Creating more strategic, financially savvy, and confident nonprofit leaders and organizations.
The other day I told a new coaching client something that I often say to the nonprofit leaders I work with: “Don’t worry, what you are experiencing is very normal in the nonprofit sector.” But suddenly it occurred to me, why are so many limits and restrictions “normal” in the nonprofit sector? Why do we […]
I have often discussed (along with many others) how nonprofit leaders are (annoyingly) told to behave more like business leaders. But there are many ways in which business leaders could emulate nonprofit leaders. The biggest one is empathy. My guess is that the vast majority of nonprofit leaders are highly empathetic. Typically people start or […]
Wow! What a great response to my last post where I laid out my vision for the social change sector. From the many Likes and Shares and Tweets and emails I received from people voicing their support, it is quite obvious that I am not alone in my view that it is time to reinvent […]
I’m excited to announce that I have finished the draft of my book, “Reinventing Social Change”, which has consumed my blog writing time (among other things) over the past few months. There is still much work to be done — editing, publishing, launch, etc. — but I feel that the hardest work is now done. […]
I have been a little absent from the blog in the past couple of months, but I have a good reason. I’ve been working on something I’m pretty excited about. I am in the process of writing a book about how we create more effective, sustainable social change. Rather than depressed by the chaos seemingly […]
The other day I — among many others — received an email from the leader of a large, well-established nonprofit announcing they were going out of business. The email was a shock to many because this organization is well respected and seemed to be doing important work. The reason they are closing is because, as […]
Nonprofit leaders often start (many things, really) from a place of not feeling worthy. Where this is really obvious, especially this time of year when nonprofit fundraising is in full swing, is in the fundraising ask. When your nonprofit fundraising message — whether a grant proposal, a direct mail letter, an email campaign, or a […]
Last week I was talking to a nonprofit leader who was completely overwhelmed. She was exhausted, worn down, and full of self doubt. And it wasn’t the garden-variety overwhelm that comes from the normal nonprofit lack of resources. This was a deep and troubling hopelessness about the very burden she as a social change leader […]
There was a really interesting report in the Chronicle of Philanthropy last week about how nonprofits are losing top talent because they aren’t paying enough. Shocking news, I know. But let’s talk for a minute about what is underlying this and how we might move beyond it. The problem, in my mind, is that nonprofit […]
This summer, after much convincing, one of my clients (who was close to burnout) reluctantly took a long weekend off. She said it felt amazing. But she also felt guilty. It is insane that three very short days away felt somehow wrong to this beleaguered nonprofit leader. But, her plight, nonprofit leader burnout, is so […]
