Nonprofit Management

This period we are now in is one of great challenge for nonprofit organizations and many are failing—particularly those relying on government funding—and as always during trying times, a remembrance of first principles is helpful.

The most important thinker on management in America over the past several decades has been Peter F. Drucker, who passed away in 2005, and his seminal book, Managing the Non-Profit Organization: Principles and Practices, is a brief 250 pages on just that.

Here are the opening two paragraphs.

“The non-profit organization exists to bring about a change in individuals and society. The first thing to talk about is what missions work and what missions don’t work, and how to define the mission. For the ultimate test is not the beauty of the mission statement. The ultimate test is right action.

“The most common question asked me by non-profit executives is: What are the qualities of a leader? The question seems to assume that leadership is something you can learn in a charm school. But it also assumes that leadership by itself is not enough, that it’s an end. And that’s misleadership. The leader who basically focuses on himself or herself is going to mislead. The three most charismatic leaders in this century inflicted more suffering on the human race than almost any trio in history: Hitler, Stalin, and Mao. What matters is not the leader’s charisma. What matters is the leader’s mission. Therefore, the first job of the leader is to think through and define the mission of the institution.” (p. 3)