Nick Grono, author of How to Lead Nonprofits and CEO of the Freedom Fund, delves into the unique challenges and responsibilities of nonprofit leadership, offering valuable insights drawn from two decades of experience in the sector.
Grono reflects on the complexities of guiding purpose-driven organizations, contrasting the quantifiable metrics of success in the private sector with the more elusive task of measuring impact in the nonprofit world.
He underscores how nonprofit leaders must grapple with ambiguity, balance diverse stakeholder expectations, and navigate the tensions between aspirational goals and practical realities.
We explore the nuanced role of culture in nonprofit organizations and highlight the transformative potential of a positive, cohesive culture — what he calls a "superpower" — founded on psychological safety. This environment, where all voices are valued and dissenting perspectives are welcomed, is crucial for fostering innovation and ensuring better decision-making. Grono stresses that such a culture is cultivated by leaders who model vulnerability, acknowledge their mistakes, and create spaces for candid dialogue.
The conversation also explores the thorny issue of impact measurement, which Grono argues is vital despite its inherent challenges. Unlike financial accounting in the corporate world, nonprofit impact is often subjective and context-dependent, demanding greater intentionality and honesty in its evaluation. Grono illustrates these difficulties with examples from his work at the Freedom Fund, noting the pitfalls of oversimplifying metrics like the number of meals served or people rescued, which may fail to capture the broader systemic changes nonprofits aim to effect.
Ultimately, Grono’s insights underscore the unique leadership skills required in the nonprofit sector — an ability to navigate complexity, inspire trust, and build cohesive teams, all while staying anchored to the organization’s mission. His reflections offer lessons not just for nonprofit leaders, but for anyone seeking to understand how to lead with purpose in a rapidly changing world.
About Nick Grono
Nick Grono is an Australian human rights campaigner and author. He has been the CEO of the Freedom Fund since its founding in 2014. The Freedom Fund is a collaborative fund dedicated to ending modern slavery and human trafficking around the world.
He has twenty years of leadership experience of US and international nonprofits, and another decade before that working in corporate law, government, and investment banking.
Nick’s past roles include CEO of the Walk Free Foundation, Deputy President of the International Crisis Group, and Chief of Staff and National Security Adviser to the Australian Attorney-General. He has served on many nonprofit boards and currently is a member of the advisory council of Global Witness. He writes and speaks regularly on nonprofit leadership.
Nick has briefed the United Nations Security Council and testified before parliamentary committees in the UK, Australia and the Netherlands. He has appeared on national and international tv and radio shows, and written for various international publications, including the New York Times, The Guardian, Foreign Policy and the Stanford Social Innovation Review.
Nick spent a number of years in his early life sailing around the world in a 100-year-old square-rigged sailing ship with his family and other crew members. He is Australian by birth, picked up Belgian and UK nationalities along the way, and is now lives between London and Brussels. His book “How to Lead Nonprofits”, was published in July 2024.