Every organization believes it knows why people value its work.Until you ask. When a team has just completed a strategic plan, they’re often eager to tell their story in a new way—to raise visibility, engage partners, and attract funding. But what’s often missing is a clear understanding of what different audiences actually value about the […]

In nearly every nonprofit boardroom or coaching conversation, financial constraint is the first—and often only—frame for decision-making. “Can we afford it?” becomes shorthand for “Should we do it?” Whether it’s adding a staff position, launching a new initiative, or investing in technology, the conversation tightens around dollars and decimals. It’s understandable. Money feels measurable. It […]

When you hear the phrase organizational health in a nonprofit context, what comes to mind first? For many leaders, it’s the budget: balanced books, strong reserves, maybe a clean audit. But those are just one part of the picture. Real organizational health runs deeper—into the energy, relationships, and systems that allow your mission to endure. […]

Just hours before the federal government shut down, I was facilitating a strategic planning retreat with a client board. The shutdown was on people’s minds, but what struck me was the perspective in the room: the political landscape will always be shifting. For this group, they framed their responsibility as: moving forward by leaning into […]

When we think about intellectual capital in nonprofits, it can be tempting to assign it to the realm of the rational: systems, knowledge, expertise, processes. Yet if we stop there, we miss the vital current that makes intellectual capital come alive. Intellectual capital is neither sterile nor static. It is embodied in people, relationships, and […]

Nonprofit leaders often speak of “our stakeholders” as if it were one group. In reality, every organization serves a constellation of stakeholders—clients, donors, board members, partners, community members—each listening for something different. When leaders collapse these differences into one generic message, resonance gets lost. Communication that tries to reach everyone risks landing with no one. […]

It was garbage pickup today. Usually, it’s a pretty ordinary chore in my house. This week, though, we let go of a futon that my husband had been gifted from a friend when he was very, very broke. It symbolized the relationship. It memorialized a specific part of his life. There was definitely a struggle […]

I had a lot of new questions after analyzing the survey data. I wouldn’t be able to answer them quickly, so I spent some time thinking about how my experience as a manager in the nonprofit sector could help me chip away at big questions. I had staffed committees of the board for every organization […]

I was a fundraiser for 15 years. The implications of my survey’s findings on who funds, owns, and benefits from intellectual property created by nonprofits was always lingering in the back of my mind. Fundraising is not a new activity or new profession. I remember one of my grad school professors showing us a direct […]

After the analysis of the survey responses was complete, I found myself in a similar state of curiosity that I’d been in before the survey. There were more questions about intellectual property, management, and strategy that hadn’t been answered. Some of these questions for the basis of my ongoing study and work as a consultant. […]