Develop Leaders

Our Approach

We design and deliver intensive cohort leadership development programs like the Next Generation Leaders of Color Program, Strong Field Project Leadership Development Program and the Fundraising Academy for Communities of Color. These programs range in length from 3 months to multi-year, depending on the project.

They all combine a set of core methodologies, including teaching, peer learning, coaching, and physical practice. To work at this depth, we partner with foundations who share our commitment to social change and to leadership development.

At CompassPoint, we don’t focus on a single leadership development model; instead, we blend our own content and the best content of others to craft programs that are responsive to particular communities, fields, and movements.

We are continuously innovating our approach both in content and in format.

What distinguishes our approach to leadership development?

We start from the premise that leadership is a process, not a position. For social change to accelerate, we need not only effective executive directors, we need everyone to be drawing from their strengths to contribute from wherever they sit.

We also know that people engaging in the leadership process need competency in three inter-related areas: management, leadership, and strategy. When we work with leaders, we attend to all three. 

For instance, a visionary with deep understanding of a particular issue may still be ineffective if she does not also tend to the human and financial resource needs of her organization or network. Without adequate management, her leadership and strategy will be undermined.

It’s our experience that these inter-related disciplines are too often siloed or under-addressed in leadership development programs, leaving participants without a holistic framing of their role and its requirements. Our programs work at the intersection of all three.

Current Programs:

Other initiatives:
 

Coaching and Philanthropy Project

The Coaching and Philanthropy Project was created to assess and advance coaching as a strategy for building effective nonprofit organizations. Through the Coaching and Philanthropy Project page, you can explore coaching resources, tools, and learn more about the nonprofit sector’s support for and use of coaching.

Learn more here. 

Multicultural Board Leadership Academy

The goal of the Board Leadership Academy is to both recruit and train the next generation of diverse leaders to serve on nonprofit boards. This program is based on the Latino Board Leadership Academy launched in 2011 and has successfully trained dozens of new board members.

Learn more here. 

Show Me the Money: Nonprofits Talking Taxes

Nonprofits Talking Taxes, a workshop and curriculum designed help people have meaningful and fun conversations about nonprofits and the common good, and the role of fair and just tax policy in making our work more mission-effective.

Learn more here. 

San Francisco Mayor's Office of Housing

For over 10 years, CompassPoint has partnered with the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Housing’s Community Development Division to address the capacity building and planning needs of MOH grantee organizations. Through this relationship CompassPoint provides training and technical assistance on a wide range of subjects to both nonprofit organizations and City staff members in close collaboration with City departments.

By providing participating agencies with the opportunity to learn ways to strengthen organizational infrastructures, such as developing provider skills and/or establishing or improving organizational systems and processes, individuals increase their capacity to carry out their job duties and organizational services effectively and efficiently.

For more information contact Byron Johnson at ByronJ@compasspoint.org.