Latest News

Diverse people in a conference room to illustrate a board of directors

By Molly Penn Just last week, I heard complaints from two CEOs or Executive Directors who wish their board was somehow “better.”  In one case, the board is overreaching and micromanaging.  In the other, the board is too disengaged.  These are common complaints that represent opposite ends of the spectrum, but share similar root causes. […]

4 women of different ethnicities talking to illustrate succession planning

By Molly Penn and Marissa Lewis We’ve been reflecting on the leadership changes that are unfolding (and have been predicted for years) in the nonprofit sector as they intersect with our considerations around equity.  We recently created a workshop series focused on succession planning with an equity lens, which was met with  appreciation by nonprofits

colorful parking lot

Guest Blog Post by Ally Dommu, Director of Service Development and Worker-Owner at Big Duck Nearly every big organizational decision a nonprofit makes—new programs, leadership changes, refined fundraising strategies, upgraded technology—has a communications opportunity attached to it. But it can be challenging to regularly take a step back and think strategically about what’s most important to prioritize.

Diverse people layering hands in the center of a circle.

By Molly Penn Summer season offers a great opportunity to do a retreat with your board or staff members.  Business as usual tends to slow down a bit and summer is a great season for reflection.  If you can handle the nightmare that is aligning schedules in the summer, getting people together for a thoughtful,

A picture of weaving to illustrate Partnerships and Collaborations

By Molly Penn Nonprofit organizations are part of an ecosystem of our social safety net (and we include arts organizations in that category).  Nonprofits pick up where government support and protection leaves off.  What we find over and over in our work is the importance of adopting a relational approach to working in communities.  Nonprofits

A drawing of a pie chart, graphs and puzzle pieces with the words Strategy and development.

by Molly Penn It’s the beginning of the year and if you’re like many nonprofit leaders, you’re in planning mode. It’s time to think about your plan for fundraising for the year ahead.  It’s an important one – the pandemic is turning into an endemic, the government relief funds are no longer available – so

Rethinking Planning meeting 4 women of different ethnicities talking

We tend to think of strategic planning as a long process comprising many meetings among internal stakeholders (board and staff) working together diligently to turn their intentions into clear strategy to propel the work.  Often, we recognize we need the help of a consultant to add discipline to our thinking, create the process that will

Woman at a computer planning

By Molly Penn Planning for a recession is not a topic anyone wants to talk about, but history does have a way of repeating itself.  The Covid recession notwithstanding, we are due for another, and pundits are making noise that we may be there already.  So what can you do, as a nonprofit, to plan

Image of interlocking gears to illustrate systems

by Molly Penn Have you ever thought about what systems can do for you?  We specialize in thinking about this question. As consultants who work with nonprofits and foundations to help them change the world (a lofty goal), we recognize the importance of starting with the smallest step – building systems to support people in

People sitting around a table doing strategic planning

by Molly Penn Strategic Planning is a term that gets used fairly frequently, but not always to refer to the same work.  As an example, lately we’ve gotten requests for strategic plans ranging from budgets of $15,000 to $150,000.   This describes a completely different scope of work.  Consulting is a time-driven business – we charge

An illustration of values

By Molly Penn The end of one year and the beginning of another is a good time for reflection on your values. Certainly, the events of the past two years have given us all much fodder for reflection: how did we care for our staff and constituents throughout the ongoing pandemic; where did we land

An illustration of a tree with different color circles and people in it to illustrate complexity

By Molly Penn Reflecting on all the work we do with incredible clients, and the many, many conversations we have with prospective clients, I find myself noticing some natural tension points that arise as we try to move away from transactional relationships towards more transformative ones.  Here are some examples as food for thought and

A strategic question

by Molly Penn How do we ensure that planning = intentional and strategic change?  Simple.  Every good planning process needs to be rooted in a set of powerful strategic questions.  Do your change initiatives feel like business as usual to you?  If so, you are missing an opportunity to think about planning as an opportunity

A picture of a crowd of protestors protesting the murder of George Floyd

by Marita Phelps and Molly Penn Many of us are asking ourselves, in both our personal lives and professional roles: What can I do to end racism and create equity for people of color?  Last year, many formerly complacent Americans woke up. The deaths of people like Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Eric Garner, and Tamir

A circle with four quadrants, each a different color with the same drawing of a tree in each quadrant

By Molly Penn and Sofiya Cheyenne “They’re a great culture fit.” Have you truly considered what you mean when you play the culture fit card?  The notion of “culture fit” has been exposed for what it is – a way of upholding white supremacist, ableist culture in organizations. By definition, culture refers to the collective

A hand holding a crystal ball with a bar chart that shows increasing bars and an upwards arrow

By Janice Shapiro Last year, in a matter of days, our world changed without warning. Within months of the pandemic we found ourselves faced with a new normal, and we had to figure out how to sustain our organizations when everything shut down, how to protect our employees’ jobs where we could, how to address

By Mairta Phelps If you manage a team in 2021, it is likely you are faced with new challenges. Forty-two percent of the American workforce continues to work remotely, and an estimated 27 percent will still be working from home through 2021. This is an 87 percent increase in the number of new remote workers

Culture is your hidden asset or weakness. In 2021, there is a need to focus on culture to repair the trauma experienced by your people in the past year. Read on for tips on how to address culture in a post-pandemic world.

How much of your time is spent managing others instead of leading change? Are you ready to move from a place of managing people to leading with influence? No doubt leadership development looks very different today than it did a year ago. Here are some of the trends we see emerging in 2021 and some questions for reimagining your agency’s leadership strategy.

In the 2020 workplace, people are fully showing up. Your employees are juggling more today than ever before, attempting to work, parent, teach, and survive—all while isolated from critical community resources and support. In this new working normal, how are you creating an environment where employees feel safe, seen, heard, and respected?

It’s a provocative question, we admit. Yet this is a time when organizations must be wrestling with this question actively. There are three pillars of organizational health – read on to learn more about them!

Let’s face it, there are some great boards and some that suck the Executive Director’s time and energy. All new board members should be trained in what it means to serve on the board of a nonprofit. Which brings us to the crux of the issue – what does it mean? Our answer may surprise you!

Given the rate at which we all deal with change on a daily basis, you would think it gets easier, but managing change remains challenging. Why? Because change is an emotional experience.

We cannot afford to overlook the importance of culture. How does culture manifest in your organization now? What culture practices can you aspire to this year to make your organization more inclusive? How can you consciously evolve your culture? Below, we explore these ideas in greater detail.

A global pandemic, an economic recession and an exploding social justice movement are convergent forces calling on nonprofit leaders, funders and consultants to do our work differently going forward. For the first time in modern memory, we have an opportunity to reevaluate all of our assumptions, perceptions, procedures and systems.

Are there just too many nonprofit organizations? Alliances can take many forms. In this post, we’ll detail some of the most common forms of alliances and why organizations might want to use them. The important thing here is to keep your mission delivery at the forefront of your rationale, and to summon the personal humility that brought you to nonprofit work in the first place.

Is it too soon to begin thinking about the “new normal?” Organizations that are not ready to consider how Covid-19 will change our work are risking their future health and sustainability. We are grounding these recommendations in human care and empathy for now, and smart planning for what’s next.

Ever heard this from a board member? Many board members simply dread being asked to raise funds. We are taught that how much money someone has is considered personal information and is socially inappropriate to discuss. Since fundraising is a core responsibility of nonprofit boards, it’s well worth the effort to turn this around.

It is likely that many organizations will have to make significant changes to ensure sustainability. If and when that happens (and we wish it didn’t have to), it is important to be smart about how that takes place. Enter: organization design.

You’re riding in an elevator with someone who asks what you do – you have about 3 minutes to answer them succinctly, powerfully, compellingly so they ask you more. What do you say? The role of a mission statement is to describe what you do in clear terms so the listener immediately “gets it.”

All of the major news papers and sites are speculating that we might be heading towards the next recession. None of us likes to think about this possibility. We thought we’d share some stories of clients that are pursuing smart strategies to prepare themselves for this possibility.

Everyone struggles with how to articulate your strategic plan goals so they compel others to join you in your noble quest. How many organizations do you know that spend months and months and thousands of dollars only to roll out a plan with … meh goals? We’d bet the answer is too many. We’re setting out to change that.

Do you know how to map your strategic position? The word “map” here literally means to try to create some visuals to help you picture where you sit relative to other organizations with similar missions. It is a way to help you understand your unique role.

Imagine coming to work every day full of purpose and conviction. The role of a vision statement is to serve as your true north, the motivation for working in the social sector, the difference you are in business to make. Here are some key questions to ask yourself when framing or refining your vision.

Wouldn’t it be easier just to do the work and not have to worry about engaging people? Sure, it would be easier – and a whole lot less effective. How each nonprofit defines its community may vary, but the idea that the organization exists to serve a particular community is at the center of the nonprofit form. Here are some tips for how to manage these conversations.

The best laid plans can be facilitated or foiled by organizational culture – the (mostly) invisible force that guides how people in your organization interact with one another and with those you serve. So if culture is invisible, how do you pay attention to it? Here are some tools to help you be more proactive about building a culture where people want to work with you and do their best work when they’re there:

What makes a plan “strategic” is that it takes into consideration what is happening in the world outside your organization and responds to that context. So what does it mean to research your market and how to do that? We break market research into several distinct pieces.

In strategic planning, one of the most important events happens right up front – framing a set of relevant, purposeful, interesting questions that will inform your actions or critical decision-making. Here are a few guidelines for making sure you’re asking the best questions.

What’s a “stakeholder” anyway?

What is a strategic question anyway?

By Molly Penn Strategy should always factor in your organization’s current business model. You need to understand your business model in order to ascertain how bold you can be in your strategy. Do you have assets and liquidity to allocate to new initiatives? Or, is your plan more about regaining financial sustainability? These two situations

Ever wonder what strategic planning is or how to do it? This post is for you!

Strategic planning can take very different forms – how do you know which is best for your organization?

We’ve spent the last four months building a thorough leadership development curriculum. This blog post shares what we have created.

Is your strategic planning boring or fun and creative? Talk to us about how to create break through strategy!

While nobody wants to emulate Frank Crossleaders are often unsure how to end the employment of a staff person who isn’t working out but hasn’t violated any laws or obviously failed. To be clear, you always want to seek legal assistance or advice on the proper procedure when you are thinking of firing someone. But whenever possible, strive to make this process less painful and more humane so as not to negatively affect the morale of the remaining staff.

As part of our work, we often speak to thought leaders around the country about what they see as seismic shifts that are shaping the landscape around nonprofit organizations. Read about the shifts that thought leaders point us to.

Drop in for Office Hours and talk with our experts!

Scroll to Top