Rising Leaders
Leading a cause and solving complex issues takes determination, discipline, and know-how. Nonprofits First created the Rising Leaders program in 2005 to launch aspiring leaders toward their highest level of impact and success. Rising Leaders is the only local training of its kind, transforming emerging talent into the sector’s new generation of leaders.
About Rising Leaders
The comprehensive eight-month experience focuses on skills needed by those who are relatively new to leading teams or managing groups of individuals. Participants learn effective strategies to handle significant leadership and organizational challenges.
The multi-session format includes an engaging variety of training techniques including panel discussions with community leaders, group exercises and stimulating activities. The Rising Leaders experience fosters interaction, discovery, dialogue and servant leadership as participants increase their skills to lead the nonprofit field.
Candidates
The ideal candidate demonstrates high leadership potential in the nonprofit or public sector. The program is most valuable to those who are eager to learn, passionate to serve, excel when challenged, and desire to:
- Create change within their agency and field
- Demonstrate new models of leadership
- Cultivate better ways to work together within organizations
- Explore and implement new methods to drive social action
- Inspire others to embrace new forms of leadership, structure, and organization
Program Format and Commitments
The Rising Leaders program includes eight full-day sessions (one day a month for eight consecutive months), including a ropes course and an intensive retreat, as well as a service-learning project.
Rising Leaders are expected to attend all program activities. Complete participation is necessary to engage fully with other students and Rising Leaders faculty. Class members with more than one absence may complete the program but will not be considered a graduate within their class year. The opportunity to make up a class may occur the following year.
Rising Leaders are also required to contribute to a service-learning project which involves an additional time commitment. Class members challenged by the time and attendance requirements are encouraged to communicate with their Nonprofits First liaison or mentor immediately.
Critical Skills Training and Curriculum
- Introduction to Leadership
- Emotional Intelligence
- Leadership and Communication
- Managing and Motivating Teams
- Influence and Persuasion
- Understanding your Leadership Style
- Public Speaking
- Ethics and Leadership
- Critical Thinking and Decision Making
- Negotiation
- Project Management
- Leading Change
- Leadership and Conflict
Service-Learning Project
Rising Leaders will conduct an extracurricular team service-learning project designed to assist a local charitable or civic organization. Participants work within a team of up to seven classmates and may contribute 10 to 15 additional project hours over the course period. Class members may not choose a project submitted by their organization, and members of the same organization may not serve on a team together.
Examples of projects include: developing a Policies and Procedures Manual; conducting a community needs assessment; preparing a marketing plan; designing a special event. Each service-learning team presents a Pecha Kucha-style (image-driven) PowerPoint presentation for their project agency host at the Rising Leaders completion ceremony.
Course Tuition
Individual tuition for 2027 is $1,750 for Nonprofits First Members and $1,950 for nonmembers. Program tuition must be paid in full by the start of the first full session.
- An agency may send up to three participants, but supervisors and subordinates may not attend together.
Course Schedule
The 2027 program begins in January 2027 with the first full-day session on Friday, January 29.
- Future full day sessions will occur on Fridays, once a month from January to August.
- 2027 Dates: January 29, February 26, March 26, April 30, May 28, June 25, July 30 and August 27.
"Nonprofits First's Rising Leaders Program was truly an eye-opening experience. I went in expecting to learn some useful surface-level skills for managing a team. It only took one session to realize I was in for so much more. Discussions on practical topics like conflict mitigation, productivity strategies, and public speaking were paired with deeper lessons on emotional intelligence, navigating change, finding your "why," and much more. Through these days together, I ended up learning far more about myself than I ever anticipated.
There's no instruction manual for becoming a good leader, but this program gives you the tools to apply your own strengths and style to become the best version of a leader you can be.”
John Towey
Content Manager, Palm Beach Zoo & Conservation Society
Application deadline: The application deadline is 5:00 p.m. on Friday, December 4, 2026.
Due to rolling acceptances, we encourage you to apply early.
Questions about Rising Leaders? Email education@nonprofitsfirst.org or call (561) 910-6678.
A Special Thank You to Our Partners in Education
Children's Services Council
Allegany
Kingdom Charitable Trust