the work I do
helps teams, organizations, communities, and movements thrive.
The areas where my experience and skills are concentrated are:
Nonprofit guidance: strategic planning, 501(c)(3) formation, general operations, board development and training
Philanthropy: Funding strategy, development communications, grant seeking, and grant writing
Team development: supporting organizational change, assessing and restructuring teams, facilitating workshops and retreats
Community-building: landscape analyses, relationship maps, partnership strategy
It makes sense that your project or organization may require some combination of these. No problem! I love talking through things, even if your ideas or needs aren’t fully formed, so please get in touch with me and let’s set up a time to talk.
Nonprofit guidance
The nonprofit world feels like home to me. I navigate comfortably in this terrain and have nearly three decades of experience in the nonprofit sector. I believe that nonprofits are a vital part of our social fabric, providing necessary services, leveraging extensive networks, and filling gaps that no others can, or will. I’m committed to helping them thrive.
Nonprofits of all sizes and across all interest areas often experience the same cycle of challenges. I love working shoulder-to-shoulder with nonprofit teams to find practical solutions that help move their work forward.
I've worked in nonprofit operations, development, marketing, and education/programming, so I have a 360-degree perspective. I can cut through the noise to focus on the challenges you’re experiencing and the goals that are most important to you.
Philanthropy
Nonprofit leaders know their work’s value. They know the need they are meeting and the impact they can have. But translating that value in the real world of philanthropy can be a tremendous challenge. Fundraising is often the most challenging, intimidating, and frustrating part of nonprofit leadership. But it can also be rewarding and even fun.
I acquired all my fundraising knowledge through direct experience, including many successes and failures, shifting strategies, building relationships, and remaining undaunted as a nonprofit leader.
I love learning what nonprofits want to achieve and then systematically determining the best funding strategy and roadmap. Then, we’ll find funders whose priorities align and work together to determine the best approach for making an introduction.
Team development
I have successfully helped teams of various sizes (ranging from 2 people to over 200) improve their communication, collaboration, and structure to help make their work more rewarding—and more effective.
When I work with teams, I bring authenticity, positivity, and patience. I possess the hard-earned listening skills and emotional intelligence (thank you, life experience!) that build the kind of trust necessary for this work to be successful.
I specialize in leading strategic planning sessions, ideation workshops, and team retreats.
Community-building
If my community-building approach were a dinner party, it would be an open invitation: come as you are, enjoy a family-style meal at a communal table, and be prepared to expand your circle, hear many stories, and enjoy generous hospitality.
We need each other. Humans are a social species, and the only way to achieve deep and lasting social cohesion, pluralism, and well-being is through community. And community starts with connection. I love working with organizations, teams, and movements to discover connections, explore collaborations, expand their work and impact, and help build their community, whatever that community is and needs to be.