5 Types of Strategic Plans Every Nonprofit Should Know (And When to Use Them)
While there are numerous books and websites on strategic planning, the process of developing a plan often seems prescriptive – but it doesn’t have to be. Strategy for any organization can be tailored to set forth the ways an organization will negotiate its environment...
How Nonprofit Leaders Can Ensure Every Part of Their Organization Advances Social Change
Last week, on October 24, we celebrated United Nations Day, marking the historic moment when countries united after World War II to promote peace, security and cooperation. Since then, the UN has continued to bring nations together around many other key priorities,...
Decision-Making Traps and Triumphs for Nonprofit Leaders
Sometimes when you meet someone, you just click. A few years ago, while teaching for the Executive Nonprofit Leadership certificate program at Duke University, I met Amy Gearhart, a student in my class. She had recently made a career shift. After serving 30 years as a...
8 Things Every Social Impact Leader Needs to Know Before Their Next Hire
Let’s be honest. As employers, hiring is probably one of our least favorite activities. It’s time-consuming, challenging and takes us away from working toward our mission. But, to paraphrase Jim Collins in his modern-day business classic, Good to Great, what separates...
Hot Nonprofit Trends for Summer 2024
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...
Four Keys to Successful Nonprofit Strategy Execution from D-Day
Today is the 80th anniversary of D-Day – the day when more than 160,000 Allied forces landed in Normandy, France, as part of the largest air, land and sea invasion ever executed. The goal of the mission was to liberate Nazi-occupied France, and more than 9,000 Allied...
If You Can Write a Grant, You CAN Write a Nonprofit Business Plan
One of my favorite management gurus was former CEO of GE Jack Welch. On my bookshelf is my well-worn copy of Winning. I bought this book before business school, and it gave me many gems that I used there and during my time at the American Heart Association. My...
Building Trust through Radical Nonprofit Accountability
Like many of you, we were disheartened that according to the latest Edelman Trust Barometer, trust was not only at an all-time low, but also nonprofits were no longer the most trusted institution in the United States. Business now holds that title. How did this happen...
Navigating Nonprofit Megatrends: Strategies for a Shifting Landscape
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...
15 Years and Counting: Making Social Impact the Bottom Line
Fifteen years ago, I started Social Impact Architects with one disruptive goal: to reimagine nonprofit consulting. As every social entrepreneur does, I started with the problem. Based on my experience and research, I identified key issues in the nonprofit-consultant...
