Sustainable growth for programs, initiatives, and organizations If you have ever experienced drowning you know that in that moment one cannot decipher between a life raft and a rock. When leading a nonprofit without a rapid growth plan, you can find yourself in that same moment in the deep end…

Setting the culture while saving the world When studying leadership in Dr. Burrows’ Leading People and Organizations class, I was pushed to further define what makes an effective leader by interviewing 10 leaders and…

Being brave in the face of corruption I decided to write the 12 lessons I learned in nonprofit leadership as a way to share my experience and hopefully help out others. The act has kept me motivated to write, a lifelong goal of mine and the therapeutic aspects can’t be…

How a couple of toxic board members can take down the ship When I started out as an executive director of a statewide nonprofit, I had no idea what a functional board composition should look like or where to start on that process. Little did I know that your board…

A nonprofit’s version of a corporate subscription service In the day and age of subscription-based services and products, a nonprofit membership becomes an easy addition to the consumers’ ongoing list of automatic deductions now being coined as “microtransactions.” A good example of these microtransactions is BMW. BMW vehicles include heated…

Tips to grow your nonprofit’s greens I love gardening. Fundraising, not so much. However, in the nonprofit world it is a necessary activity. What a concept, raise money (hard work) to support staff salary in order to be able to get the meaningful mission done (the real work). When I think of fundraising as gardening, it…

Republished from the Durango Herald When local business owner Jonny Radding approached Local First Foundation about launching the La Plata Impact Fund, he had just finished reading the book “Let My People Go Surfing,” written by the founder and owner of Patagonia. In the book, Yvon Chouinard detailed an alliance…

The fine balancing act of mission driven lobbying You don’t have to be a registered lobbyist to impact public policy making at the city, county, state, or national level. I have never been a registered lobbyist. Never given big checks to political leaders or led PACs (Political Action Committee). Never…

Republished from the Durango Herald In the La Plata County Community Needs Assessment report focused on access to health care (completed in June 2019), 85% of respondents were dissatisfied to extremely dissatisfied with health care in the county. Today, the average county resident can see up to a 35%…