As a leader in the nonprofit sector, you’ve likely faced the challenge of balancing high expectations with limited resources. But consistently trying to do more with less isn’t sustainable. In fact, it’s driving fundraisers away from the industry in droves.

One recent survey found that 45% of nonprofit employees plan to look for new or different employment in the next five years. Another study puts the annual turnover rate for nonprofits at 19% — well above the industry average of 12%.

Fundraisers possess unique and in-demand skills that enable them to build relationships, foster collaboration, and drive growth. But to achieve the extraordinary in a challenging field, you need more than just experience. You must evolve as a leader.

In our latest eBook, Breakthrough Fundraising: A New Path to Achieving the Impossible, we explore how nonprofit leaders can redefine their leadership to achieve Breakthrough Goals. It’s not just about who you are today but who you need to become to inspire action and amplify results.

What Is Breakthrough Leadership?

The Breakthrough concept comes from Gap International, which has spent 40 years helping leaders transform their organizations’ performance from the expected to the extraordinary. It all comes down to understanding and then challenging your mindset.

When you identify how your current perceptions affect your current actions, you’ll begin to see the otherwise invisible obstacles that might be holding you back.

Is Breakthrough leadership right for you? Read these two statements:

• I believe that changing the world is possible.
• I have a vision for the future, and I’m compelled to make this vision a reality.

If these words apply to you, you’re in the right place. 

Rethink the Attributes You Tolerate

It’s easy to do the same old thing year in and year out. Often, it takes a crisis to snap you out of your comfort zone. Thankfully, an emergency isn’t the only thing that inspires new ideas.

Breakthrough leadership begins with how you think. Your mindset informs what you believe is possible and impossible and how you build a path to achieve it.

To start moving forward, you must first look back. Give your organization an honest assessment. What behaviors and practices are you allowing that may be keeping you from meeting your goals? Specifically, what are you doing today that you’ve been doing for the past three to five years that still isn’t having the intended impact?

Consider the thoughts you have when faced with a difficult situation, such as a high fundraising goal. You might think:

• The goal is totally unrealistic.
• We don’t have the resources we need.
• There’s too much competition in our area.
• The goal-setter doesn’t understand our current fundraising environment.

Yes, these challenges may exist, but they’re not necessarily facts. More importantly, they don’t have to stop you from achieving your goal.

Adopting a Breakthrough Mindset

A Breakthrough mindset starts with acknowledging and then challenging the way you think. We have two strategies to help.

1. Put this phrase before each item on your list: “What would it take to…”

For example, what would it take to achieve the goal? What would it take to obtain the resources we need?

With this approach, you shift your focus from why something is impossible to an imagined reality in which it is possible.

2. Ask yourself what you’re thinking but not saying: “What’s not on our list?”

For example: I don’t trust my leadership will stay focused on this goal. I may have to fire a friend to make room for the expertise we need.

The things we think but don’t say can often be the biggest obstacles to our success. Acknowledging these thoughts can help us see them more clearly and solve them.

Setting Your Breakthrough Goal

A Breakthrough Goal should change the paradigm for your constituents. It should seem entirely out of reach and make you feel both excited and uncomfortable. If this goal feels achievable and you can see a path to accomplishing it, you need to reach further.

Consider what a new reality might look like for your organization. For instance:

• We’re helping more women have access to mammograms.
• We’re getting more people to fundraise for the walk.
• We’re providing more food to families in the community.

These are powerful thoughts, but they aren’t quite Breakthrough. A Breakthrough Goal must be specific and measurable, require a leap of faith, and open new avenues for growth. Most importantly, it should be stated as if it’s already been accomplished.

Stated as Breakthrough Goals, your new reality might be:

• The 250,000 female residents of Chicago’s Will County, 45 years and older, received mammograms thanks to the addition of two new screening clinics.
• All participants in the NYC walk made a personal donation or actively fundraised at least $1 from their networks, which resulted in 50% more revenue.
• All families in the California Bay Area had access to enough nutritious food to support their health and well-being.

To set a Breakthrough Goal, choose something that will deepen your commitment and remind you of the bold leader you aspired to be on Day 1 at your organization. This will push you to reach the highest expectation you can.

Your Breakthrough Leadership Stand

Breakthrough leadership in any industry takes a clear and unwavering commitment. This is your foundation. Known as a Breakthrough Leadership Stand, this isn’t the leader you are today — it’s the leader you need to become.

Developing your Breakthrough Leadership Stand comes down to a single question: How can you pivot from your current habits to embody the leadership qualities that will drive your nonprofit’s success? This statement should be clear and concise, starting with the phrase “I am…” For instance:

• I am a bold and decisive driver.
• I am patient and accepting.
• I am a rock in times of growth and change.
• I am trusting, present, and unconditionally empowering.

Let’s break down the steps. First, examine your Breakthrough Goal. As you do so, look for areas of caution, fear, and hesitation that arise. Then, consider how your current actions enable behaviors in yourself and others that may hinder your ability to achieve your Breakthrough Goal.

Next, ask yourself two questions:

1. What am I tolerating that is hindering my success?
2. What would my leadership look like if I didn’t tolerate this?

Transformative Questions

These two questions can uncover the changes you need to make to fulfill your Breakthrough Goal, so let’s dig deeper. The objective is to understand how your current actions and thinking connect to the future in which your goal has been achieved.

For the first question, consider the attributes you tolerate in yourself and others. For instance:

• Defers to seniority, not expertise
• Makes decisions by consensus
• Retains staff who continuously underperform
• Celebrates sole contributors who work alone, not with the team
• Fears failure

These traits may produce results — but they may also lead to stagnation. Whether good or bad, they’re tied to your current situation.

Now, for question two, let’s see what it looks like to be a leader who doesn’t tolerate these attributes:

• Confidently contributes expertise in all settings
• Collects input to inform a decision that’s clear and decisive
• Holds staff accountable for work product and performance
• Fosters collaboration to leverage complementary skills across the team
• Accepts that fear of failure will happen, so fails fast and forward

Doesn’t this feel incredibly refreshing? The best part is that it isn’t a pipe dream. By identifying the unhelpful traits you tolerate and imagining a reality without them, you set the stage to become the leader you’ve aspired to be throughout your career.

Anything Is Possible

Leadership isn’t static; it’s a dynamic process of growth and adaptation. Change is rarely comfortable or easy, but when you see the otherwise invisible obstacles that might be holding you back.

As you continue to develop a new mindset, you’ll experience leadership growth that positions you to achieve your Breakthrough Goal. This will set your organization on a path to achieve what once seemed impossible.

Unlock the shackles holding your team back. Set your Breakthrough Leadership Stand and start building a new reality for your nonprofit.

Download our free eBook, Breakthrough Fundraising: Achieve the Impossible with a New Way of Thinking, to learn more about Breakthrough Leadership.

Our team is standing by to help you do this hard but critical work. Reach out today.