As a leader of a charity or nonprofit, you may encounter various challenges—from finding funding and overcoming staffing issues to navigating economic policy changes—all while striving to maintain productivity and impact. No matter the challenges, one thing that can help is adopting habits to help improve your leadership and organization’s performance. And, most importantly, support your personal well-being. In this article, we are going to discuss practical habits that you can consider to help you become a more effective leader.

Set Priorities with a Weekly Planning Routine

As you map out your goals and tasks at the start of each week, try to keep your organization’s mission and priorities in mind, ensuring your efforts stay aligned with what matters most. For example, you might focus your first week of a small-scale campaign on reaching out to a handful of strong supporters and adjust key messaging to make sure that it is clear, and personalized before you reach out to the broader community.

Using a simple tool like a weekly planner can help you visually organize your goals and deadlines. And by organizing your time this way, you stay on track with your fundraising and the overall goals of the organization, even when juggling multiple responsibilities.

Delegate to Get All Team Members Involved

Consider delegating tasks thoughtfully to help lighten your load. You can assign responsibilities based on your team members’ strengths. For example, if you are organizing a fundraising event, have someone who enjoys speaking with people manage donor engagement, while others who enjoy planning take care of tasks like setting up the venue or managing ticket sales. Clearly defining roles reduces confusion and ensures accountability.

If you are a team of one, try automating repetitive tasks, outsourcing projects, or using free tools to manage your workload efficiently. For example, email automation tools can streamline donor outreach, leaving you more time to craft compelling appeals. No matter the size of your team, there are always solutions to help you manage your workload.

Set Aside Small Time Blocks

Instead of trying to complete large tasks all at once, break them into short, manageable blocks of 20–30 minutes. For example, use this time to outline sections of a grant proposal or brainstorm ideas for donor appeals. These focused intervals can help you maintain progress on important tasks without requiring extended time commitments.

Even small gaps in your schedule can become opportunities for meaningful work. By leveraging these moments, nonprofit leaders can accomplish more without feeling overwhelmed.

Invest in Leadership Coaching

Leadership coaching is a powerful resource for nonprofit leaders. It offers tailored strategies to help optimize time, and your energy. Coaching can help you clarify your priorities, make faster decisions, and develop systems that save time and increase efficiency.

For example, a coach can help you identify your most important challenges and provide you with a blueprint of highly focused tasks, which can help reduce the time spent on planning and problem-solving. As a result, you’ll feel more confident and capable, inspiring your team to work more efficiently as well.

Incorporate Daily Reflection, Learning, and Self-Care

Dedicate 10–15 minutes each day to reflect on your achievements and challenges. Use this time to identify areas for improvement and plan your next steps. Taking short moments for self-care, such as journaling or mindfulness exercises, helps prevent burnout and supports your well-being.

For example, after a day spent preparing for a fundraising event, a leader might reflect on how dividing tasks among team members kept things on schedule, note that donor outreach could be improved, and plan to follow up personally with key supporters the next day. This daily habit not only sharpens leadership skills but also helps maintain a healthy balance and sense of progress.

Make Decisions With Confidence

Leaders can simplify decision-making by using tools like pros-and-cons lists or simple checklists to weigh their options and help make the best decision. These tools help break down decisions into clear, manageable steps and ensure that you do not overlook any important details, which is especially useful when juggling multiple priorities. For example, if you are analyzing donor data to identify prospects in your donor database, a checklist might include reviewing donation amounts, checking donation frequency, and reviewing the volunteer hours recorded for that donor. This organized approach not only simplifies decision-making when identifying strong supporters, but also keeps you focused and on track.

Concentrating most of your energy on the activities that deliver the strongest outcomes can simplify decision-making. For example, you may decide to focus on building stronger relationships with major donors who contribute significantly, instead of organizing multiple small community events that require a lot of time and resources.

Explore Networking to Generate Ideas

Connecting with other nonprofit leaders at conferences or local events to share ideas and build collaborations is helpful for becoming a high-performing leader. For example, you might learn about a fundraising strategy that worked for another organization that is similar to yours and adapt it to your needs.

Furthermore, corporate partners offer valuable networking opportunities that can help expand your nonprofit's impact. Approach local businesses with a compelling story about the difference your nonprofit makes to explore partnerships that benefit both sides. By exploring collaborations, you can expand your reach and impact within the community.

Commit to Continuous Improvement

Check your progress often and use what you learn to improve how you work. For example, after a small campaign, evaluate how well your strategies performed. Did donor engagement increase? Did you meet your fundraising goal? Did you have enough volunteers? Adjust your methods based on feedback to stay responsive to challenges.

Regular check-ins help keep your efforts on track with your mission and make it easier to adapt your strategy as needed.

Celebrate Small Wins

Recognize and celebrate milestones to boost morale and inspire your team. For example, reaching 50% of a fundraising goal can be shared in meetings or newsletters. Small gestures like thank-you notes or team lunches show appreciation and keep motivation high.

Celebrating successes strengthens teamwork and builds a positive organizational culture, making challenges easier to overcome.

Adopting these practical habits can transform the way nonprofit leaders manage their organizations and lead their teams. By setting priorities, delegating effectively, embracing reflection, and focusing on key goals, small charities and nonprofits can create meaningful impact without feeling overwhelmed. Start implementing these habits today to elevate your leadership, strengthen your team, and achieve success in your mission.

The High-Performing Nonprofit Leader: Practical Habits for Success