I recently encountered a word we don’t hear often in nonprofit work: counterfactual. The timing was interesting because I had been doing something similar in conversation—taking… Read More »What If It Actually Makes Perfect Sense?
I went down a rabbit hole, and what an interesting rabbit hole it was. It started simply enough. Board leaders and executive directors asked for… Read More »From Stuck to Engaged: Why Engagement is a Design Problem
Advocacy shouldn’t be a standalone topic, separate from the rest of running a nonprofit. It’s woven through leadership, governance, programs, finance, communications, and fundraising—whether we… Read More »2026 is the year we go all in on nonprofit advocacy
It’s Monday morning, and your inbox is full. Somewhere between a funding announcement and an invitation to take a survey sits an email announcing registration… Read More »Conferences That Make a Difference: 2025 Edition Now Available
At the recent Washington Food Coalition conference, I presented four sessions. Each one had its own workbook with core content, fill-in-the-blank lines, and space for… Read More »The Slide Illusion
No one ever says, “I have a better idea about how accounting should be done. I prefer to use a different currency every month.” Accounting… Read More »Chocolate or broccoli?
“To truly support people, lead teams, and design effective learning, we need a new prescription. We need a Neuro-Informed lens that helps us see the… Read More »Neuro-informed teaching and learning
I came across the book Potlatch as Pedagogy: Learning Through Ceremony in a small bookshop in Ketchikan, Alaska. In it, Indigenous educator Sara Florence Davidson and her… Read More »Gatherings that teach, connect, and build community
Forgive me if I sound impatient. The world is calling us to act—boldly and urgently—with every tool we’ve got. In my line of work, that… Read More »Information Isn’t Action: Returning to Our Theory of Change
I’ve never been a big fan of the phrase “best practice.” It’s too transactional—like there is one right answer waiting on a shelf. Our social… Read More »There’s not one playbook: Teaching for real-world challenges
I was recently talking with an Executive Director and asked about her program. She looked at me apologetically and said that the model underpinning her… Read More »Physics vs. Engineering: Why people don’t understand your model and how to fix it
Boards are under pressure to “step up” as federal and state cuts constrict the oxygen that nonprofits need to breathe. Urgency, however, doesn’t translate to… Read More »“Should” isn’t motivating: How to help boards step up