Development, management and leadership in economy, state or military has presented a challenge for years, even centuries not only for the stakeholders of these systems but for the scientific community as well. These are all systems based on structures, roles, procedures and interests. On the other hand, in times when one crisis follows another, in times when almost all segments of society go through a transition mainly with negative trends, non-government organizations, non-profit organizations, and civic associations, that have been not so long ago perceived as organizations existing on the margins of the society, become an important complementary force to the state systems. Civic associations with public authorities like Croatian Red Cross become an irreplaceable stakeholder in response to negative social trends during peacetime and present an exceptional tool in response to emergency situations. Although the uniqueness of their structure, regulatory framework and strategic positioning of such organizations relates to the science of management there are still segments of humanitarian organizations that have been insufficiently scientifically studied. Humanitarian organizations are grounded on the power of volunteering. Beside volunteers, humanitarian organizations also have professional staff, employees. Although on the one hand volunteerism presents extreme strength when responding to crisis, it also poses management risk. Methods of managing and leading applied to strategically prepare the organization for crisis situation, implementation of set goals, methods of decision-making, methods of managing human resources, both staff and volunteers, models of motivation, in one word models of leadership in humanitarian organization are not identical to those that are applied in economic systems, state and military.