Perspectives & Insights: The Blog of TNPA

Lab Notes: The Emotional Toll of Leadership: Leading When You’re Overwhelmed

Leadership in the nonprofit sector has always demanded resilience, but the current landscape, marked by economic uncertainty, increased demand for services, and the pressure to do more with less, has pushed many leaders to what at times feels like a breaking point. In our March Leadership Lab, we tackled a topic that doesn't get discussed enough in leadership circles: the emotional toll of this work and what it costs us to keep showing up when we're running on empty.

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Lab Notes: Risk and Rewards

There's a peculiar contradiction at the heart of nonprofit leadership: we are operating in one of the highest-risk environments most of us have witnessed in our careers, yet we perceive the sector as fundamentally risk-averse. This month's Leadership Lab explored that tension head-on, exploring the idea that the greatest risk many nonprofit leaders face isn't taking a bad risk … it's not taking enough good ones.

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Leading EDGE Updates | February 2026

Check out our latest TNPA blog post for quarterly updates, including ways to get involved with our community of nonprofits, nonprofit-supporting companies, schools, and students who are passionate about making a difference through the social good sector!

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Lab Notes: Why Your Leadership Needs a North Star 

This post marks the beginning of “Lab Notes,” a monthly series where we share the discoveries and outcomes from our high-level cohort discussions to benefit the broader nonprofit community. This month, we explored the practice of choosing a "Word of the Year,” and why high-achieving executives, now more than ever, can benefit from a single anchoring theme to strengthen intentional leadership.

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Elevate Your Partnerships With TNPA’s RFP Best Practices Guide 

Navigating the RFP process is easier thanks to our expert ADRFCO Council Member volunteers who developed a comprehensive guide to help you make smarter, more strategic vendor selection decisions. This practical resource includes pre-RFP assessment questions, sample RFI templates, objective evaluation scorecards, NDAs, and communication frameworks—tools these industry leaders use in their own daily work. Created by volunteers from leading agencies, this guide reflects TNPA's commitment to empowering our 2,600+ members with high-level resources that solve real-world challenges. 

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2025 Nonprofit Policy Moments and a 2026 Look Ahead

The Nonprofit Alliance (TNPA) was proud to engage with policymakers regarding important legislative and policy moments in 2025. As we move into 2026, a midterm election year, it is an important time to reflect on some of the key policy moments for the nonprofit sector, highlighting both successes and challenges. We remain grateful to TNPA members for their support of our advocacy engagement and for sharing their individual and organizational perspectives to help shape our work.

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The President’s Executive Order on Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The Nonprofit Alliance (TNPA) reviewed the Trump administration’s December 11, 2025, Executive Order (EO), Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence. As expected, the EO lays out several new initiatives that will create bureaucratic roadblocks for AI regulation, building on the January Executive Order and July AI action plan, which included language regarding possible retaliation towards states that regulate AI and pushed for a general lack of AI oversight.

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Logo of TNPA Leading EDGE.

Leading EDGE Updates | November 2025

Check out our latest TNPA blog post for quarterly updates, including ways to get involved with our community of nonprofits, nonprofit-supporting companies, schools, and students who are passionate about making a difference through the social good sector!

Read more
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