Annual Traditions, Business Planning, Collaborate, Communicate, Fundraising, Grow, Organizational Assessments, Social Impact Architects, Strategic Planning, Summer Reading
As we hit the midpoint of the year, a new trend for for-profit and nonprofit leaders is to review their strategic and operational goals and make New Half-Year’s resolutions, recommitting to old goals and resolving to achieve new ones. Summer is a great time for...
Collaborate, Ecosystem Mapping, Impact Measurement, Organizational Assessments, Social Impact Architects, Social Movements, System Change
In 1997, on my first day as a program developer at Phoenix House, a nationwide evidence-based substance abuse program, I started to learn bottom-up program design. And to ensure I really understood the journey of those we served, I spent a lot of time in our programs...
Business Planning, Guest Blogs, Social Impact Architects
Over a decade ago, I had an a-ha moment with a good friend – we were talking about an upcoming holiday and all the gift-giving that happens. We discussed the subtle difference between a present and a gift. A present is something that you want the recipient to have. A...
Collaborate, Impact Measurement, Lean Start-Up, Organizational Assessments, Social Enterprise, Social Impact Architects
What’s in a name? This famous phrase from William Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, speaks to an important truth. Since I started in the social sector almost three decades ago, I have noticed that we have a funny habit of throwing around important words, such as...
Guest Blogs, Lean Start-Up, Marketing & Communication, Organizational Assessments, Social Impact Architects
We have been privileged recently to be the strategic partner for a long-time client and friend, TACA – The Arts Community Alliance, in Dallas on a first-of-its-kind Arts Accelerator. It is a 10-month, cohort-based program designed to increase organizational capacity,...
Collaborate, Communicate, Fundraising, Grow, Organizational Assessments, Organizational Culture, Social Impact Architects, Strategic Planning, System Change
Change is all around us – political, social, technological and even generational. Many sociologists say we are at an 80-year shift. Similar to the monumental shift from horse and buggy to automobiles, the very way we live is changing and it is impacting every...