This chapter focuses on a series of case studies and best practices for partnerships that discuss in detail the provision of back-office support for nonprofit partners. Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC) is a nonprofit public health institute that creates and sustains healthier communities using best practices to improve community health through direct service, partnership, innovation, policy, research, technical assistance, and a prepared work force. Traditional back-office services are usually designed to address many of the challenges of today’s changing nonprofit environment. Services depend on the level of organizational need and affordability, but are usually identified through a comprehensive organizational assessment of the nonprofit client. The Urban Affairs Coalition (UAC) is a Philadelphia-based nonprofit that was founded in 1969 following a historic meeting between the city’s business and community leaders. Most nonprofits never rise to the scale of having a full internal administrative staff and purchased equipment.

This chapter lays the foundation for facilitative leadership from the unique social work perspective. Social work’s Code of Ethics and social work practice principles contribute to the value-based leadership that is part of the facilitative leader’s core. Among the important expectations of social work leadership are cultural sensitivity and competence. Five discussion areas have been selected as essential to facilitative leadership from a social work perspective: inclusion, strengths-based leadership, power and the difference between power over and power with, oppression and social justice, and the elusive but critically important concept of empowerment. There are different types of power and power relationships such as productive power and destructive power. Being conscious of privilege and oppression are precursors to understanding social injustice and working toward social justice. The social work program identifies social justice as a professional obligation of social workers to attempt to improve the quality of all people’s lives.

This chapter explores the need for nonprofits to have leadership, particularly board membership that will help them to weather the current economic times and come out on firm footing for the future. It considers how government, business, and foundations can play an important role in building nonprofit capacity. A 2010 study of the nonprofit sector by the Philadelphia Foundation (TPF) concluded that the financial fragility of nonprofits is often rooted in the business models under which they operate. The nonprofit sector comprises a large part of the economy in many U.S. cities, and it has grown tremendously. Communities across the United States need to recommit to effective nonprofit governance leadership. The chapter provides case study that illustrates leadership Philadelphia, mobilizing the private sector to serve the community; TPF’S capacity-building strategy two success stories; and the ins and outs: innovating through outsourcing.

Influential leaders from each of the sectors public, private, and nonprofit in every region of the world have issued a call for leadership within and across sector boundaries, boundaries that have inhibited economic and social wealth creation in times of great need. The United Nations has worked to identify critical areas of focus and investment: extreme poverty and hunger; primary education; gender equality and female empowerment; child mortality; maternal health; eradication of HIV/AIDs, malaria, and other diseases; environmental sustainability; and global partnerships for development. Like many large organizations public, private, and not-for-profit Wharton has developed a set of seven leadership competencies to which it devotes significant resources and programs. The seven competencies that constitute the Wharton dimensions of leadership are influence, emotional intelligence, teamwork, communication, decision making, diplomacy, and organizational awareness. This chapter provides case studies that illustrate successful succession planning through leadership development; Ashoka: innovators for the public; Eisenhower Fellowships (EF).

Historically, community-based nonprofit organizations have drawn board members from their local communities. Board members are being asked to deepen their understanding of the mission of the agency and develop an understanding of social change and social justice. As the agency matures, the roles of the board shift and they become more responsible for governance and fundraising. A well-balanced board is composed of people of various professional backgrounds and social skills, with cultural and ethnic diversity that reflects the composition of the people being served by the agency, and with the financial means, or access to it, to provide support for the agency. Irrespective of any professional credentials that board members may hold, it is critical that all board members have strong leadership skills. Board members are frequently concerned about how agencies handle their ‘legal issues’.

Assessment and evaluation provide an opportunity for nonprofits and funders to discuss outcomes and program improvement concretely rather than abstractly. The current funding climate requires nonprofits to embrace evaluation, as a required means for achieving sustainability. This chapter provides an overview of key steps to support assessment and evaluation in addition to building the capacity and competency required to do so successfully. When we consider the scope and the depth of contributions from the nonprofit sector to society, at its core, we find the collective persistence to prioritize the preservation and well-being of human capital. Nonprofit leadership must prioritize assessment and evaluation, as they would any key human resource, budgeting, or fundraising matter. An often overlooked, yet critical step in assessment and evaluation involves the development of a theory of change (ToC) as a precursor to evaluation.

Mentors are used at all educational levels, with the broad intent of the mentor supporting students’ school work, personal issues, and, at later ages, being a guide in the area of careers. Informal mentoring has long been seen as common and beneficial in social service organizations. For students, some of the barriers to participating in mentorship included timing, compatibility, and knowing how to appropriately interact with one’s mentor. Mentorship is a form of relationship building that involves a certain level of commitment from both the mentor and the mentee. Generally, mentorship as a component in the Master of Science in the Nonprofit Leadership degree program has been a successful experience from both the mentor and mentee viewpoint. Despite the challenges, which for the most part are found across many different relationship types, mentees and mentors are able to come together to contribute to the formation of this successful relationship.

This chapter defines the concept of leadership and describes the most common leadership theories. Most scholars agree that leadership is a key component of organizational effectiveness. The very range of definitions of leadership and the absence of consensual agreement between the definitions make the concept of leadership an issue in itself. The chapter examines leadership from various perspectives with an emphasis on the influence of particular leadership styles on the financial sustainability of a nonprofit organization. It integrates theory-based and practice-based approaches, and thus provides tools to better understand and influence the leader-follower dynamic in the nonprofit setting. Early leadership theories include: Great man theory, traits theories, behavioral theories, contingency theories, and attribution and charismatic theories. The chapter explains the relationship between leadership and community relations and discusses the role of leadership in strategic planning. It also explains the relationship between leadership and financial sustainability of nonprofit organizations.

This chapter provides an overview of best practices that managers and leaders exemplify. Analyzing practice behaviors of leaders and managers is valuable because behaviors are actions that contribute to the overall culture of an organization or academic institution. Although both roles have trenchant agendas, the commensalism between leaders and managers is how they build relationships with staff to promote viable changes and enrich organizational cultures. The chapter discusses managing ambiguous and complex organizational situations. It helps one to understand appropriate professional behavior and recognize how to promote and manage diversity and cross-cultural competence. The chapter identifies ways to initiate and facilitate innovative change processes. It promotes understanding of performance-based leadership and how to perform multiple roles. The chapter describes moral leadership and discusses the importance of team building, coalition building, and facilitating successful processes. The chapter describes how to foster relationships with staff.