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Featured Posts

Empathy is a Nonprofit Leader’s Superpower

Empathy is a Nonprofit Leader’s Superpower

March 2, 2020 By Nell Edgington

I have often discussed (along with many others) how nonprofit leaders are (annoyingly) told to behave more like business leaders. But there are many ways in which business leaders could emulate nonprofit leaders. The biggest one is empathy. My guess is that the vast majority of nonprofit leaders are highly empathetic. Typically people start or […]

How Board Members Can Stop Nonprofit Leader Burnout

How Board Members Can Stop Nonprofit Leader Burnout

September 9, 2019 By Nell Edgington

This summer, after much convincing, one of my clients (who was close to burnout) reluctantly took a long weekend off. She said it felt amazing. But she also felt guilty. It is insane that three very short days away felt somehow wrong to this beleaguered nonprofit leader. But, her plight, nonprofit leader burnout, is so […]

Let’s Stop Undervaluing Our Nonprofit Leaders

Let’s Stop Undervaluing Our Nonprofit Leaders

September 12, 2018 By Nell Edgington

There is a fairly ubiquitous notion about the nonprofit sector. We as a society often believe (either consciously or subconsciously) that nonprofit leaders and their work are less valuable. Nonprofit leaders have been told for so long that they must scrape by without the amount of funding, people, or attention that they truly require. But […]

You Can Release Yourself from The Broken Social Change System

July 1, 2021 By Nell Edgington Leave a Comment

I have said many times before that the social change system is broken. Because of deep historical, normative, and structural limits placed on social change leaders for decades, an overwhelming feeling of scarcity pervades the social change sector. Nonprofit leaders and funders alike believe that there simply is “never enough.” There is never enough money, […]

Reinventing Our Battered World through Kindness and Curiosity

June 24, 2021 By Nell Edgington Leave a Comment

Note: I was asked by the Council on Foundations to blog about their “Leading Together Conference” last week. My post that follows originally appeared on their website here. I came away from the second day of the Council on Foundations’ Leading Together 2021 conference with an enormous amount of hope. Hope in humanity and in […]

The Overwhelm We Share by Nell Edgington

The Overwhelm We Share

June 18, 2021 By Nell Edgington Leave a Comment

If you are feeling — as we hit the middle of 2021, a year almost as difficult as 2020 — exhausted, overwhelmed, worn out, you are not alone.  Because I see you. I see you hang up after a call with a discouraging funder and put your head in your hands. I see you reliving […]

hammock

Take a Break Nonprofit Leaders

July 28, 2020 By Nell Edgington Leave a Comment

There is a palpable sense that people are hitting a wall. 2020 has been exhausting. I think particularly for social change leaders, who have borne the brunt of the tremendous social upheaval this year has brought, there is a sense of looming burnout. So I beg you — take a vacation. Every summer I work […]

trees

When It is Dark, Seek Out Beauty

June 17, 2020 By Nell Edgington Leave a Comment

These are really dark days. We are in midst of a global pandemic that shows no sign of weakening, while we simultaneously begin to reckon with centuries of racial violence and inequality. Emotions are running high. People are worn out. There is simply a pallor of exhaustion, hopelessness, overwhelm that pervades much of our world […]

train in snow

Why Nonprofits Need to Balance Truth and Hope

March 25, 2019 By Nell Edgington Leave a Comment

One of the things I’ve been working on lately in my coaching practice with nonprofit leaders is finding the balance between truth and hope. This is because I think it’s much easier to create momentum for change if truth is laced with hope. And also because I believe we need a lot more of both […]

Trusting Your Nonprofit Gut

June 27, 2018 By Nell Edgington 2 Comments

In the age of Big Data there has been a real push among funders, government, and thought leaders to encourage nonprofit leaders to make decisions based on data. I have been among the many who have heralded the importance of gathering and using data to improve performance. And I still believe data is incredibly important. […]

Why Nonprofit Leaders Should Play Big

May 31, 2018 By Nell Edgington 4 Comments

One of the many books I read on my social media hiatus last Fall, was Tara Mohr’s Playing Big: Practical Wisdom for Women Who Want to Speak Up, Create and Lead. Her argument is that there are countless women out there who could be contributing so much more to society but are holding themselves back […]

Goodbye to a Mentor and a Friend

March 30, 2017 By Nell Edgington Leave a Comment

I have a heavy heart today. I found out yesterday that my first boss, long-time mentor, and most influential teacher of all things nonprofit management died over the weekend. Mary Jubitz was the CEO of SMART (Start Making a Reader Today), a statewide early literacy nonprofit in Portland, Oregon. I met Mary when, as a […]

How to Remove a Troublesome Nonprofit Board Member

January 26, 2017 By Nell Edgington 2 Comments

One thing that most nonprofit leaders have in common is that they often have at least one (or more than one) challenging board member. You know — the one who doesn’t show up for board meetings, or doesn’t do what she says she’ll do, or never makes a contribution, or derails meetings with his own agenda. […]

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