Recently, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation convened about 30 capacity builders, from a dozen organizations, over parts of three days, to discuss the state of capacity building and how we might all work together better.

Needless to say, the economy was on everyone’s mind, with the less than cheering consensus being that the sector would not see the worst of it until 2010. Significantly, leadership development was still viewed as a key strategy, and with good reason.

All the usual modalities and strategies for nonprofit capacity building – fund raising, strategic planning, board development, etc., depend upon great leadership to accomplish their aims. So, if you have been worrying how to strengthen your organization for the gathering storm, think about the quality of your leadership, and look for ways to build upon what you have.

Join a learning community, enroll in a leadership development program, find a coach or mentor. When this storm passes it will be the well-led that survive and even thrive through bad times.

Tags: nonprofit

This entry was posted on Monday, January 19th, 2009 at 12:48 pm and is filed under Consulting for Nonprofits, Foundation effectiveness, Leadership, Nonprofit Sector, Trends. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.