
Think About the Future
Successful nonprofit management teams aren’t just thinking about the month ahead. They have a goal in mind for this year, next year, and even further ahead.
If you’re at the top of your nonprofit organization, strategy and direction falls to you. You’re the one leading your team to reach their goals in support of your mission. To do this successfully, you need to think about the future.
Get together with your board of directors and create a business plan. Look at what you need to do to get you where you want to be. Think about the resources you’ll need, the opportunities you could explore, and the impact of these on your stability and profitability.
Leadership is an art form, but forward-thinking strategy means you’ll always be heading down the right path. You don’t need everything figured out — just an idea of where you’re going, how to make it happen, and how to bring people along with you.
Focus on What Matters
Being in charge of what happens at your nonprofit means you’re wearing a lot of hats. In a busy environment, it’s easy to get distracted by shiny new things or small issues. For a shortcut to success, forget about the distractions and focus on what matters most.
Stick to your values and let your vision lead your actions. Let your mission guide you through deciding which fundraiser to run, how to engage your donors, and which nonprofit grants to apply for. Avoid anything that takes you away from your main goal.
If you’re overwhelmed by small decisions, delegate and give ownership to someone else. Not only do you free up your time, but you’re empowering them to embrace a new challenge. It’s a great way to create future leaders.
Lead With Confidence With These Nonprofit Management Tips
Nonprofit management requires you to be great at a whole collection of different skills. You need to be a strong leader, have an eye for strategy, and be able to make the right decisions.
A major way to influence the success of your nonprofit is through the way you communicate and work with your team. Get the right people on board, give them the support they need, and you stand a great chance at hitting your goals.
Not sure where to start? How about strengthening those relationships with your team? To find out how our video platform can help you do that, book a demo with us and we’ll walk you through it.