Topic 4 of 15 · Leadership and management
Nonprofit leadership and management tools
Free nonprofit leadership development, succession planning and management tools for executive directors and their teams.
- 19 resources
- 17 free
- 5 tools and templates
- 4 sub-topics
Leadership in a nonprofit is a lot of jobs in one person. Strategist, fundraiser, manager, public face. Most leaders learn on the job, and many burn out before they hand over.
This shelf helps you grow leaders on purpose, share the load, plan a handover before you need one and manage people day to day. It starts with your own development (there's a 360 for that) and ends with the practical stuff: delegation, executive teams, the COO role.
You need this shelf if
- Everything still goes through one person
- Your founder or director is thinking about stepping down, or should be
- You're promoting good staff into management with no support
- You want feedback on your own leadership and don't know how to ask
Key questions for leaders
- What feedback have you had on your own leadership in the last year, and from whom? Nonprofit Leader All-Rounder 360 →
- What do you still do that someone else in your team should own? Effective Delegation Process and Worksheet →
- If you left tomorrow, who would step in, and is that written down? How to Plan and Execute an Emergency Succession →
- How are you growing the next layer of leaders? A Guide to Building a Successful Leadership Development Program →
- Is leadership shared enough to cope when you're away or overloaded? Doing More with More: Putting Shared Leadership into Practice →
- What challenge are you facing that a technical fix won't solve? The Practice of Adaptive Leadership →
What's on the shelf
4.1 Leadership development
- 4.1C042
The Practice of Adaptive Leadership
A practical handbook on adaptive leadership for people leading change in organisations and communities. It builds on Heifetz's Leadership Without Easy Answers and Leadership on the Line. Using stories, diagrams, cases and worksheets, it helps readers tell technical problems from adaptive challenges, diagnose the system and themselves, and act when change meets resistance. Readers use the exercises alone or with a team to plan interventions and build their own leadership practice.
Start hereClassicKey manual or guideBook - 4.1C041
Coaching and Philanthropy: An Action Guide for Nonprofits
A guide for nonprofit leaders who are thinking about coaching. It draws on 3 years of data from the Coaching and Philanthropy Project, gathered from coached leaders, coaches, intermediaries and funders. Sections explain what coaching is, what it yields for leaders and organisations, common barriers and when to use it. A practical part covers readiness, finding and selecting a coach, running the engagement, paying for it and checking results. Case examples close the guide.
ClassicKey manual or guideFree - 4.1C043
A Guide to Building a Successful Leadership Development Program
A step-by-step guide for organisations that design or fund leadership development programmes. It draws on evaluations of the fellowship programmes run by Schusterman and the Rockwood Leadership Institute. It sets out 5 recommendations: make space for openness, develop emotional intelligence, build relationships on purpose, design a sound coaching approach and promote collaboration across sectors. It also includes a programme-building checklist, evaluation findings and further reading on equity in leadership development.
CurrentKey manual or guideFree - 4.1C044
Nonprofit Leadership Development Toolkit
A free toolkit for nonprofits that want to grow leaders from within. It comes with the Bridgespan article How Nonprofit Leadership Development Sustains Organizations and Their Teams. It contains sample competencies from Bridgespan's competency bank, a 70-20-10 development plan template that a manager and staff member fill in together, and guidance on rolling the approach out across an organisation's systems and culture. It is a download from the article page.
CurrentTool or templateFree - 4.1C045
Theory U Tools (u-school for Transformation)
A free online set of Theory U methods from the Presencing Institute's u-school for Transformation, released under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike licence. Tools include container building, the iceberg model, stakeholder and dialogue interviews, shadowing, learning journeys, case clinics, 3D modelling, empathy walks, guided journaling, prototyping and a listening assessment. Social Presencing Theater practices are also included. Facilitators and teams use them for group reflection and organisational or systems change.
CurrentKey online resourceFree - 4.1C046
Nonprofit Leader All-Rounder 360
A 360-degree feedback survey for nonprofit leaders with 74 questions across 16 leadership domains. The leader rates themselves and invites colleagues, board members and staff to rate them, so self-view can be compared with others' views. It takes about 30 minutes to complete and is meant to be repeated every 6 to 12 months. Org360 produces a report with scores, strengths, growth areas and a development plan.
EmergingTool or templateFree with sign-upNonprofit Builder tool
4.2 Shared and distributed leadership
- 4.2C047
Doing More with More: Putting Shared Leadership into Practice
An article on a 2-year learning community, from 2008 to 2010, in which leaders of 27 California civic participation nonprofits tried shared leadership. It reports results, such as 78 percent of participants growing their ability to develop staff as leaders. It names 4 preconditions: senior commitment, upfront planning time, sound basic management and clear accountability. It then describes 4 areas of change: leader mindsets and roles, structure, decision processes and culture.
Start hereClassicResearch and evidenceFree - 4.2C048
Leadership Lessons: Five Insights from Directors Sharing Power
A short article with 5 findings from co-directors who share the top job. Shared leadership reflects mission and identity. It becomes an ethos across the whole organisation, seen in practices like narrow pay ratios. It can mean more work while cutting the isolation of a solo leader. Co-leaders must manage when they speak for themselves or as a unit, including with funders who expect one contact. It depends on trust between partners.
ClassicShort readFree - 4.2C049
Learning Through Co-Leadership
A Bridgespan article series drawn from its Co-Leadership Learning Circle, a year-long peer group launched in 2023 for nonprofit leaders who share the top executive role. Co-leaders from 5 nonprofits, including CoGenerate, CADRE and Essential Access Health, describe why they chose co-leadership and how they build trust. Planned parts cover decision-making and conflict, roles and responsibilities, and the value of leading together. It is written for executives and funders.
CurrentKey online resourceFree
4.3 Succession and leadership transitions
- 4.3C050
Building Leaderful Organizations
Volume 6 of the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Executive Transition Monograph Series, written for nonprofit executives and boards. It sets out 3 approaches to succession planning: strategic leader development, emergency succession planning and departure-defined succession planning. A section on the tough issues covers common sticking points, and a resource list closes the guide. Boards and executives use it as a framework to start succession planning and to spread leadership across staff.
Start hereClassicKey manual or guideFree - 4.3C051
Founder Transitions
A guide for founders, long-serving executive directors and boards facing a founder transition. It explains the particular challenges when a founder or long-term leader steps down and how to plan for both planned and unplanned departures. It argues that supporting founders through the exit protects their legacy and the organisation. Boards and executives use it to prepare the handover, the search and the founder's next role. It is part of the Casey Foundation's executive transition series.
ClassicKey manual or guideFree - 4.3C052
Leadership Transition: Overcoming the Threat of Founders Syndrome
A short INTRAC Praxis paper on leadership transitions in civil society organisations, with a focus on founders stepping down. It describes these transitions as rocky and risky yet normal. Drawing on the experiences of several CSOs in the global South that have been through the process, it suggests how founders, boards and funders can make the handover smoother. It expands on a series of INTRAC blogs from 2016 and is a free PDF.
ClassicKey manual or guideFree - 4.3C053
Making Founder Successions Work
An article from the Spring 2018 issue of Stanford Social Innovation Review, republished by Bridgespan. It questions the common advice that a founder should make a clean break when stepping down. The authors argue that many nonprofits gain when they plan a deliberate, bounded ongoing role for the departing founder. Boards, founders and successors use it to discuss what role the founder should keep and how to set its limits.
ClassicShort readFree - 4.3C054
Transiciones de liderazgo en la dirección ejecutiva
A practical Spanish-language guide for Latin American NGOs managing a change of executive director. It covers why transitions matter, preparing in advance, guidance for the outgoing director, key early decisions, a step-by-step hiring process, onboarding, the former director's board role and evaluating the process. It includes editable Word and Excel tools such as a transition plan, communication plan, job description, weighted selection criteria and candidate emails. It is licensed CC BY 4.0.
ClassicKey manual or guideFree - 4.3C055
How to Plan and Execute an Emergency Succession
A short Blue Avocado article on emergency succession plans, which cover a sudden leader absence for 1 to 3 months. It walks through 4 parts: naming first and second acting successors with limits on authority, or splitting the role's functions among staff; a ranked communications plan; and an operational checklist of contacts, accounts and key dates. It links to an editable Word template that a board and staff can complete in under 2 hours.
CurrentTool or templateFree
4.4 Management roles
- 4.4C058
Management in a Changing World
A management handbook from The Management Center for managers in nonprofits, education and social change groups. It follows Managing to Change the World and pairs the Center's established tools with new approaches and stories. Topics include building relationships, delegating, setting roles and goals, prioritising and deciding, developing staff, giving and receiving feedback, handling performance problems, managing up and sideways, and building a healthy team culture.
Start hereCurrentKey manual or guideBook - 4.4C056
Effective Delegation Process and Worksheet
A short guide and worksheet for managers who hand off work. It sets out 3 steps: agree on expectations using the 5 Ws and roles such as MOCHA, stay engaged through check-ins and reviews of work in progress, and debrief to share feedback and lessons. It explains how to adjust involvement to the person's skill and capacity and the task's stakes. The worksheet follows the 3 steps and comes as a Google Doc or Word file.
CurrentTool or templateFree - 4.4C057
Executive Team Effectiveness Toolkit
A free set of tools for nonprofit chief executives and their senior teams. It contains a CEO checklist for managing the executive team, an interdependence and stakes matrix for picking the decisions the team should own, key questions on team composition, meeting agenda templates with wrap-up and written update formats, and steps for agreeing team behavioural norms with examples. CEOs and consultants use it to review and restructure how the top team works.
CurrentTool or templateFree - 4.4C059
Nonprofit Chief Operating Officer (COO) Resource Center
A Bridgespan hub of articles and samples on the nonprofit COO role, grouped in 3 parts. Becoming a COO covers FAQs and finding the right post. Being a COO covers running operations, CEO-COO partnership conversations, sources of support and the move to chief executive. Hiring a COO covers creating the position, finding candidates, role structures from the field and 3 sample job descriptions. Boards, CEOs and aspiring COOs use it.
EmergingKey online resourceFree
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