Nonprofit Launch Plan Podcast for Startup, Small, and Growing Nonprofits

Some leadership habits look responsible on the surface. Watching the numbers closely. Working long hours. Staying involved in decisions. Learning not to take rejection personally.

But each of those can quietly become something unhealthy.

In this episode of the Nonprofit Launch Plan Podcast for Startup, Small, and Growing Nonprofits, Matt Stockman shares four leadership beliefs he has had to unlearn through years of leading organizations, teams, and now his own business.

You'll hear why constantly checking nonprofit metrics can create anxiety instead of clarity, why long hours aren't necessarily evidence of commitment, how a leader can unintentionally become the bottleneck that keeps a team from growing, and why fundraising rejection should affect you without determining how you approach the next opportunity.

You'll also learn a simple way to identify the handful of numbers an executive director should actually be watching, how your work habits communicate expectations to your staff and volunteers, and how to evaluate a donor's “no” without allowing rejection to undermine your confidence.

• Why obsessing over nonprofit metrics rarely improves the numbers
• How to identify the 2–4 numbers that matter most to your organization
• Why working more hours doesn't automatically make you a more committed leader
• What late-night emails and texts may unintentionally communicate to your team
• How nonprofit founders and executive directors become organizational bottlenecks
• Why empowering your team can increase both capacity and ownership
• How to handle fundraising, grant, donor, and board-member rejection
• The five elements of a strong fundraising invitation: Problem, Solution, Ask, Urgency, and Action
• How to learn from rejection without allowing yesterday's “no” to weaken tomorrow's ask

What are you doing right now in the name of good leadership that may actually be making it harder for you to lead well?

Learn more about Nonprofit Launch Plan and access free nonprofit leadership and fundraising resources at nonprofitlaunchplan.com.

Want the free weekly Nonprofit Launch Briefing? Email Matt at matt@nonprofitlaunchplan.com with “Sign Me Up” in the subject line.

Frequently Asked Questions

A nonprofit executive director should focus on a small number of metrics that provide the clearest picture of organizational health and that leadership can actually influence. Depending on the nonprofit, those could include progress toward the fundraising goal, new donors or contacts added to the database, revenue compared with expenses, or the number of people being served.

Important nonprofit metrics should be reviewed consistently, but constantly checking dashboards can create unnecessary anxiety and lead leaders to make changes before enough information exists to know whether a strategy is working. For many executive directors, reviewing a focused dashboard once or twice a day is more useful than monitoring dozens of numbers throughout the day.

Look for decisions, meetings, approvals, and responsibilities that currently require your involvement but could appropriately be owned by someone else. Giving capable staff and volunteers genuine decision-making responsibility can increase organizational capacity while helping people grow.

Allow yourself to be disappointed, then evaluate what you can learn. Ask whether the problem was clearly explained, whether the solution made sense, whether the ask was specific, whether urgency was clear, and whether the donor understood the next step. Make any necessary adjustments, then move on to the next opportunity.

Long hours may occasionally be necessary, especially during the early stages of an organization, but they are not an accurate measurement of commitment. Leaders should also consider what their work habits communicate to employees and volunteers about availability, expectations, and healthy boundaries.