Nonprofit Competency Model for Inclusive Leadership

There are a variety of routes to a career in the nonprofit sector. People become leaders by leveraging undergraduate and graduate degrees, working their way up through organizations, and, particularly in the case of board service, through personal and professional connections. Once you’re in, performance and promotion practices vary widely in method and quality.

The paths to these positions have contributed to a sector whose leadership is lacking in diversity — especially racial diversity — and by extension, inclusive leadership practices. Because competency models rely on KSAOs, they have the potential to contribute to a stronger, more diverse sector that leads with inclusiveness.

A Resource to Support a More Inclusive Workforce

Many frameworks for nonprofit leadership already exist in the field. What we have done is to take the collective wisdom of many organizations and tools — and our own decades of experience in nonprofit leadership — and integrated it all into two summative and interrelated tracks (one for nonprofit staff leaders, one for board members), with an emphasis on KSAOs that contribute to cultures of belonging. The competencies are the same for both staff and board members, rather it is the behaviors that vary depending on each person’s role.

Download the PDF