Leading a nonprofit requires more than passion. Nonprofit leaders must balance mission-driven work with strategic skills in management, fundraising, communication, and organizational development. This guide explores the top ten skills essential for building a successful and sustainable career in nonprofit management.
“The secret to change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”
Socrates, Athenian philosopher and scholar
Charitable nonprofits are a vital part of our society, encouraging leadership and civic engagement, driving economic growth, strengthening our communities and bolstering society’s foundations. If you’re embarking on a career in nonprofit management, you likely strive to address societal challenges and foster positive change, but good intentions alone don’t make effective leaders. Nonprofits are under intense scrutiny from government agencies, boards of directors and the public. A leader’s ability to stay organized, build relationships and advance the organizational mission is essential to every nonprofit’s success.
Most nonprofits maintain a similar organizational structure to their for-profit counterparts, including positions like executives, marketing directors, human resource managers and program coordinators. While some essential skills necessary to lead a nonprofit overlap with those used by for-profit leaders, others are unique and require specific experience and expertise. Let’s examine the top ten skills necessary to succeed in nonprofit management.
Leadership
We won’t spend much time examining how leadership skills are essential to nonprofit management (our blog has numerous articles about effective leadership); however, delegation, problem-solving, public speaking, strong interpersonal skills and effective communication strategies are vital. Skilled nonprofit leaders inspire and motivate their board, staff, volunteers, donors and community to support the mission. They possess strong decision-making skills to make informed choices that benefit the organization. They are curious, adaptable, authentic, humble, empathetic and self-aware—constantly seeking feedback while maintaining a support network of mentors.
Advancement
Advancement is the overall plan to move a nonprofit organization through development, fundraising, marketing, event planning and other functions. It involves creating strategies that align with the organization’s mission, vision and values to enhance accountability and develop actionable plans to meet goals and objectives. Advancement may refer to a university’s strategic plan, a hospital’s business plan, or a zoo’s five-year vision statement.
However the organization defines its advancement strategy, an advancement team helps accomplish the mission. A chief advancement officer or an advancement coordinator plays a key role in communications, brand management, public affairs, fundraising and donor relations. They assist with fundraising campaigns, grant applications and event planning. They also manage donor communications and data (think school alums, museum members and corporate, foundation and government donors), track gifts and prepare reports. Advancement may include board relations, finance, operations, data and analytics. Someone holding a leadership advancement position may have business experience with various skills and expertise relevant to the nonprofit sector and usually reports to the executive director.
Development
Development is a cornerstone of the nonprofit’s advancement plan. It involves identifying and securing various revenue streams to ensure the organization’s financial sustainability and support the growth of its programs and services. A development director creates and implements a comprehensive fundraising plan, manages a team of development professionals, collaborates with a communications team on marketing and outreach, and monitors and analyzes fundraising data. They also work closely with the executive director and the board of directors.
Development professionals are responsible for constituent relations and work proactively to cultivate long-term relationships with donors, sponsors and other stakeholders. Some manage donor portfolios and solicit major gifts (direct donations, stock, real estate, legacy gifts) from individuals, foundations and corporations. Development professionals often work closely with event coordinators and marketing and outreach.
Fundraising
Fundraising solicits financial support for the organization and typically involves generating income through monetary donations. A nonprofit may collect donations all at once, at an event, for example, or over time through a sustained giving campaign. Fundraising is a vital source of revenue for most nonprofits to maintain their organizational mission. Funds raised are typically referred to as “unrestricted funds,” and an organization can use them for any expenses such as employee salaries, rent or outreach events. In some cases, donors can specify how they would like the organization to use their donations, and thus, the nonprofit must honor the donor’s wishes.
Grant Writing
Grant writing involves crafting a compelling proposal to apply for funds or in-kind support from grantors—usually foundations, corporations or government agencies. Usually, a grantor awards grants to nonprofits for a particular project, program or general operating purpose. Thus, the funds are earmarked as “restricted” and must only be used as specified by the grantor. Grant writing also involves researching grants, connecting with funders, maintaining grant calendars, managing active grant proposals and grant reporting.
Organizational Development
Savvy nonprofit leaders use a holistic approach to navigate performance challenges and create a robust, sustainable, flexible organization with engaged employees and effective processes. Organizational development supports the strategic plan by improving efficiency and effectiveness by aligning strategy, structure, processes and people. It’s an ongoing and ever-evolving process that emphasizes collaboration from all levels of the nonprofit to adapt, promote and expand various aspects of the organization to achieve its goals.
Someone with robust organizational development skills understands risk management and the importance of a strong brand. They implement volunteer training programs, look for effective fundraising methods and ensure the nonprofit’s structure meets legal requirements.
Board Management
The board of directors is the organization’s governing body and consists of people interested in supporting the nonprofit’s mission but not through its daily operations. The board establishes the nonprofit’s strategic direction and ensures that the organization operates within all legal and ethical guidelines. All members have a fiduciary duty to provide financial oversight for the organization, including approving its budget, ensuring it has the resources to reach its goals and overseeing fundraising efforts. The board of directors also hires the organization’s executive director or CEO, determines compensation, evaluates performance and provides guidance and support. Boards function best when they stick to governance only, including strategy, oversight and accountability.
While nonprofit leaders are not board members, they work closely with the board of directors to manage day-to-day activities and keep the organization functional and solvent. Separating these two leadership entities allows them to collaborate and evaluate each other for a more transparent, efficient operation.
Financial Management
The nonprofit sector is carefully monitored, and for good reason. People give to charitable groups with the understanding that their donation will support a specific mission. The leader’s responsibility is to maintain organized and transparent financial management to sustain the trust of donors and the public. While most nonprofits will have a treasurer on the board, and larger organizations will have a Chief Financial Officer, bookkeeper and accountant, smaller organizations may not have separate people filling all these roles. Either way, nonprofit leaders must understand basic financial management concepts like cash flow, bookkeeping, accounting, financial planning, tracking and reporting. And because nonprofits typically operate within fairly tight financial margins, it’s critically important that leaders balance the organization’s financial management with the desired impact.
Marketing & Outreach
Nonprofit marketing consists of strategies and tactics to identify potential supporters, promote the organization’s ideals and convey calls to action, such as donation requests and calls for volunteers. Communications departments develop media campaigns, design logos and graphics, and write copy for various marketing channels, including websites, blogs, social media, digital emails, press releases, TV, radio, podcasts and print collateral.
How a nonprofit uses marketing to engage with the community can differ significantly from that of for-profit organizations. For example, nonprofits usually have substantially smaller marketing budgets, and generating interest and engagement around ideas and causes can be more difficult than selling products or services. On the plus side, nonprofits have the advantage of a well-defined mission, making compelling storytelling much easier.
Volunteer Management
Volunteers are the lifeblood of most nonprofits. Some key aspects of volunteer management are:
- Strategic planning to identify needs, define roles and establish expectations.
- Recruitment to create strategies that attract qualified volunteers.
- Onboarding and training to provide orientation and instruction to prepare volunteers to contribute.
- Engagement to support and maintain communication channels, helping volunteers feel connected and valued.
- Recognition and rewards to acknowledge volunteer contributions and offer gratitude for their efforts.
- Feedback and evaluation to gather consistent volunteer suggestions for program improvement.
- Retention to implement strategies that retain high-performing volunteers and build a strong volunteer base.
Ideally, a nonprofit leader would delegate this work to a volunteer coordinator, but in the case of smaller nonprofits, this duty may be assigned to a staff member or executive.
Many professionals have discovered meaningful and prosperous careers in nonprofit management— and the more knowledgeable you are, the more you can accomplish. Whether you currently work for a nonprofit or are considering it, now is a great time to learn about nonprofits and pursue a nonprofit management certificate.
Anne Evenson is a native Austinite and a proud Veteran’s spouse with over 20 years of marketing, communications and program coordination experience in the public, private and nonprofit sectors. She is also a sculptor, jeweler and all-around dabbler in the arts and loves to help military-connected individuals discover their inner creativity.
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