On social media, the youth-training nonprofit looked like a model of a modern nonprofit: triple-digit growth, a blue-chip board, and prestigious foundation partnerships. But behind the scenes, the executive director told a different story: “Everything was duct tape and band-aids. We were growing on the outside but literally ripping at the seams on the inside.”
She is far from alone. Across 23 interviews with nonprofit leaders managing annual budgets from $500,000 to $20 million, I’ve noticed that growth (the very thing funders celebrate and demand) is breaking the sector’s most promising organizations.
The problem is an existential infrastructure crisis that remains largely invisible: When a CEO becomes the bottleneck for every decision, and when their personal “magic” remains the only engine for growth, the organization creates a dangerous dependency.
About the author
Noella Moshi
Noella Moshi builds the strategy, systems, and messaging critical for social enterprises committed to growth. Drawing on a career of building social enterprises from the ground up, she now drives results through One Advisory. She serves on the boards of the Livelihood Impact Fund and West Africa Vocational Education.
