Creating more strategic, financially savvy, and confident nonprofit leaders and organizations.
2020 continues to uncover the many social problems we need to solve, and broken systems we need to reinvent. This is crystal clear most recently with the horrific wildfires that have demonstrated how desperate we are for a solution to climate change. 2020 has been crisis after crisis, but these crises are also incredible opportunities. […]
I have been feeling lately that we social changemakers are on the cusp of something really big and new. It is an opportunity — an opportunity we have likely been training for our entire lives — to remake the world in ways we could formerly only imagine. Social change leaders, who have for so long […]
I received a great comment from a reader of my recent post, “The System for Funding Nonprofits is Crumbling. That’s a Good Thing.” While blog reader Vanessa agreed with my assessment that how we fund social change is horribly broken, she very rightly wanted to know what an individual nonprofit leader can do to overcome […]
There is much discussion lately about the financial doom that this pandemic is unleashing on nonprofits. Cancelled galas, shrinking corporate donations, fearful foundation donors, disappearing government coffers. It seems that the entire way nonprofits and social change are funded might be crumbling before our eyes. It’s about time! That’s because how money flows to the […]
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 said many times before that the social change system is broken. Because of deep historical, normative, and structural limits placed on social change leaders for decades, an overwhelming feeling of scarcity pervades the social change sector. Nonprofit leaders and funders alike believe that there simply is “never enough.” There is never enough money, […]
If you are feeling — as we hit the middle of 2021, a year almost as difficult as 2020 — exhausted, overwhelmed, worn out, you are not alone. Because I see you. I see you hang up after a call with a discouraging funder and put your head in your hands. I see you reliving […]
I have been having so much fun making the rounds of social change, philanthropy and nonprofit-related podcasts. Many amazing podcast hosts have generously invited me on their shows to talk about my new book Reinventing Social Change: Embrace Abundance to Create a Healthier and More Equitable World and how the way we do social change […]
Joy is such a foreign word in 2020, right? It feels — especially right now as we await the outcome of the election in the U.S. — that we are surrounded by everything but joy — anxiety, anger, tension, depression, restlessness, exhaustion swirl around us. But here’s a radical idea for your consideration: we are […]
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 […]
In consulting with a nonprofit my role is to guide the organization to the next level. Perhaps they want to dramatically grow their impact or influence, or they want to develop a truly sustainable financial model, or they want to become a national player. Whatever their aim, my role is to help them figure out […]
Note: The last couple of years have been particularly trying for nonprofit leaders — those of you who are working tirelessly to build a better world. I know that it can sometimes seem that your work is a thankless, never-ending list of tasks, while you face increasing challenges from every corner. So I wanted to […]
Happy New Year, Social Velocity readers! The beginning of a new year is usually, for me at least, a time of mixed emotions. I’m excited about the new experiences that wait around the corner, but fearful of the unknown that also lurks there. A new year by definition brings change, and that can be exciting, […]
Over the past few weeks I’ve found myself worn down by the state of our country. The divisiveness, the anger, the coming apart instead of coming together is increasingly hard to take. And I know many of you feel the same. It seems that as time marches on we increasingly find ourselves battling the differences […]
Today I’m delighted to announce the launch of a brand new Social Velocity website. I hope you will go take a look! As you know, last Fall I took a 4-month break from social media. I stopped writing the blog and checking Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn and spent more time reading books, meditating and figuring out where […]
