Building Sustainable Nonprofits Through Better Leadership

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If you’ve ever tried to run a nonprofit on passion alone, you know where that road leads: long hours, reactive decisions, and donor updates that feel like fire drills. We sat down with Lauren Reilly, executive director of the Gratitude Network, to map a different path—one where nonprofit leaders claim the tools CEOs use and apply them to mission-driven work without losing soul.

We start by flipping a core belief: a nonprofit is a business. Lauren shares how to trade busywork for “CEO sprints,” short, focused blocks that pull you out of the weeds and into strategy. We unpack the difference between being a servant leader and starving your team of autonomy, and we show how mentorship, advisors, and executive coaching play distinct roles in a healthy leadership system. From crisis communication plans that calm donors to accountability rhythms that grow your next tier of leaders, you’ll get practical habits you can put on the calendar this week.

If you’re ready to replace scarcity thinking with systems, and replace burnout with durable impact, this conversation will give you the prompts, tools, and next steps to lead with clarity. Enjoy the insights, share them with your team, and if this helped, subscribe, leave a review, and tell us the one habit you’re committing to this month.

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