Community
16
2025
Leadership Lessons For A Thriving Community
There’s no book to tell you everything you need to know to successfully lead a nonprofit. So, how can someone develop wise leadership that supports thriving communities?
Learn from other people’s successes and failures.
When it comes to leadership in Pierce County, you don’t have to go it alone. In this community, peer learning and collaboration are the hallmarks of successful leadership, even when obstacles seem overwhelming.
With that in mind, Greater Tacoma Community Foundation invited four nonprofit leaders in Pierce County to share their ‘secret sauce’. Individually, these panelists lead local organizations that help build a thriving community here in Pierce County. Collectively, they were also part of a Pierce County Local Advisory Team, a group of 8 local leaders who worked together to guide $1.8 million in WA Department of Commerce Community Reinvestment Project funding to 30 By/For Black, Latine, and Indigenous organizations in Pierce County.
In a panel conversation, these four leaders offered stories and advice from their successes, failures, and trusted mentors.
Watch this video to learn from their leadership journey to help you take action to support your community as part of a thriving Pierce County.
Below, find some of the key takeaways shared by the panelists.
LEADERSHIP LESSONS FROM THE PANELISTS
Fahren Johnson
Executive Director, Amara
- If you don’t need to reinvent the wheel, don’t. Make sure you are talking to community to find out what is already working and build on that.
- You have to take time to build culture and develop something authentic. When you try to expand too fast you miss out on the “seasoning” that needs to be added to really make everything come together.
- You start with equity by bringing people’s voices in. Equity means building something that meets the needs of the people you’re serving, based on what they say they need.
- It helps you stay grounded when you know your mission and vision and don’t shift from it.
- Wellness is key. Community work is hard. When we’re going through challenging times, like we are now, it’s important for us as leaders to be able to slow down, pause, and check in on ourselves and our teams. Recognize when you need rest and healing to help keep doing the work.
Christian Lopez-Moreno
Coordinator, VT Radio Universal
- It’s better when you inspire people and lead by showing the example of what you want them to do.
- The model of leadership where we care about each other as people and not just making money or getting work done makes people feel supported. It makes people more excited to be part of the team and to work together toward your mission for the community.
- When people hear a human being sharing their full story, you understand so much more. The value is helping people understand one another as full human beings.
- We as communicators have to keep the microphone on. With public media being in jeopardy, it is vital to keep the communication going and to be the companion for those that listen more than they speak, they need to know that aren’t alone.
- When it comes to dealing with challenging times stay together, stay together, stay humble, stay hopeful. Sometimes we need to refer to history, to remind ourselves that humans have been in crisis many times before, and we have overcome stronger, but we need to work together.
Lorraine Stone
Founder and Owner, Animalman Solutions Consulting Executive Director, Big Homie Program
- Amplifying the voices of the community is what I set out to do. If it doesn’t immediately change policy and agency, it’s okay. Work has been done out of it.
- I constantly ask myself, “What is this report doing about real-life circumstances? How will this turn into a steppingstone for people to see a difference in their lives? How will I be able to say what was actually done for their lives after they shared their trauma – so it wouldn’t be extractive?”
- I’ve learned that whatever I’m involved in, I need to be able to be true to myself and be able look at myself in the mirror and stand behind every decision I made knowing I showed up the best I can for my community.
- Anything you want to do in community; you don’t have to do it alone. There are a lot of really great leaders in this community that came before you, and there a lot of good leaders around you now. Before you do anything, you should really consider checking in with others and making sure that you have knowledge of the history of the community, of the culture, and the complete landscape of the community.
- When it comes to dealing with challenging times, stay focused on the community and people you serve. Losing funding can be crushing, but we won’t lose our passion to serve.
Colette August
Executive Director, Tahoma Indian Center
- Having Native-led services that are culturally relevant builds trust for people to access the help that makes a major positive difference in their life.
- There isn’t always a guidebook that shows you all the processes and administrative needs for running an organization, so it’s important to reach out to other leaders and elders that have done the work before us. Recognize there are other local nonprofit leaders who may have already done what you’re trying to do.
- A very important starting place is knowing the history of the tribe in your area, like the Puyallup Tribe in Tacoma. But it’s also important to recognize that there are many Native people living in this area who aren’t members of the Puyallup tribe. They come from many different tribes and from areas all over the country, and they all have unique cultures, traditions, and needs.
- As nonprofit leaders we need to remember that we’re stronger together. There are always ways we can collaborate and share information, resources, and time to help support each other’s work in ways that makes things better for everyone.
- It’s important to model healthy responses to challenging times that help assure our communities that things will be ok. The message I get from my leaders is that this isn’t new to them. Our ancestors made it through worse in the past. We will rise above.
