Elevate Your Charity's Rating: Leadership Development for Nonprofit Excellence

Life changes and so must your nonprofit! Adaptive leadership enables organizations to thrive by fostering innovation, collaboration, and resilience to help both identify and solve the complex challenges life throws your way. 

How you invest in your leadership can make your leaders more open and flexible to change, thereby making your nonprofit organization more successful at managing change. You know your leaders are worth it, but many nonprofit organizations are strapped for time and resources, and investing in leaders can fall in priority.   

Are you a church or nonprofit for whom public charity ratings don't apply?  The principles in this series still apply.  Your contributors and stakeholders are interested in your sustainability and stewardship of resources and actually have limited ways to access relevant information if you don't supply it.

Because adaptive leadership is so important, Charity Navigator gives you credit for investing in your leaders! It has a positive impact on your public charity rating through the Leadership & Adaptability Beacon. High ratings on Charity Navigator can bolster your fundraising by signaling to donors that your organization is mission-focused and efficient when utilizing donations.  

Here are a few things you can do today to help develop your team: 

1. Employee engagement in mentorship and coaching programs 

2. Utilize professional development plans for your staff 

3. Support staff attendance at conferences which increase leadership skills, collaboration with other organizations, and build networks 

4. Support staff’s continuing education and maintaining up to date professional certifications 

5. Have a succession plan in place to ensure institutional knowledge is transferred and continuity in critical positions is maintained 

6. Cultural and diversity training for an inclusive workplace. 

Any of these can provide a boost to your Leadership and Adaptability beacon on Charity Navigator but more importantly, build your leadership’s resilience.  

The Leadership and Adaptability Beacon has multiple segments to complete in order to get full credit.  Another segment of the Leadership and Adaptability Beacon acknowledges the importance of having a current strategy (mission, vision, strategic goals) by offering points for that. Check out our article Shape Your Charity’s Tomorrow, Starting Today! for more information on this cornerstone for success. 

Your mission is to make a difference in the world, but focusing on that is hard when so much time and energy is needed just to manage the basics. 

Let Missionwell help you enhance your leadership capacity and boost your Charity Navigator ratings! Missionwell’s Stars for Stars assessment will yield robust recommendations and a road map to improved charity ratings for your organization across multiple areas. If you also need assistance with your staff’s professional development plans or an approach to succession planning, we’ve got your back: you can simply add on HR consulting services to your assessment. 

Get Started Today 

1. If you missed our latest articles on how your Form 990 can inspire donor confidence, and how strengthening your governance can improve your charity ratings, check them out here and here. 

2. Try Missionwell’s free charity transparency self-assessment for further ideas for improving your public charity ratings. 

3. Request a quote for your Stars for Stars assessment and start improving your ratings. 

With Missionwell at your side, you can confidently focus on growing your mission impact stronger and faster. Request a quote today, invest in your leadership, and as a special benefit get the stars you deserve from Charity Navigator to build trust with your donors. 

This is article 6 of 6 in our series on improving public charity ratings to increase fundraising.