As the year comes to a close, I've been reflecting on the remarkable individuals I've met this year. There's the board members staying up late drafting a new vision for their association, the Secretary-Generals pioneering strategic transformation against a reluctant membership, and the program managers quietly holding their shrinking team together, just because there's no one else there to step in. Their stories have not just touched me deeply, they've also helped to reveal a pattern that we need to address in our sector: our self-imposed barriers to growth and impact.

Let's be honest: running a nonprofit has never been easy. External pressures like funding constraints, regulatory mazes, evolving member needs, and technological disruption create enough challenges. So, why do we so often add our own obstacles by clinging to unhealthy, outdated, or unproductive practices? Why can it be so hard to take a step back and look these challenges square in the eye?

Through my work at dga and dvie, I've had the chance not just to observe but also to actively tackle these internal challenges. What do these look like, hopefully, we can make them more visible by clustering them into three key areas. Think of what follows as a nonprofit health check - a diagnostic tool revealing where your organization might be standing in its own way.

Like a ship without proper navigation, strategic misalignment can leave even the most well-intentioned organizations adrift. Here's how to spot it:

4 Warning Signs of Strategic Misalignment

1. Decision Paralysis: Your team spends more time debating what to do than actually doing it.
2. Mission Drift: Projects and opportunities pile up because there's no clear framework to evaluate if they truly serve your core purpose.
3. Metric Mysteries: You can't clearly measure success because you never defined what it looks like.
4. Stakeholder Shuffle: Members, partners, and funders are quietly stepping away, having lost confidence in your direction.

4 Causes of Strategic Misalignment 

1. Leadership Vacuum: No one steps up to champion a clear, compelling vision that everyone can rally behind. 
2. "Too Busy to Plan" Syndrome: Strategic planning keeps getting pushed to "next quarter" because there's always a more urgent fire to fight.
3. The Comfort Zone Trap: Innovation proposals get met with "But we've always..." rejections. 
4. Echo Chamber Decision-Making: Key stakeholders aren't in the room when important decisions are made.

Just as a house needs a solid foundation, nonprofits need robust governance to thrive. But governance isn't just about compliance - it's about creating the conditions for impact.

4 Warning Signs of Governance Gaps

1. Board Fog: Your board spends more time on operational updates than setting direction, leaving your organization without clear vision, mission, or strategic goals.
2. Oversight Vacuum: The board neither effectively oversees strategic decisions nor monitors financial performance beyond basic budget updates.
3. The Silent Majority: Board members attend but rarely contribute, nor do they speak up when it matters most.
4. Missing Perspectives: Your board lacks the diverse expertise required to navigate your nonprofit's needs and challenges.

4 Causes of Governance Gaps

1. Role Drift: Without clear definitions, boards get drawn into daily operations while neglecting their core governance duties.
2. Development Desert: Board training and succession planning are treated as a luxury rather than a necessity. 
3. The Super-Executive Syndrome: Over-reliance by the board on one charismatic leader creates blind spots and power imbalances..
4. Support Gap: Busy volunteers and insufficiently resourced board support make effective governance unattainable.

The most challenging pattern I see is watching passionate people slowly lose their spark. Here's what to watch for:

4 Warning Signs of an Unproductive Culture

1. The Stress Epidemic: Team members who once radiated energy are so overloaded that they struggle to make it through the day.
2. Information Islands: Critical information gets stuck in silos, secret meetings, or personal inboxes.
3. Purpose Fatigue: Team members who once enthusiastically drove initiatives show signs of disengagement and burn out.
4. The Revolving Door: High turnover becomes "just how it is for nonprofits in a competitive job market".

4 Causes of an Unproductive Culture

1. Leadership Vacuum: Managers, often lacking proper training, time, and support, default to ineffective leadership styles that harm both their teams and themselves.
2. People Investment Gap: Critical resources for staff development, compensation, and support systems remain underfunded while expectations for performance continue to rise.
3. Fuzzy Expectations: Goals and expectations remain vague, leaving people uncertain about what success looks like. 
4. Mission-Driven Burnout: The well-intentioned dedication to the nonprofit's cause becomes a justification for unsustainable workloads and practices, turning passion into exhaustion.

As we've explored these 24 warning signs, it becomes evident that these are interconnected challenges that enable each other: Poor governance leads to strategic confusion, which enables ineffective leadership. This, in turn, can result in burned-out teams who can't effectively support good governance. And the cycle continues.

But what's even more concerning: Bad systems always take their toll on people. They ultimately harm dedicated individuals who choose the nonprofit sector because they believe in making a difference. They're the ones who work as volunteers, or accept lower salaries in order to support a mission they care for. Let's pause and think about that. In a sector dedicated to doing good, we've somehow normalized systems that harm the very people trying to create positive change. The irony would be amusing if it weren't so costly - both to our people and ultimately to our missions. 

So what's the solution? While there's no one-size-fits-all answer, I've learned that transformation begins with asking the right questions, with knowing that you are not alone. To help you start this journey , we've created two resources: 

📋 The Nonprofit Health Check 

Not sure if your situation is just 'nonprofit quirky' or deep in 'needs attention'? Take our simple self-assessment to understand how healthy your organization's stewardship culture is. It's not about pointing fingers - it's about gaining clarity on where you stand and what needs attention first. The assessment takes just 15 minutes but can save years of misdirected effort. 

🔗 https://getformly.app/7v9j5t

📚 The dvie Knowledge Library 

Want to dive deeper into these topics? We've curated a collection of articles, research papers, and practical tools addressing each of the challenges discussed above. From governance best practices to building healthy workplace cultures, you'll find resources to support your journey. 

📧 Request access

As we enter 2025, let's make a bold commitment: doing good shouldn't mean feeling bad. Let's build organizations where passion meets sustainability, where impact and well-being go hand in hand. Remember: Every positive transformation began with someone brave enough to say, "There must be a better way." Why not let that someone be you?

👉 Your Turn: How many of these warning signs do you recognize in your organization? What's one small step you could take today to start addressing them? Share your thoughts with us, or on LinkedIn - your honest insight might be exactly what another reader needs to hear.