Three Skills Your Nonprofit Needs in 2026

Jan 5

As nonprofit leaders look ahead to the new year, it’s essential to understand which capabilities will matter most.

In this episode, I’m breaking down the top skills nonprofits will need in 2026 so teams can stay resilient, adaptive, and mission-focused. Plus, I’m sharing a simple three-step process to help you identify the specific skills your organization should prioritize this year.

If you’re planning your Learning and Development strategies for 2026, you’ll walk away with clarity on where to focus your efforts and how to better support your people.

▶️ Key Points:

00:00 Welcoming A New Nonprofit Year

04:29 Exploring Key Capabilities

10:13 Mapping Needed Skills

Setting Values-Based Goals for 2026

I don't typically set New Year’s resolutions, but I do use this time for a natural reset, reviewing my calendar to ensure my time matches my values, reflecting on what worked and didn't, and making necessary adjustments in all areas of life.

For personal goals, I recommend considering a few key questions:

What do you value? (This could be anything: time, money, accomplishment, community, transparency, peace, etc.)
What were your biggest accomplishments in 2025?
How did it feel to accomplish those things?
Who supported or encouraged you?
Were your values being met?

Taking the answers to these reflections allows you to think about what changes you might want to make in the new year, setting goals based on those insights. It is crucial to write down your goals and tell someone to help achieve them.

On episode 167 of Learning for Good, I am looking at 3 skills that might be critical for nonprofits in 2026, but it’s important that we do this reflection and goal setting to identify the true needs of our organizations.

Identifying the Skills Critical for Nonprofits in 2026

Just like we reflect on our own goals and life, we also need to reflect and plan for our organizations. This reflection matters for your individual life and work; it matters equally for your organization. The world has experienced significant change recently, including impacts from COVID, policy changes, funding changes, and staff layoffs, meaning we must stop and reflect on what we're bringing into 2026 and what we need to improve.

To understand the specific skills your nonprofit needs, it can be helpful to first look at the broader trends impacting the workforce. Forbes published a list of ten critical skills for 2026 (though not nonprofit-specific). By analyzing this list, we can identify three key areas that are especially important for mission-driven organizations to focus on.

AI Proficiency (The Technical Skill)
It’s impossible to ignore the rapid changes brought by AI. In the past, AI training often focused on how to create good prompts for generative AI. That need continues, as staff need to know how to use generative AI as a thought partner to help them create things, solve problems, and find pain points.
However, in 2026, a multi-layered approach to AI training is needed to build the right skills across the organization. Beyond simple prompting, this includes:
AI Agents and Workflows: We need staff skilled in building and using AI agents to improve existing workflows both for individuals and across the organization.
AI Ethics and Risk Management: As AI use expands, training must address AI ethics, safety, and risk management. This is essential for using AI in a safe, productive way that stewards organizational data and resources.
AI is not specific to the for-profit sector; it impacts nonprofits equally, making it a critical skill area for continued development.
Learning Agility (The Mindset Skill)
The rate of change is accelerating, and L&D teams alone cannot keep up with every single learning need. This makes Learning Agility a critical skill. People must be able to take ownership of their own learning.
While the concept of learning to learn might sound "meta," many people approach life and work with a fixed mindset. The more we help staff develop a growth mindset, the easier it will be for them to learn new things, whether through formal training or on their own. At the current rate of change, people need to be agile enough to pick things up quickly.
Emotional Intelligence (The Power Skill)
Emotional Intelligence (EQ) also appeared on the critical skills list. Nonprofits have traditionally focused on developing this skill for their staff. The sector’s work requires immense self-awareness, empathy, and the ability to navigate complex, sometimes tense, and unique situations.
Emotional intelligence has always been necessary for nonprofits, and it remains a vital skill set that organizations must continue to build and provide training for in 2026.

These three skills—AI proficiency, Learning Agility, and Emotional Intelligence—are likely the most important areas derived from the general trends that will impact nonprofits in the coming year. However, this general list is only a starting point.

How to Determine Your Nonprofit’s Unique Skill Gap

To move from a generic list to a strategic, customized learning strategy, you must ask three critical questions to align your training efforts with your organization’s specific strategic goals.

Question 1: Where is the organization headed in 2026?

Your L&D strategy cannot exist in a vacuum; it must be connected to the organization’s trajectory. To answer this question, you need to review internal and external drivers:

Internal Drivers: Look at your strategic goals, mission, vision, and operating plans—any documented driving force in your organization.
External Drivers: Consider forces outside the organization that will influence the next 12 months, such as the economy, policy changes, and technological shifts like AI.

By understanding where the organization is headed, you establish the destination, which dictates the skills needed for the journey.

Question 2: What skills are your people already proficient with?

Once you know the skills required to achieve the organizational goals identified in Question 1, you must assess what your people already bring to the table. This is an exercise in uncovering current strengths and identifying existing pain points.

You can gather this information through several methods:

Review Job Descriptions: See what skills are already expected of staff when they are hired.
Interview Managers: Talk to people managers about their teams to understand what is going well and what struggles are holding people back.
Consult Executives: Talk to executive leaders about what they are seeing and hearing regarding staff capabilities and performance.

The goal is to get a clear picture of the current state of your workforce’s capabilities.

Question 3: What opportunities do you have to develop capabilities so you can better deliver on your organizational strategies?

This third question reveals the gap between the skills your people need (defined in Question 1) and the skills they currently possess (defined in Question 2).

This gap is your strategic L&D plan for 2026.

You may find that skills like AI or Emotional Intelligence are indeed on your specific list, or you may find an entirely different set of needs unique to your mission. Either outcome is acceptable. The critical objective is to strategically and proactively identify the needs and set goals and create plans to close those gaps.

By focusing on the gap, L&D moves from being a reactive service provider—fixing the same problems over and over—to a proactive, strategic partner that builds the necessary capacity before the organization stalls.

Reflection and Realignment for Training Success

The new year offers a natural opportunity to pause, reflect, and realign. For nonprofit L&D professionals, this means adopting a strategic approach to skill building. Stop relying on generic skill lists and start the year with the clarity you need to kick off your strategy successfully.

Ask the three critical questions: Where are we going? What do we have? What is the gap? And you ensure that every learning initiative directly contributes to achieving the organization's mission and strategic goals. This proactive alignment transforms L&D into a true driver of performance and mission impact.

If you are a nonprofit L&D professional, I encourage you to join the Nonprofit L&D Collective kickoff this week to connect, share, and look ahead for the year. And if you need help with this process of identifying and closing your organization's skill gaps, please reach out so we can work with you to gather information and provide next steps.

I hope this guide helps you leave not just with the three general skills I shared, but with your own custom list of skills specific to your nonprofit's needs. I wish you a reflective, strategic, and successful 2026.

To learn more about the aligning learning and organizational strategy, tune into episode 167 of the Learning for Good podcast.

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