The Ultimate Guide to Program and Project Management for Nonprofits
- Nonprofit Learning Lab
- Aug 5
- 6 min read
Updated: Aug 27
Table of Contents
At the Nonprofit Learning Lab, we offer daily online nonprofit training on training, facilitation, fundraising, strategic planning, communications, volunteer management, and free resources to help you lead your organization. These resources are designed to help executive directors, c-suite staff, development directors, program directors, volunteer managers, operation directors, and board members.
We offer a variety of free nonprofit resources from downloadable guidebooks to webinars to blogs!
We’ve compiled a list of all our internal resources relating to project management along with highlighting some of our favorite external resources.
Guidebook: Program Management & Scaling
This guidebook is designed to assist nonprofits in effectively managing and scaling their programs to maximize impact and achieve their mission. We offer a comprehensive overview of the reasons for program expansion, strategies for growth, and essential steps for nonprofit program development. The guide covers how nonprofit scale and build programs, common challenges in program development, strategies for program partnerships, how to complete a logic model, purpose of an environmental scan, how to engage volunteers in program management and real-world case studies to illustrate successful implementation.
We offer many other free downloadable guidebooks to get ideas for fundraising plans, budgeting, board development and more.
Free Webinars & Past Free Webinar Downloads
Join us for live free webinars, covering topics from data analytics to fundraising & our diversity, equity and inclusion webinar series. Participate live to ask questions and learn from our expert speakers!
In addition to our live, upcoming free webinars, we provide access to all our previous free webinars! You can download both the recording and slides for our free webinars.
Free Project & Program Management Webinars You Can Access Today
Tips to Identify Bias in Nonprofit Programs
Program Management: 3 Core Strategies
Maximizing Revenue and Profitability From Your Events and Programs
Embracing Strategic Planning as a Community Engagement Tool
Turning your Strategic Plan into an Action Plan
Help! We're in the Middle of a Strategic Plan but We Were Thrown Off-Track: Tips & Tricks to Plan Your Strategic Plan
Why Retention & Succession Belong in your Strategic Plan
A Painless Strategic Planning Toolkit That Leads to Action and Impact
Up Your Numbers Game: How to Gather and Use Data to Drive Fundraising, Programming and Strategic Planning Efforts
To gain access, just fill out our short form and you’ll receive an email to browse them all!
Workshops on Project Management and Program Development for Nonprofits
We offer online nonprofit training on supervision, facilitation, fundraising, strategic planning, communications, volunteer management, board management, and more! Check out our trainings related to program management below.
Managing and scaling nonprofit programs requires thoughtful planning, flexibility, and collaboration. Whether you're launching a new initiative or expanding an existing one, this workshop offers strategies to support program development, scalability, and sustainability. We’ll explore models such as licensing, franchising, hub-and-spoke, social enterprise, and strategic partnerships, while also addressing how to involve key internal and external stakeholders. Through brainstorming, feedback, and action planning, participants will gain practical tools to grow their programs effectively and ensure long-term impact and quality.
Do you manage projects at your nonprofit and find it challenging to meet deadlines, coordinate logistics, stay on budget, or lead a team effectively? Whether you’re organizing a fundraising campaign, community event, software rollout, or strategic initiative, successful project management requires clear planning, defined roles, strong communication, and inclusive systems—regardless of your title or team size. This workshop will help you frame and plan projects from the start, navigate challenges, and integrate equity and accessibility into your approach.
As nonprofits grow and adapt, optimizing and documenting standard operating procedures (SOPs) is essential for efficiency and continuity. Effective SOPs help staff manage programs, streamline tasks, and preserve institutional knowledge through staff or leadership changes. This workshop is ideal for organizations experiencing growth, onboarding new team members, or refining operations. Participants will learn how to develop and implement SOPs that support program scalability, with a step-by-step guide and customizable template provided. Whether you're expanding or improving internal processes, this session offers tools for sustainable success.
We all create great strategic plans and goals for our board and funders. We often struggle with translating that plan into real results that support our missions and drive meaningful impact. This webinar will focus on creating systems for accountability to deliver results such as: breaking the strategic plan into annual/quarterly/monthly goals using OKRs (Objectives & Key Results) for the org and team members, regular 1:1's best practices, and effective use of leadership meetings to track and identify challenges.
Nonprofit Learning Library
Our nonprofit library contains hundreds of recordings and slides for nonprofit professionals on a variety of topics from marketing, fundraising, program management, diversity equity and inclusion, volunteer management and more.
Membership provides you with access to our previous nonprofit workshops. Interested in seeing what's in the resource library but not a member? Click here to see an abbreviated list of resources in our library.
Working on your continuing education credits and looking to get CFRE or CVA credits? Our library is filled with hundreds of sessions pre-approved for CFRE and CCVA credit! Additionally, as a CAE registered provider, many of our workshops qualify for ASAE credit as well!
Activity Sheets: Goal Setting & Planning
We offer free downloadable, printable worksheets to help you brainstorm on nonprofit topics such as strategy & planning, fundraising, and volunteer management.
Set yourself up for success in achieving goals. Take the time to reflect on how you are going to get there and the small steps you have to take to achieve the goal.
Prompt employees or yourself to articulate goals, motivations, challenges, and resources of support, while providing space for detailed action steps and timelines for each goal. By breaking down each goal into manageable components, including start dates and projected due dates, the sheet encourages focused progress. This comprehensive framework fosters accountability and clarity, empowering individuals to navigate their path to success effectively.
Blogs
Weekly blog posts on fundraising, nonprofit marketing, donor management software, nonprofit storytelling, volunteer management, social media and more!
10 of our favorite blogs on project management:
Program Management and Scaling: A Guide to Manage & Scale Programs To Reach Nonprofit Goals
A Guide to Project Management In Nonprofits: Strategies for Project Management in Small Teams
Practical Project Management Techniques for Uncertain Funding Environments
How to Plan, Scope and Define A Project: Best Practices for Managing a Project at Your Nonprofit
Navigating Change: How to Manage Projects & Programs in a Pivot
A Project Management Framework for Nonprofits with Limited Staff, Capacity & Resources
Creating Project Timelines to Improve Staff Management at Your Nonprofit
External Resources
We’ve compiled a list of our five favorite online tools for project management to keep your team working effectively and efficiently.
It's impossible to manage all of this without a good software tool behind you and good volunteer management software can cost as much as the salary of the staff member they're replacing. This is where monday.com’s dedicated volunteer management solution comes in.
Other Helpful Resources
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The world's largest social-impact job board, featuring paid & volunteer roles from 150,000+ organizations
Tip Sheets
Download free tip sheets on topics from nonprofit fundraising, board development, nonprofit marketing & volunteer management.
