Most nonprofits inherit the corporate chart: a board, one executive director, departments underneath. That shape puts enormous weight on one person, and it is only one option. These models spread leadership more widely, and some are far older than the org chart.
Co-executive directors (a growing nonprofit practice)
More nonprofits now share the top job between two leaders. At ProInspire, co-CEOs Bianca Anderson and Monisha Kapila split the work by strength: one leads people and programs for individual leaders, the other leads finance and programs for organizations, and they share fundraising and board relationships. In the seven intermediaries the authors studied, staff usually proposed the change, the co-leaders had already worked together, and a trusting board chair made it possible. They name executive coaching and general operating support as what makes it last. Nonprofit Quarterly, 2023
Self-managing teams (Buurtzorg, Dutch community nursing, 2006)
Nurse Jos de Blok founded Buurtzorg so nurses could spend their time with patients. Teams of about 12 nurses each serve one neighborhood and decide together how to run their work. A back office of 45 people supports more than 10,000 nurses, keeping overhead near 8% against 25% at similar organizations. For direct-service nonprofits, the lesson is that trusting front-line teams can free money and time for the mission. Interreg Europe case study
Holacracy (2000s)
Brian Robertson built Holacracy on sociocracy's foundations. Work is organized into roles rather than job titles, so one person can hold several roles across small teams called circles. Anyone can raise a "tension," a gap between how things are and how they could be, and short governance meetings turn it into a new role or policy that is safe to try. It asks a lot of discipline, and most organizations borrow parts of it rather than adopting it whole. For a small nonprofit, a written list of roles and who holds them is a useful place to start. Umbrex overview
Member ownership (Mondragon cooperatives, 1956)
In the Basque Country, a priest named José María Arizmendiarrieta helped young people start a worker-owned cooperative in 1956. Mondragon now includes 81 cooperatives and about 70,000 people, governed on one person, one vote. Membership associations, mutual aid networks and community land trusts share that root idea: the people the organization serves hold real power in it. Mondragon Corporation
Planning in centuries (Wakatū, Māori, Aotearoa New Zealand)
Wakatū Incorporation, a Māori organization based in Nelson, guides all of its work by Te Pae Tawhiti, a 500-year intergenerational plan. Nonprofit boards often plan three years out. A longer horizon changes how a board weighs reserves, land, partnerships and the leaders it develops. Wakatū on Te Pae Tawhiti
Try it with your board and staff
List every role in your organization, not every job title, and who holds each one. Many staff will hold four or five. Share the list at a staff meeting and ask which roles need a clearer owner or more support. If your executive director holds most of them, that list is the start of a conversation with your board about shared leadership.
