The Coach Initiative provides pro bono executive coaching for nonprofit organizations and not-for-profit causes

Are you involved with a nonprofit organization or not-for-profit project? Can you see a way in which your organization or project might be helped by some pro bono professional executive coaching, perhaps for a chief executive or administrator? Then this post could be not just of interest to you, but of real value to your favorite cause!

One of the most interesting and inspiring organizations in the world of executive coaching is The Coach Initiative.

The mission of the Coach Initiative is:

Through coaching, we support nonprofit initiatives worldwide to make a greater positive impact.

The need

As anyone knows who has been involved in running a not-for-profit organization, there is always more to be done than seems to be manageable within existing resources.

Which in turn often means that, even where an organization has the resources to hire one or more paid executives, the financial remuneration is generally less than that executive could expect to receive in a for-profit organization of similar size and scope.

And from studies I have carried out or been part of in the field of volunteer-based, nonprofit organizations, there is typically an expectation by the volunteers and the board of directors that the executive will give more in terms of dedication, time and passionate commitment than might be expected of a similarly paid executive in the for profit sector.

Over time, that expectation, usually not articulated in those terms and usually, in my experience, not communicated directly to the individual in those terms, can produce stress and can impinge negatively on the executive’s productivity.

Sometimes the underlying tension engendered by this sort of expectation can be alleviated by an astute President or Chairperson of the Board, who provides mentoring and reassurance to the executive, but that is not always a satisfactory arrangement, given especially the President/Chairperson’s overriding responsibility to the Board and the organization generally.

I can envisage quite a few situations where some professional executive coaching by a coach who is independent of the organization, might help the individual executive deal more effectively with the particular stresses of working in the nonprofit sector and in the process contribute positively to their job satisfaction and the greater efficiency and effectiveness of the organization.

But where is the typical nonprofit organization or not-for-profit cause going to come up with a budget item to cover the cost of executive coaching? That could be a challenge, putting it mildly (I’m sure there are exceptions with some very well-funded nonprofits, but I’m speaking generally).

That’s where The Coach Inititiative can come in.

The brainchild of a small group of highly successful and visionary people, The Coach Initiative was established in 2006 and has been supported generously by the Harnisch Foundation.

The Coach Initiative offers coaching support “in order to exponentially expand the positive global impact of projects that focus on the betterment of the human condition and on uplifting the human spirit”.

One such project, which The Coach Initiative has supported, addresses a problem which afflicts communities worldwide, from the poorest to the richest nations, the problem of youth homelessness, the world of the street kids. StandUp for Kids was founded twenty years ago to find, stabilize and otherwise help homeless and street kids improve their lives.

If you are a coach or would simply like to support The Coach Initiative in some way, there are various support options available.

If you are part of an organization or not-for-profit project you believe could benefit, the website lists some options: you can apply, let them know about this resource or actually nominate them directly.

And it’s global.

For more information, I recommend you explore the website. Here is the link again: The Coach Initiative.