Too Many Priorities? How Non-Profit Leaders Can Decide What Comes First
Updated: Aug 29
Priorities, priorities, priorities.
If you work in a non-profit organization, there is rarely a shortage of things that need your attention.
Programs need support. Staff have questions. A funder needs a report. The Board needs information. A community partner wants to connect. An unexpected issue lands in your inbox. And somewhere underneath all of that are the strategic priorities you promised yourself you would get to this week.
So, how do non-profit leaders decide what to prioritize when everything feels important?
One simple tool that can help is the Eisenhower Matrix, sometimes called the Urgent-Important Matrix.
Working IN Your Non-Profit vs. Working ON Your Non-Profit
There is a natural tension in non-profit leadership between working IN your organization and working ON your organization.
Working IN your non-profit means taking care of the day-to-day activities that keep programs, people, and operations moving.
Working ON your non-profit means stepping away from today's demands long enough to strengthen the organization for tomorrow—strategic planning, relationship building, leadership development, evaluation, organizational development, and exploring future opportunities.
Both matter.
The challenge is deciding what needs your attention now, what can wait, and what someone else can do.
That is where the Eisenhower Matrix can help.
What Is the Eisenhower Matrix?
The Eisenhower Matrix is a simple priority-setting and time-management tool that helps leaders organize tasks based on two questions:
How urgent is it? Does it need attention now?
How important is it? Does it significantly contribute to our mission, goals, or organizational health?
Your answers place each task into one of four categories:
Urgent + Important → DO IT
These are the things requiring immediate attention: a funding deadline, an urgent staffing issue, a program problem, or something affecting the people you serve.
Important + Not Urgent → SCHEDULE IT
This is often where strategic work lives: building partnerships, evaluating programs, developing staff, strengthening Board governance, or moving strategic priorities forward.
Urgent + Less Important for You → DELEGATE IT
The task needs to happen, but does it need to be done by you? This is an opportunity to delegate, develop others, and build organizational capacity.
Not Urgent + Not Important → QUESTION IT
Does this actually need to be done? Could it be simplified, postponed, or eliminated altogether?
What Does This Look Like in a Non-Profit?
Imagine you are an Executive Director looking at your list for the week:
Complete a funder report due tomorrow. Urgent + Important → Do it.
Review progress on your strategic plan. Important + Not Urgent → Schedule it.
Prepare routine program statistics for the Board package. Urgent + Important to the organization, but perhaps not important for you to personally do → Delegate it.
Connect with a long-time community partner. Important + Not Urgent → Make time for it. Relationships are strategic work.
Reorganize shared program files. Important, but probably not urgent—and perhaps not something the Executive Director needs to do → Delegate or schedule it.
Respond to a potential funder or community partner. Important and potentially time-sensitive → Prioritize it.
Research an interesting new initiative that doesn't connect to your current priorities. Not Urgent + Not Important right now → Park it.
The point isn't to create another complicated system for managing your to-do list.
It is to become more intentional about where your time and attention create the greatest value.
The Hard Part: Important Work Rarely Feels Urgent
One of the biggest challenges for non-profit leaders is that urgent work is really good at getting our attention. Important work isn't.
Strategic planning doesn't usually send an urgent email.
Board development doesn't knock on your office door.
Relationship building doesn't have a flashing deadline.
Organizational development, succession planning, evaluation, and long-term capacity building can almost always be pushed to next week.
And then next month.
And sometimes next year.
Yet these are often the activities that determine whether your non-profit becomes stronger, more sustainable, and better able to achieve its mission.
Prioritization Is Also About Capacity
The Eisenhower Matrix can also help you ask a bigger organizational question:
What actually needs to be done by me?
Non-profit leaders don't need to personally carry every organizational priority.
Some work can be delegated. Some provide opportunities for staff development. Some can be shared across a team. Some might be better supported by a volunteer, a Board member, a contractor, or a community partner.
And some work might not need to happen at all.
That makes prioritization more than a time-management exercise. It becomes a conversation about roles, responsibilities, delegation, leadership, and organizational capacity.
Make Space for What Moves Your Mission Forward
There will always be another email, meeting, report, or unexpected issue competing for your attention.
The goal isn't to eliminate the day-to-day work of running a non-profit. That work matters.
The goal is to make sure today's urgent demands don't continually crowd out the important work that strengthens your organization for tomorrow.
So, the next time your to-do list feels overwhelming, ask yourself:
Is it urgent?
Is it important?
Does it need to be done by me?
And most importantly—does it help move our mission forward?
Because being busy isn't necessarily the same thing as making progress.
What important—but not urgent—priority has been sitting on your non-profit's to-do list for far too long?
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