PEER ORGANIZATIONS AND NETWORKS ACTION POINTS
Collaborate to Scale Impact
Recognize that collaboration can be a highly effective way to scale impact.
Identify shared interests or outcomes that peer organizations can coalesce around.
Share credit (and resources if you can) to increase the chances of collaboration succeeding.
Don’t settle for a lowest common denominator approach to collaboration. Rather, build consensus around a credible ask or strategy.
* For example, “5 Reasons Why Child Marriage Affects Us All,” Camfed website, December 17, 2017, camfed.org/5-reasons-why-child-marriage-affects-us-all.
* Not to be mistaken with International Crisis Group, a different and much more public conflict-prevention organization.
* The initiative is called Funding Frontline Impact, and all the materials are available at www.fundingfrontlineimpact.org.
CONCLUSION
As I was in the final stages of writing this book, I returned to the place where my nonprofit journey began. It was a scorching summer’s day in the port of Fremantle, Western Australia. The sail training ship Leeuwin was tied up alongside “B-Shed” wharf—at the same berth I had first laid eyes on it more than thirty years before. Young crew members were ambling around the decks and one or two scampered up the rigging, wearing their blue canvas smocks and harnesses. I reminisced about some of the experiences I’d shared on that ship decades ago, from furling furiously billowing sails in howling gales to diving over the side into crystal clear ocean waters while at anchor. I reflected on how many young lives had been transformed over the decades through the opportunity to bond as makeshift teams in an unfamiliar environment while testing themselves against the elements.
I reflected, too, on the long and winding journey my career had taken since then and the many inspirational nonprofits I had worked for and with. Between them, they have spanned the globe and committed themselves to issues as diverse as armed conflict, modern slavery, child marriage, climate change, national security, and legal aid and poverty. In addition to everything else, the organizations I’ve been part of provide a snapshot of the huge diversity of nonprofits out there seeking to make the world a better place.
All of these nonprofits have a deep commitment to driving ambitious change. But even the most successful of them have only a fraction of the financial resources available to big corporate and government agencies. Lacking financial firepower, they have to rely on the power of their purpose and their ability to mobilize others, starting with their staff, around their vision for change. They have had to identify smart ways to change systems and collaborate to scale impact. They have been at the forefront of changing the world into an immeasurably better place in the nearly eighty years since the end of the last world war. And that’s despite the dire situation we find ourselves in today with the unfolding climate emergency; war in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, and elsewhere; mass migration on a scale never seen before; and a host of other pressing challenges. Think of those who have been in the vanguard of efforts to sound the alarm on climate over the last few decades; of movements against conflict and the dangers of authoritarianism; and of campaigns to support refugees and address the systemic factors that cause them to flee their homelands. Invariably they are nonprofits and nonprofit leaders.
Investing in the leadership of nonprofits is about investing in efforts to make the world a better place. To describe what good leadership looks like is straightforward enough—not that writing this book has been easy. It’s been a real challenge for me to distill what I’ve learned—from my experiences and those of others, as well as from the research—into something digestible, practical, and (hopefully) useful. I’ve struggled somewhat with sharing my own stories, particularly my missteps. But, all that said, the attributes of good nonprofit leadership are pretty clear. The real challenge for any leader is to actually internalize and apply them consistently.
The best nonprofit leaders I’ve encountered are those who combine a laser-like focus on their organization’s purpose and impact with humility about their own leadership. They know they always have more to learn from their peers and those they lead. They try to avoid raw exercises of authority over colleagues in favor of bringing them along on a journey. They invest heavily in teams and culture. They model the behaviors they want to see and create space for colleagues to take risks. And they always put the people and communities they serve at the very heart of the mission. This all takes a lot of work—in fact, in my case, it’s fair to say that it’s the work of a lifetime. But I can’t think of anything more rewarding.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I was fortunate enough to get a sabbatical over the summer of 2022, and this gave me the time and the space to start reflecting and writing. I very much doubt this book would have happened without that time away from work, so my first thanks go to the then board members of the Freedom Fund for providing me with the opportunity, and for much more besides: Natasha Dolby, Andrew Doust, Grace Forrest, Molly Gochman, Felicity Gooding, Alan McCormick, Mahendra Pandey, and Philippe Sion. I want to give a particular shout-out to Alan, who was the hugely influential chair of the Freedom Fund for its first decade. I’m profoundly thankful for his support and wise guidance throughout our journey together. The Freedom Fund and I owe much to him. We also owe deep thanks to Molly for her willingness to succeed Alan as chair when he stepped down.
It’s daunting embarking on the writing journey, particularly as a first-time author. The experience was made considerably more enjoyable thanks to my dear friend Natasha Stott Despoja giving me the run of her family’s holiday house in Provence for the first weeks of my sabbatical, for which I’m most grateful.
It proved to be a particularly productive sabbatical. Not only did I make significant progress with the research and writing, but I also proposed to my partner, Sarah Le Mesurier. To my delight, she accepted, and as a result, we now have a wonderful, blended family, bringing together my daughters, Elza and Zoya, and Sarah’s, Cicely and Darcey. Sarah has impressive leadership experience herself, and I’ve hugely valued her wise counsel and thoughtful feedback throughout this process. She’s also brought much additional joy to my life, and I love her dearly. This book is dedicated to her, now my wife, and our four wonderful daughters.
Speaking of family, my parents, Richard and Monika, and my brother, Andrew, have all been exemplars of leadership through public service all their lives, and have all inspired me in ways large and small— which I far too rarely acknowledge, but hope to make up for that somewhat by doing so here.
In doing research for this book, I reached out to a number of nonprofit leaders I admire to seek their feedback on the challenges and joys of leadership. I’m grateful they took time out of their busy schedules to provide such rich and thoughtful answers to my questions. It also gave me a lot of comfort to see that so many of the issues I grapple with as a leader were highlighted in their responses and feedback. So my thanks to Catherine Chen (Polaris), Mike Davis (Global Witness), Comfort Ero (International Crisis Group), Lucy Heady (Education Sub-Saharan Africa), Mathieu Lefevre (More in Common), Françoise Moudouthe (African Women’s Development Fund), Sophie Otiende (Global Fund to End Modern Slavery), Ken Roth (Human Rights Watch), Asif Shaikh (Jan Sahas), Dina Sherif (the Legatum Center at MIT), Andrew Wallis (Unseen), and Gilles Yabi (West Africa Citizen Think Tank).
I’ve flagged in this book the importance of having peers with whom you can share and discuss leadership challenges. In addition to those listed above, I’ve been most fortunate over the years to be able to draw on the wisdom and companionship of a wide group of friends, all of whom happen to be outstanding nonprofit leaders and/or board members. My gratitude to Ellen Agler (The END Fund), Caitlin Baron (Luminos Fund), Tom Brookes (Global Strategic Communications Council), Brandee Butler (Fund for Global Human Rights), Brendan Cox (Together Coalition), Tim Dixon (More in Common), Patrick Dunne (Boardelta), Dan Elkes (Transparentem), Hassan Elmasry (ClientEarth), Kate Hampton (Children’s Investment Fund Foundation), Tirana Hassan (Human Rights Watch), Richard Hawkes (British Asian Trust), Leslie Johnson (Laudes Foundation), Olivia Leland (Co-Impact), Ed Marcum (Working Capital), Lawrence Mendenhall (AAO), Gemma Mortensen (New Constellations), Sonal Sachdev Patel (GMSP Foundation), Minh-Thu Pham (Project Starling), Jonathan Prentice (IOM), Eloise Todd (Pandemic Action Network), Maran Turner (Freedom Now), Mabel van Oranje (Girls Not Brides, VOW for Girls), and Dan Viederman (Working Capital). My additional thanks to Dan Vexler and Maria Horning, as well as Sarah, Tim, Brendan, Mabel, Sonal, and Natasha (Dolby), for reviewing all or part of the manuscript and offering insightful feedback. And my heartfelt thanks to my dear friends Brad Haynes and Simone Burford for their friendship and moral support throughout.
I learned a lot from the two bosses I worked for during my nine years with International Crisis Group, Gareth Evans and Louise Arbour— some of it recounted in these pages. I also benefited from the wisdom of many wonderful colleagues at that truly impactful organization and made many lasting friendships. Together with the Freedom Fund, it’s the organization I’ve most enjoyed working for in my decades of professional life. My former Crisis Group colleagues are too numerous to list here, so I’ll limit myself to thanking my former bosses on behalf of all of them.
I have received significant encouragement and support for this project from the partners at Legatum, one of the Freedom Fund’s cofounders. The partners—Christopher Chandler, Mark Stoleson, and Philip Vassiliou, as well as Alan McCormick—have an abiding interest in leadership and have been enthusiastic champions of this book from its inception. And, of course, it was their decision to partner with fellow philanthropists Andrew and Nicola Forrest and Pam and Pierre Omidyar that brought the Freedom Fund into being—for which they all have my everlasting thanks.
This book became much more real when Matt Holt Books agreed to publish it. I’m very grateful to Matt Holt, editor in chief, for his faith in me, a first-time author, and this project. (I’m also awed by his encyclopedic knowledge of obscure Australian movies.) And to Katie Dickman, managing editor, whose thoughtful and skillful editing significantly enhanced the final text.
My thanks to Mojie Crigler, who provided me invaluable advice on how to go about writing a book proposal and pitch it to publishers. She also provided lots of editorial support throughout, particularly in the early stages when I was still working out how to actually write a book.
Erin Phelps, my senior adviser at the Freedom Fund, very kindly helped with a lot of the research. She also provided valuable input and guidance throughout and, in particular, offered helpful perspectives on issues ranging from impact to DEI. The book is much the better for her input.
I get a great deal of support and joy working with my senior leadership team colleagues at the Freedom Fund. They are all outstanding leaders in their own right. They contribute greatly to the quality of my leadership, ensuring the organization benefits from better and wiser decisions than I could make on my own. I owe a particular debt of gratitude to Dan Vexler, our managing director for programs and my longstanding friend, who stepped in as a highly effective interim CEO while I was on sabbatical. He was ably supported by the rest of the team: Zoe Marshall, managing director for finance and administration; Amy Rahe, managing director for external relations; and Havovi Wadia, director of programs. My deep thanks to all of you.
And finally, I want to thank all of my colleagues at the Freedom Fund, past and present. From our modest beginnings, we are a team of eighty-two in twelve countries at the time of writing, and our collective work is impacting millions of lives. I have learned so much from working with this team over the years. Much of what I’ve shared in this book comes very directly from my experiences at the Freedom Fund. Certainly, it’s been a collective effort to build an inclusive and impact-focused culture and a powerfully effective organization. I’ve benefited greatly from the commitment and expertise of all those I’ve worked with at the Freedom Fund. My huge gratitude to all of you.
NOTES
PURPOSE: SET THE DIRECTION
1.Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani activist for girls’ education and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014. This quote is from a speech she made at Harvard in September 2013.
2.Leeuwin Ocean Adventure Annual Information Statement 2022, Australian Charities and Not-For-Profits Commission website, accessed July 1, 2023, https://www.acnc.gov.au/charity/charities/4bc9d964-38af-e811-a961-000d3ad24182/documents/3fbf8abc-f171-ed11-81ac-002248110683.
3.Dina Sherif, email to author, December 2022.
CHAPTER 1: MISSION
1.From a speech the Indian leader (Mahatma) Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi gave on October 31, 1938, at Dera Ismail Khan, India.
2.“How We Work,” International Crisis Group website, accessed May 15, 2023, https://www.crisisgroup.org/independent-impartial-inclusive.
3.Rebecca Hamilton, Fighting for Darfur: Public Action and the Struggle to Stop Genocide (London: St Martin’s Press, 2011), 121.
4.“The International Crisis Group and the ENOUGH Project: A Complementary Relationship,” International Crisis Group website, May 4, 2007, www.crisisgroup.org/who-we-are/crisis-group-updates/international-crisis-group-and-enough-project-complementary-relationship.
5.“Vision and Mission,” Grameen Bank website, https://grameenbank.org.bd/about/vision-mission.
