GARRY'S GUIDE TO Nonprofit Leadership
Because the World is Counting on You
2nd Edition
Joan Garry
Copyright © 2021 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
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ISBN 9781119730484 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781119730514 (ePDF)
ISBN 9781119730491 (ePub)
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Preface to the Second Edition
March 2017. I stood on a chair (I'm short) to offer remarks to clients, friends, family, and colleagues to celebrate the publication of my first book. Not gonna lie. It was exciting. A book. People saw me as this expert — someone who could help them figure out the gnarly knots that stood between them and the pursuit of their nonprofit mission.
Little did I know then what an imposter I was. Well, maybe that is overstating a bit, but I had no idea how much more there was to know, how many more leaders there were to meet and hear from and, as a result, how much more advice there was to share with you that could be helpful.
In this second edition, I add two major stories and a big dose of hope (in a world that is more than just a little hungry for it).
Story #1: In 2015, I came to understand just how many “small” nonprofits there were. As the popularity of my blog and podcast grew (now reaching folks from 150 countries around the world), I became something of a Dear Abby. And this Abby became totally overwhelmed with dozens of emails weekly from folks with challenges galore. While they often seemed insurmountable to the writer, I felt like I could help — I had advice for them, resources, and I could give them the pat on the back they desperately needed. But I couldn't keep up. And as a pleaser personality, leaving these folks hanging was not OK by me.
Some research quickly unearthed the reason for the flood of emails. Nearly 70% of all nonprofits have budgets under $500,000. And how much do you think these groups budget for professional development? You guessed it. Zero.
Armed with all those emails and a digital marketing partner, I launched The Nonprofit Leadership Lab just two months after the publication of the first edition of this book. The Nonprofit Leadership Lab provides content and community for board and staff leaders of small nonprofits and is the best online resource of its kind. Since its launch we have supported over 5,000 leaders — both board and staff. I feel a great sense of pride that we have been able to help so many folks develop new skills, transform their boards, write kick‐ass grant proposals, and feel a sense of community with thousands in the U.S. and around the world.
But it is what these leaders have taught me that is the main reason I wanted to write this second edition. Two‐thirds of the sector stares at cash flow and yet is chock‐full of passionate and remarkable founders for whom building and growing an organization is simply not the best and highest use of their magic powers. Hundreds of thousands of nonprofits build their boards the best way they know how, and board members are painfully unclear on the significant leading role they play in their organizations’ success.
Angela Duckworth's book, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance (Scribner), is a first‐rate look into the tough stuff people are made of — the role perseverance plays in who we can become. When I spend an hour engaging with our members, that is always the first word that comes to mind, Grit, and it compels me to be even more of an advocate and champion for these leaders.
And so a deep dive into small nonprofits: how to be an effective one and what all nonprofits have to learn from the grit and determination of the small nonprofit are additional areas of focus in this edition.
Story #2: Actually, it’s many stories. Stories that upset me, stories that anger me, and stories that call me to action to use my platform to work to make things different. These stories are all about the power and responsibilities of boards to fully lead and partner with their organizations to move them from messy to thriving. Our sector does a downright poor job recruiting board members, educating them about what the job really is, and holding them accountable.
In a monthly column for The Chronicle of Philanthropy, I spoke the truth about boards’ abuse of power — that this may just be responsible for more great staff leader attrition than any other factor. The engagement in that piece was off the charts on every one of my social media platforms. Some folks even sent me videos because someone had asked that I see and hear them.
Since I wrote the first edition of this book, boards’ abuse of power is a recurring theme I hear from members of my Leadership Lab and from the dozens of my coaching and
