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: team culture
- 5.2C066
The Culture Map
A book by INSEAD professor Erin Meyer on how national cultures differ at work. It sets out 8 scales: communicating, evaluating, persuading, leading, deciding, trusting, disagreeing and scheduling. Readers plot cultures on each scale to see where colleagues are likely to clash. Managers of international and multicultural teams use it to name sources of friction around feedback, decisions, trust and time, and to adjust how they work together.
ClassicKey manual or guideBook - 7.3C094
Evaluation Flash Cards
A set of 25 one-page cards by Michael Quinn Patton, each explaining one evaluation idea in plain terms with an example from Otto Bremer grants. Topics include evaluation questions, logic models, theory of change, outcomes versus indicators, triangulation, formative, summative and developmental evaluation, and lessons learned. Teams pick a card to discuss in staff or board meetings to build evaluative thinking.
ClassicTool or templateFree - 5.2C067
The Fearless Organization
A book by Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson on psychological safety at work. It explains what psychological safety is, why it matters for learning and performance, and what happens when people stay silent. Using case studies from many sectors, it gives leaders a set of practices for setting the stage, inviting participation and responding well when people speak up, admit mistakes or raise concerns. Team leaders and managers use it to build candid teams.
Start hereClassicKey manual or guideBook - 5.3C071
Creating Cultures and Practices for Racial Equity
A toolbox from Race Forward for arts and cultural organisations working on racial equity. It opens with a glossary and steps for building equity into culture and practice, then gives 5 tools: an organisational equity impacts and outcomes assessment, a choice points worksheet, DreamYard's Equity Prime, the R.A.C.E. Lens and a values-based equity tool. Teams use the worksheets to review policies, programmes, grantmaking, contracts and budgets.
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 - 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 - 4.2C047
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 - 7.1C086
A Practical Guide to Nonprofit Measurement, Evaluation, and Learning
A guide for nonprofits of any size on setting up measurement, evaluation and learning with limited resources. It works through 3 steps: define outcomes and metrics from your theory of change, measure them without overloading staff and clients, and learn and improve through a dashboard and regular data reviews. It also covers when a formal evaluation is worth the cost and how to start without a data team.
EmergingKey manual or guideFree - 5.1C064
Human Resources (HR) Toolkit for Small and Medium Nonprofit Actors
A 32-page toolkit for small and medium nonprofit, humanitarian and development organisations that want a formal system for managing people. It offers guidance, tips and checklists for writing or strengthening HR policies, plus a set of questions to review an existing HR framework, find gaps and set priority actions. It is written for HR staff, programme and operations teams, and finance and admin managers who handle basic HR.
Start hereCurrentTool or templateFree - 5.1C063
HR Toolkit for Racial Equity
A toolkit in which the W.K. Kellogg Foundation shares the HR practices it uses to advance racial equity. Its 10 sections give samples for equity standards and principles, an employee value proposition, employee resource groups, learning opportunities, recruitment partner talking points, interview questions, recruitment tracking, performance indicators, recognition programmes and a 17-item climate survey. HR teams adapt the samples for their own hiring, pay and promotion practice.
CurrentTool or templateFree - 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 - 2.5C208
Scaling Out, Scaling Up, Scaling Deep
A free report prepared for the McConnell Foundation and Tamarack Institute, drawn from a decade of the foundation's Applied Dissemination grants and peer learning group. It sets out three ways to spread a social innovation: scaling out to more people and places, scaling up into policy and law, and scaling deep into culture, values and relationships. It shares lessons and strategies from grantees, plus what made the peer learning process work. Teams use it to plan beyond simple replication.
ClassicKey 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
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