Sustainable Nonprofit Leadership
Running head: SUSTAINABLE NONPROFIT LEADERSHIP
Abstract:
From directors to volunteers, communication is an integral reason for the success of a nonprofit organization. In this report, we explore the research behind communication in nonprofit organizations to find the ways in which efficiency and effectiveness are at their highest on an organizational scale. To start, we will discuss what a nonprofit organization is so that we can understand the lens we will be analyzing leadership through. We delve into four topics that we see to be pertinent for a nonprofit to thrive. the use of social media in our modern era, the followership and how they feel connected to the mission they work for, and the reliability that comes with the organization. All caveats taken into consideration, this report is a tool applicable to a given nonprofit organization with which to compare research to experience.
Intro
The organization and leadership of nonprofit organizations have been misunderstood for the entirety of their existence by the general public and sometimes even the communities they serve. Our goal is to shed some light on the differences between nonprofits and for-profits, as well as to analyze the leadership styles that best fit these organizations. We hope to educate during this process and create an outline for nonprofit leaders to follow in order to achieve their most significant amount of success regarding financial stability and community impact.
Nonprofits and volunteer efforts are sometimes the only form of support that a community receives. We think they are especially pertinent to the needs of communities comprised of mostly minorities that may have been neglected by political legislation. By this, we mean that the government may not always have institutions set in place for communities but nonprofit organizations can come in and create those spaces without government funds.
We intend to provide research on the leadership within nonprofit organizations to not only better understand the public servants that play a crucial role in our communities and functioning economy, but to identify the most sustainable leadership styles and methods. The audience being reached will include: nonprofit employees & leadership, members, community, families. Nonprofit sustainability is vital to these audience members because it directly affects their financial and socio-economic well-being.
First we will delve into the definitions that best describe what nonprofit organizations are and why they are a vital role in the communities they serve. Next, we discuss the importance of sustainability for any nonprofit organization. Then, we will analyze what we wish to prove are the best styles of leadership for a sustainable nonprofit. After this, we talk about the necessity of authenticity within a leader in these organizations from an internal lens. Following authenticity will be our research on reliability from an external lens to evaluate why trust of the public can make or break a nonprofit organization. Finally, we will discuss the benefits of utilizing the ever-changing technology of social media. Throughout our research, we will include a historical review of the research done on nonprofit organizations and their leadership as well as an overview of the methods used to find our credibility. We will close by discussing future implications of our research as well as criticism for what could be further explored.
Review
Nonprofits are meant to bring positive change to a community, both individually and societally, and provide resources to places in need (Drucker, 2012). Nonprofit organizations are distinct from for-profit organizations not only because of how they file their taxes but mostly because of how they contribute to the communities they serve. In the past 20 years, nonprofits have continued to increase in number due to popularity and demand (Bassous, 2015). “In the U.S. and according to the National Center for Charitable Statistics, the number of registered nonprofit organizations was approximately 1.6 million in 2010” (Bassous, 2015). This distinction is pertinent to understand because these organizations can have extremely different incentives, financial possibilities, and impacts on the general public. Nonprofit organizations are a necessary field to study because they contribute to our functioning economy and the livelihood of lower and middle class citizens. Nonprofits typically helped developing areas with an issue that is not funded by the government, but they are not normally required to provide for a wide population (Berman, 2014). Without nonprofit organizations, the needs of these citizens would not be met, and it would surely result in a catastrophic shortage of fundamental resources. Nonprofits are not simply there to fill the holes in missing spots that are already being filled, they are there as the direct problem solvers to community problems. Without these organizations, the community’s problems would remain unattended (Besel, Williams, Klak, 2011).
Sustainability
“When such fundamental public functions as tax collection, health, education, welfare, and weapons production are handled by private and nonprofit organizations, then surely the boundaries between public, private, and nonprofit organizations are irretrievably blurred” (Dart, 2004, p. 7). To dive into a real world example, in the book The Stop: How the fight for good food transformed a community and inspired a movement, Saul and Curtis explain the importance of innovation in a nonprofit organization with a focus on long term vision. This book is a true story about a food bank that became a community center that fights for sustainable food systems, the right to healthy food, and food justice. It is imperative for a nonprofit organization to be perceptive of the root causes of social issues as well as to communicate well with community members to address the needs they are facing. Using this story as a case study, we can analyze different components of the organizational communication and leadership styles that are emergent in nonprofit organizations.
There is a big focus in the book on the difference between short and long-term solutions as well as sustainability. "We accept for the moment the food bank is one way to meet the immediate needs of our community. But we are continuing to fight for alternatives and are constantly working toward a day when food banks won't be necessary" (Saul, Curtis, 2013, p. 255). The paradox of Nonprofit organizations, is that many of the visions and goals of nonprofit work lead us to believe that the goal of the organization is to do so well in addressing a social issue that the issue is no longer a problem and the nonprofit becomes no longer necessary. While not all nonprofit organizations have this same drive, many nonprofit organizations have the ultimate goal to put themselves out of business. This is unique in comparison to for-profit businesses, as for-profit businesses have the main goal to make money and a profit. Performance of a nonprofit is largely tied to its mission. Some critics of nonprofit organizations think that they should run their companies as more of a business, but this is met by a strong belief that the values of an organization must be ingrained in a nonprofits fundamental bylaws (Cheverton, 2007). The Business Dictionary defines the for-profit motive as the “Chance of generating a surplus of revenue over all costs [is] the reason most people start and stay in a business” (Business Dictionary, 2018). What this means for nonprofit is that there must be a different drive and an intrinsic value and motivation to an organization for it to prosper. Image matters in a nonprofit organization, it shapes the funding, the attraction to support, and the overall sustainability. When outside members donate to these organizations, it’s usually the main way that most nonprofits make their money (Powers & Yaros, 2012). According to the Forbes article The Three Core Values Every Nonprofit Leader Needs To Excel, the author Aaron Alejandro says there are three core values every nonprofit leader needs to succeed: respect, responsibility and resiliency. Making a culture with these three words in mind can arm a nonprofit with the weapons it needs to protect from big corporations that intend to poison their mission with profit driven incentives. Furthermore, it allows for nonprofits to keep a straight and narrow mission in mind, to keep their values close and their projects necessary (Alejandro, 2017).
Ideal styles of leadership
We wanted to start by clarifying that the leadership styles we have researched do not all fit well organizationally into the framework of a nonprofit. By this, we mean that some leadership styles could be detrimental to the success and sustainability of a nonprofit organization. Nonprofit organizations thrive off of volunteer work, which means that the people who volunteer have to have a safe environment that allures them back to the projects they participate in. Some volunteer work is structured in a one day frame where they only ask that a particular group of volunteers come in to complete a task, and then they head on their way. Other volunteer frameworks are set up in a way that calls for consistency within their volunteers. Depending on the needs and resources of the nonprofit, the leadership must adjust. Shared leadership has a list of duties that any leader can follow if they are willing and able to follow suit (Freund, 2017).
There are six pieces of effective strategic leadership: finding vision; finding what the organization is fluent in; creating emotional revenue; creating a safe culture; ethics; and creating appropriate and approachable power distances (Phipps, & Burbach, 2010).
First, we evaluated how successful a transformational leadership style would be within a nonprofit field. Transformational leadership is described as a style that seeks to transform the ideas of their followers into a collective idea of their values and mission (Jaskyte, 2004). It is saying that the leader intends to create a sense of sensitivity within their organization to create a cohesive sense of belonging, both immediacy and entitativity. Transformational leaders build up their followers with empathy and trust as well as affirmations for a job well done (Valero, 2015). These qualities in a transformational leader make us believe that it would be a great fit for nonprofit leadership because they align with a positive workplace experience (Mitchell, 2012). The general theme of transformational leadership is to create a sense of belonging, which is exactly what nonprofit leaders should seek to provide. Some people are accustomed to working under unfair conditions and this has adapted them to overlook it if they feel included (Drivas, 2017). Nonprofit organizations thrive when their volunteers and employees feel needed and supported. Through transformational leadership, they can accomplish just that and more. Nonprofits have a goal in mind, just like any other organization. However, with nonprofit’s having a different sense of values than most organizations, leaving trust in collaborations with outside sources can prove to be risky. This calls for leadership that is not only trustworthy, but willing to collaborate and compensate (Snavely & Tracey, 2002). Transformational leaders make collaboration a priority because they understand that the communicating that feeling of followership starts with delegation.
Another leadership style that best fits the nonprofit sector is servant leadership. This style is all about serving the needs of their employees. It pushes for a strong emphasis on listening and nurturing for not only the employees but also the nurturing of the values of an organization. According to The Nonprofit Research Collaborative, the number one theme of effective communication linked to fundraising success was effective communication on what an organization needs and can provide to others (Nonprofit Research Collaborative, 2011). Servant leadership is about getting back in touch with their followers. This leadership style aims to make their followers feel a smaller power distance and a stronger sense of understanding for the work that they do. When creating an audience that is willing to contribute to these projects, it’s important to identify whether there is crowding in or out within these donors (Li, 2017). Servant leaders focus on these variations and adjust to it in order to let their followers know that they notice the changes in their organizations and they care.
Something to understand while dissecting what kinds of leadership best suit nonprofit organizations is the particular demographic that work in an organization as well as the demographic that the nonprofit serves. An organization thrives when it successfully identifies who it is targeting and how they can meet their needs (Bussell & Forbes, 2002). Diversity within an organization leads to innovation. Diversity within a community can lead to many things when it includes the deep socialization that comes with American culture. By this, we intend to shed light on the intense pressures that come from being different from typical privileged white and male standards. When governments put in place the resources for communities in need, they often fall short of specific accommodations necessary for people of color. It is projected that by 2039, minorities will be more than half of the working community (Nishishiba, 2017). Because of the changing workforce, nonprofits must take this demographic more seriously than ever. They cannot expect to serve a community with a plan that was made for people who look and act nothing like how they do. A shared goal is the key to a successful organizational leadership relationship (Sinclair, 2018). This idea was pulled from research that explains the importance of leadership styles holding their values as the top priority in an organization.
The next leadership style being analyzed is one that makes itself stand out from the rest by definition and by execution. Charismatic leadership is about motivating followers behind a mission by showing contagious passion and personality. Charismatic leadership thrives off of the emotional attachments made by their followers, the motivation they bring, their expression of mission that is received to be worthy, and their ability to build follower self-esteem (Shamir, House, & Arthur, 1993). All of these effects have a positive effect on a nonprofit organization because this leadership style caters to the framework of having workers that may particularly need more motivation than others. When the financial motivation is stripped away from an organization, charisma is what can substitute and fill the void for workers. Charismatic leadership creates a sustainable workplace environment in a nonprofit organization because it motivates its volunteers to stay and provides them with consistent reasons to work for their organization.
Most notable is the Emergent leadership style. Emergent leadership is exceptionally applicable to nonprofit organizations because in many cases, nonprofit organizations are holistically emergent themselves. Most nonprofit organizations exist because someone saw a problem or a need not being addressed in a community, and they wanted to help. Emergent leaders are usually brought up from a lower position in an organization, meaning they are not strangers to the missions of the company when they are appointed to their leadership role. Because of this, emergent leaders have a high success rate with their followers because both sides understand why they are in these positions. The tension of promotion competition is released because most emergent leaders are appointed in times of distress or crisis. This leadership style fits into the nonprofit sector well because it is common for volunteers or leaders to be compensated in other ways that may lure them away from the nonprofit world.
Authenticity (internal)
As an employee, there are certain motivations that people have for seeking a job. Some of these may include financial need, outside pressure from family, or hopefully overall passion for the work. All of these motivations are considered by volunteers and employees of a nonprofit organization. Volunteers are often lending a hand on projects within a nonprofit, not because of the motivation of financial need, but instead they are motivated by the passion they have for the work the nonprofit is doing. Because the volunteers are there willingly and do not typically receive financial compensation for their work, nonprofits have a greater pressure to keep their volunteers happy. One fundamental way that a nonprofit organization can do that is to provide a sense of authenticity to its workers and volunteers. Authenticity is about conjuring up belief of something that is being said or done (Taylor, 1992). Authenticity works to make people trust that the best intentions are in mind and that the values being preached are true and genuine (Gilstrap, 2015). This is a key role in a nonprofit organization because without the internal trust from worker to leader or volunteer to leader, a nonprofit could not prove sustainable. Nonprofits continue to adjust to the technology and the mainstream ideals of it’s time. However, some nonprofits have strayed from this because of their intrinsic motivations. They can also have situations where the employees in a nonprofit organization favor certain leadership styles over others due to motivation (Leonard, 2013)
Knowing that authenticity is such a vital part of a nonprofit’s sustainability, there must be a way for an organization to filter for people who carry this quality. Many HR departments make applicants go through certain tests depending on the fields they’re applying to (Robineau, 2015). This is one method of filtering the applicants, testing before being hired for the organization. Some of these tests could include personality finders, lie detecting, family history, or criminal records. Though the ethics behind some of these tests could come into question, it is still necessary for a nonprofit to do some screening of their members even if they are volunteers. Congruence within a nonprofit is integral because if a manager is hoping to prove authenticity to its members, letting a news cast member who has slammed the current project being infiltrated may be seen as incongruent with their values. Collaboration is a necessity when it comes to nonprofit success. Without the shared resources of surrounding organizations, nonprofit leadership would likely crumble under the local demands that were unforeseen (Snavely & Tracey, 2002).
The Social Change Model of Leadership is a useful model that describes the steps and parts of leadership and social change movements and organizations.This model provides great insight into the authentic steps taken by sustainable nonprofit leaders. There are three primary levels of the model, the individual, group, and collective/societal level. This model is a good way to describe the leadership needed in nonprofit organizations, as many nonprofit organizations strive for social change. The social change model was created by a group of researchers that worked with college students for a prolonged amount of time. They were driven by the idea that leadership was not something unattainable for anyone, so they created a values-based model that showed ways that individuals could collaborate toward social issues (Wagner, 2016). This model is broken down into 7 C’s that describe the process toward the ensembles mission of social awareness. These include: consciousness of self, congruence, commitment, collaboration, common purpose, controversy with civility, and citizenship. These seven words all aim to create a more authentic leader and push to facilitate a well-rounded and introspective organization.
Many Nonprofit organizations run on and rely on the presence and hard work of volunteers, making it essential to understand why people volunteer, as well as how an organization might be able to get more volunteers to help. In order for a trust to form, there needs to be a shared understanding of what it means to care for its followers (Shaw & Allen, 2006). In order to make workplace satisfaction sustainable, leaders in nonprofit organizations must keep it a priority to meet the needs of their followers. A helpful resource for analyzing employee needs is the theory of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. The needs in the model include Physiological Needs, Safety Needs, Belongingness and Love Needs, Esteem Needs, and Self-actualization Needs (McLeod, 2007). We have used this model to analyze the focus of leaders within a nonprofit organization in terms of their employee satisfaction. In a study on sustaining motivation and satisfaction with a case study of the American Heart Association: It is necessary that the AMA articulates it’s values and mission through trainings that make their followers confident in the distribution of funding in their organization (Trachtenberg, 2006). Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs explains by a pyramid illustration that the needs listed go in order of what an employee needs satisfied first before other needs can be attended to. Physical needs are the first and most obvious, including food, water, and shelter. As one moves up the pyramid, the needs become more complex and individualized. This order is necessary to consider because it a nonprofit leader must take several initiatives to fulfill all of the needs for their employees and volunteers. Volunteer satisfaction is the key to a nonprofit’s sustainability. More than values and vision, Nonprofits must do more to meet the needs of those who work in the field than their for-profit counterparts, and this attention paid to employees pays off: people who are working for nonprofit organizations have more follower satisfaction than their peers in business corporations (Mirvis, 1992).
Reliability (External)
It is important to use effective communication with a community in order to address the needs and social issues present there. On page 5 of the Prologue, Nick Saul and Andrea Curtis write: "The reality is, the poor, marginalized and hungry rarely get a place at the discussion table" (Saul & Curtis, 2013, p. XV). The people who are most essential to understanding the impact of social issues are often the people who experience injustice first-hand. When a nonprofit organization relies on public organizations for funding, it can come with consequences. These things could include changing their mission and lack of control of decision making. This is why it is pertinent to communicate with the communities that a nonprofit intends to serve (Paton, Mordaunt, Cornforth, 2007). The recommendation is a situational fit which is when both parties comprehend what the other needs and what they are willing to do to continue their mutual relationship. Control can become an issue in this situation, but it can also be adapted to fit (Shaw & Allen, 2006). We are analyzing reliability from an external lens to dive into the comprehension of what makes a nonprofit sustainable depending on the public's perception of how trustworthy their organization is. Some research implies that there is a proven financial benefit between the positive relationship of nonprofit to public citizens (Besel, Williams, Klak, 2011). However, in order to make this positive relationship continue, the nonprofits reliability and trust is necessary.
“In the wake of a devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010, the Red Cross raised almost half a billion dollars to help in relief efforts in the country. Five years later, a damning exposé by NPR and ProPublica showed that the organization had done little with the money except squander it. According to the story, the organization had at that point claimed that it had built enough homes to provide shelter for 130,000 people—but it had actually only built six. And, according to NPR and ProPublica, about one-third of the $500 million raised went toward administrative costs, ‘program costs incurred in managing” other charities in Haiti, and the other charities’ own administrative costs’” (Adamczyk, p. 2, 2017).
This scandal proves as an example for our research on how important reliability between an organization and the general public has become. Nonprofits function on donations for a large portion of their profits to then push toward their projects, however, without the trust that their money is going where the organization says that it will, there is little hope that these donations will continue. The people who donated to this and found out about the scandal were at a loss for words at the disbelief (Adamczyk, 2017). This was a betrayal in the donors eyes because they were manipulated and their money was taken advantage of. The skepticism that followed was reflected in the decrease of the Red Cross’s donation average for the next year. This is an obvious outcome seeing as business interactions are based on the mutual benefit. When a donation is made, there is an assumption that a sacrifice of money is going to pay off in emotional currency. The solace of knowing that it’s helping someone or something with a cause that is believed to be helpful. When a scandal like this is uncovered, there is always public fallout. This kind of loss in organizational reliability is detrimental to its sustainability. This is why protections are set in place to prevent these situations from happening by electing board members with these responsibilities in mind. The board is responsible for the accountability of the organization. They are supposed to protect not only the morals of the organization, but also hold themselves accountable in accordance of the law (Axelrod, 2005). Along with appointing board members with responsibilities like distributing funding to the appropriate locations, there are also ways that an organization can prove its authenticity through public records. Some great tools of accountability are disclosure statements and reports and in most cases, these are required by law (Ebrahim, 2010). Stakeholders also have certain responsibilities to meet in a nonprofit that have particular restrictions that other business do not necessarily have to consider. Some of these include the usual interpretation of stakeholders expectations and what they can compromise to meet them without losing sight of their mission (Balser, & McClusky, 2005).
Media Richness Theory is about comparing all means of media to try to reach understanding from people (Aparicio, 2013). When a nonprofit organization communicates to people in the general public, the means with which the messaging takes place is important to consider for overall effectiveness of the communication. Additionally, by utilizing lean or rich media with an additional strategic purpose for more specific audiences, a nonprofit can be better equipped to serve the community. For example, if an organization like a food pantry wanted to communicate with retired veterans, it might not be beneficial to create a message on a social media site like instagram or snapchat. Vice versa, if that same food pantry wanted to communicate with college students, they may not want to put an ad in a newspaper. By utilizing the most applicable media for communicating, organizations can more effectively communicate with both community members they are serving as well as possible donors. Additionally, the more lean or rich a media is would help people to see better the mission of an organization in order to donate. Overall, it’s been shown that richer media has a positive effect on nonprofit decision making (Kahai, 2003). Because of the emotions that can be present in a video that can grab the attention of donors, this more rich media might be more applicable to an organization than the same information presented on a flyer. For example, the ASPCA commercials with the crying dogs and the strong pathos appeals would simply not be as effective if the same information was present on a leaner media like an email with no imagery.
Another theory that affects donors and overall perception of a nonprofit organization is Attribution Theory. Despite the use of this theory primarily being meant for analyzing crisis response, this is applicable to the perception of credibility of a nonprofit organization. Attribution theory describes how people make decisions about an organization that affect perceptions and response. This theory can be broken up into four main components: 1) Motives: altruistic to selfish 2) Involvement: complicit to innocent 3) Credibility: goodwill, trustworthiness, and competence 4) Likeability (Kelley, 1967).
Social media
After all of the analysis of understanding a nonprofits audience, it became evident that the channels of communication was the next focus of our research. Social media is a relatively new form of media that has allowed more open and easy communication with a variety of stakeholders including volunteers, donors, and the general media (Saxton & Guo, 2011). Once an organization understands who they are catering to, the question is how to reach them (Saxton & Guo, 2011). Technology continues to make groundbreaking strides every year that passes, and with these strides emerged social media. Social media has transformed things like crowdfunding and impulse donating to create a market that was unlikely to have emerged without this platform. (Saxton & Wang, 2013). Social media is a platform that allows people from across the world to stay up to date in real time on all the details of the world. According to the research of Guo and Saxton, three main functions of social media advocacy by nonprofit organizations in the U.S. can be identified as information, community and action (Guo & Saxton, 2014, p. 61). Social media is useful for nonprofits in this way because it allows not only global nonprofits to communicate, but it updates the public on the work that these organizations are doing for their local communities. It has become very clear that social media platforms that are cost friendly are becoming more and more necessary for the success of nonprofit organizations (Goldkind, 2015). This journal explains that social media in these free and low-cost forms are mutually beneficial because it does not require immediate investment for the nonprofit and it does not cost anything for the audience members either. Along this same theme of saving funding for a nonprofit organization when marketing, these organizations must know how to utilize the social media that they have at their disposal. It is not just about having the availability of this new technology. There will be tools that will be the same resources for any PR firm whether it be large or small but the key is to know how to use them to make the company into the success it can be (Feinglass, 2005).
In the book Shift & Reset, Reich discusses the shift of communication through technological innovation, and how that impacts the structures of nonprofit organizations. This book delves into the changes that need to be made by nonprofit organizations in the way that they operate to positively leverage this new worldwide and ever expanding network of communication to benefit people the most and to address social issues. There are many ways in which organizations can reach new audiences and galvanize action and work together to address social challenges fraught with complexity (Reich, 2011). Nonprofit organizations all have separate agendas being met, whether that be to provide shelter for the homeless, or educate on the AIDS epidemic. Through researching the effects of social media on nonprofit organizations, it’s important to note that these channels allow certain nonprofits to reach an audience that may otherwise have been unattainable (Lovejoy, & Saxton, 2012). By these means, social media allows nonprofits to educate a wider audience. Once these audiences are not only touched but are educated, they can begin to make a greater and deeper impact on the issues they face (Reich, 2011).
Along with the general understandings of social media, there are certain platforms that come to mind for nonprofit organizations because of their fundraising capabilities. Platforms like Gofundme and Venmo make money transferring and fundraising accessible to a wide range of people with the capable tools. Nonprofit organizations can take donations through PayPal in smaller increments but in order to get larger donations and consistent donors, there is often more commitment and strategy that must come to fruition (Miller, 2010). These differences should be at the forefront of our research into a leaders priorities with profit margins as well as strategy for sustainability. The means by which an organization reaches their donors is dire, and without the knowledge of which outlets to use, the resources available will dwindle. This same demand for social media presence exists on platforms meant more for socialization. Facebook has recently developed the accessible features of donating to their platform and that has created an outpour of money raised by individuals that are not typically involved in the nonprofit world. However, many nonprofit organizations do not have the time, staff, or resources to keep up with a Facebook page. By creating one and not allotting the care and upkeep that it requires, they may create an unreliable feeling which could deter donors rather than lure them in. (Waters, 2007). The maintenance that comes with supporting a social media platform can be more taxing than anticipating. Without proper knowledge on how to properly use the social media tools that include fundraising outlets, there could be wasted resource and irritating notifications that could also turn away potential donors.
Caveats & Conclusion
Throughout our research, we have noticed a few sections that could have been done better. The limitations in our literature include things about tangible success in nonprofit organizations. “As a result of this review, we believe that the completeness of the existing motivation theories when applied to a nonprofit environment and to nonprofit employees is questionable” (Schepers, 2005, p. 13). We found research on monetary value from donations and tax exemptions but we found that one cannot measure the impact of the work nonprofits do for their communities (Mitchell, 2012). This was a limitation that we found frustrating but reasonable considering the trickle down effect that these service projects can have for individuals and their families. Another challenge that faced our research was the small amount of research done on minority populations. Many of the studies we’ve analyzed don’t always have significant data on the demographics facing particular societal setbacks. Minority groups need accomodations other than the typical white framework which means that the nonprofits and their leaders may not always have the understanding necessary to meet the community's needs. Organizations that have been around longer and make more money usually have less diverse boards (Osili, 2018). This is important to mention because without a diverse board, nonprofits stifle innovation and understanding for the communities they are surrounded by.
To tie together all of our research on nonprofit organizational leadership, there are certain key elements to mention in hopes of solidifying the importance of sustainability. Nonprofit organizations are meant to help communities in need, to provide necessary resources that would otherwise be missing from their lives. The leadership styles that can best sustain organizations like this include: transformational, servant, charismatic, and emergent styles. These styles all carry their own qualities that make them best suited for nonprofit leadership, however, they all share a common trait, listening. All four of these leadership styles include some emphasis on listening to their followers in an empathetic way. After understanding the importance of each of these leadership styles, sustainability joined the conversation and calls for inclusivity, delegation, and long term goals. An organization can only be sustainable from the inside if it proves it’s authenticity to its followers, and then it’s reliability to its donors. Finally, social media is a tool that most nonprofits could not survive without. It provides an outlet to communicate to the wide and intercultural audiences that nonprofit organizations cater to. Nonprofit leadership takes time, money, and human capital. These elements create a unique organization that can bring about change for the world that is necessary in every way.
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