Resource library · free toolkits, templates and guides
The practical library for people who build nonprofits
211 really practical toolkits, templates and guides for nonprofit and NGO leaders, and the consultants and funders who support them. A mix of the classics and newer methods.
Suggestions are welcome211 resources · 15 topics · 137 publishers · 197 free to use
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13 resources found
- Search: leadership assessment
- 1.2C003
Organizational Capacity Assessment Tool
A self-assessment spreadsheet that nonprofits complete to rate their own capacity. Developed by the Marguerite Casey Foundation from The Conservation Company's Capacity Assessment Grid, it covers 4 areas: leadership, adaptive, management and operational capacity. It includes instructions for filling it in and a scoring calculation, so organisations can benchmark progress over time. Grantmakers also use the results to understand grantee capacity and track its growth during a grant.
ClassicTool or templateFree - 3.4C040
Purpose-Driven Board Leadership
A discussion guide that helps a board apply BoardSource's 4 principles of purpose-driven board leadership: purpose before organisation, respect for the ecosystem, an equity mindset, and authorised voice and power. It offers 3 exercises: discussing a case from the Museum of Us, reviewing the board's most recent major decision against each principle, and working through an upcoming decision together. Boards use it in meetings and retreats.
CurrentTool or templateFree - 7.3C095
Organizational Learning Self-Assessment Tool
An 18-question self-assessment that nonprofits and grantmakers use to gauge their learning culture in 5 to 10 minutes. Items are rated 1 to 5 across 3 areas: organisational habits and behaviours, leadership and strategic direction, and capacity and resources. Each area suggests 5, 15 or 30 minute actions and further resources. Teams use it to start a discussion, and can share it with funders or partners.
CurrentTool or templateFree - 12.2C158
Data Maturity Assessment
A free online self-assessment that gives a snapshot of an organisation's data and AI maturity. It scores 3 areas: purpose, practice (data quality, security, ethics and infrastructure) and people (leadership, talent and culture), plus a separate AI score. Results come in a shareable format for talks with colleagues and funders, with recommended guides and resources for next steps. It is aimed at social impact organisations, government agencies, funders and universities.
CurrentTool or templateFree with sign-up - 13.2C176
Trust-Based Philanthropy Self-Assessment Tool
A self-assessment that helps a grantmaking organisation reflect on how far it has put trust-based philanthropy into practice. It covers 4 areas: culture, structures, leadership and grantmaking practices. Each section gives reflective prompts on how trust shows up and where practice needs work. It is available as an online interactive tool and a fillable PDF. Foundation teams use it to plan changes.
CurrentTool or templateFree - 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 - 1.5C226
Good to Great
Jim Collins's study of companies that moved from good results to great ones and stayed there. It introduces ideas many nonprofit leaders now use: level 5 leadership, first who then what, confronting the brutal facts, the hedgehog concept and the flywheel. Collins's website offers free tools to go with it, including a diagnostic tool, a discussion guide and a vision framework.
ClassicKey manual or guideBook - 1.5C216
Creating the COO Position
A free Bridgespan article on when and why nonprofits add a chief operating officer, drawn from a survey of COOs and interviews with COOs and executive directors. It covers the usual triggers, such as a chief executive stretched by a growing staff or a growth plan to deliver, the worries executive directors have about sharing control, and how organisations managed the transition. It links to Bridgespan's wider set of COO resources, including sample job descriptions.
CurrentShort readFree - 1.5C227
Good to Great and the Social Sectors
A short monograph in which Jim Collins applies Good to Great to nonprofits, schools, hospitals and other social sector organisations. He covers how to define and measure greatness without profit, how to lead when power is spread out, how to get the right people when you can't pay much, how to rethink the hedgehog concept around passion, best at and resource engine, and how to turn the flywheel through brand. It runs to about 35 pages.
ClassicShort readBook - 5.4C073
A Change Management & Deep Equity Primer
A primer by Sheryl Petty, co-released by GEO, on leading organisational change with equity at the core. It introduces Equity-Embedded Change Management and covers readiness, assessment, buy-in, consultant and client challenges, communication, implementation, getting unstuck, what progress means and leaders' inner work. It ends with a glossary, resources and a framework for deep equity capacity building. Staff, boards, consultants and funders use it to plan equity change.
Start hereCurrentShort readFree - 1.1C001
The Barefoot Guide to Working with Organisations and Social Change
A do-it-yourself guide for leaders and facilitators who help organisations develop in healthier and more human ways. Written by a collective of development practitioners, it covers how to read an organisation, how to facilitate change, leadership, relationships, power and building a learning organisation. A library of downloadable exercises, readings, case studies and diagrams sits on the Barefoot website. Facilitators use it to plan OD processes and run sessions with teams.
Start hereClassicKey manual or guideFree - 1.5C219
Scaling Up
Verne Harnish's book on growing an organisation through the stages from a few people to hundreds. It's built around 4 decisions every growing organisation has to get right: people, strategy, execution and cash. It comes with one-page worksheets, including the One-Page Strategic Plan, and routines such as daily and weekly meeting rhythms and priorities. Written for companies, it's widely used by nonprofit leadership teams that are growing fast.
ClassicKey manual or guideBook - 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
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