Nonprofit leaders face constant pressure to grow: Grow membership. Grow engagement. Grow visibility. Grow revenue.
When growth efforts stall or feel harder than they should, the instinct is often to add more activity—more outreach, more events, more messaging. But for many organizations, the challenge isn’t a lack of effort or creativity. It’s something more fundamental.
Growth without clarity doesn’t create momentum. It creates motion. And motion, without discernment, exhausts people.
About IOM
This article is brought to you by Institute for Organization Management, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s professional development program for nonprofit executives.
Many organizations are already doing a great deal to engage their audiences. Communication goes out regularly. Events are thoughtfully planned. Staff and volunteers show up with commitment. Yet despite all this activity, leaders often feel stretched or uncertain about whether their efforts are truly advancing the mission.
When this happens, it’s easy to assume the problem is marketing execution. In reality, the issue is usually alignment.
Growth efforts struggle when organizations haven’t paused to clarify what kind of growth actually serves their mission in this season. For some organizations, growth means reaching wider audiences. For others, it means going deeper with the people already engaged. Without that clarity, engagement becomes transactional rather than meaningful—and increasingly difficult to sustain.
This is where leadership discernment matters.
Strategic thinking is often treated as a planning exercise—goals, timelines, and metrics. But at its core, strategy is discernment: the ability to distinguish what matters most now, what no longer fits, and what should not be added simply because it can be.
That kind of thinking requires more than good intentions. It requires time.
Leaders are frequently encouraged to “make space” for strategic reflection, yet by the time that advice arrives, their calendars are already full. Meetings are booked, expectations are set, and urgency dictates the pace. When time is already claimed, discernment becomes one more demand layered onto an already full workload—and it gets pushed to the margins.
Until organizations address how leaders’ time is protected, clarity will remain elusive.
Effective growth is not about doing more. It is about choosing more carefully.
When leaders have the time and space to discern, engagement simplifies. Messaging becomes more honest. Invitations feel aligned rather than pressured. Growth shifts from being chased to being chosen.
The question is not how much your organization is growing. It’s whether your growth reflects who you are—and what you are ready to sustain.
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About the author
Tom Brush
Tom Brush is the CEO of Advancement Designs
