There has never been a time when the influence of nonprofit leaders was more needed. In particular, we need to have influence with the money and policy decision makers that hold the power to help or harm the people we serve. ...
We need to talk about an emerging reality that virtually all of my clients are telling me is their number one challenge right now. Everyone is already dealing with multiple threats to federal funding. But now there’s the addi...
We’re about to enter a period of opportunity to have a lot of influence over our Members of Congress. They'll be home in their districts/states twice in the next seven weeks for “district work periods” to connect with their c...
We all know how valuable community building is, but we often don't understand just how powerful it is. And right now it might just be that nonprofit leaders' superpower as community builders could be one of the keys to making...
This is a time when we need all hands on deck. There's so much need for nonprofits to advocate aggressively for the work that we do, and specifically for the government funding that supports our work. And nowhere is that more...
Nonprofit leaders have a lot going on in terms of advocacy we need to be doing with Congress. And I’m hearing from a lot of my clients and the folks in my coaching programs, saying “Just strip it down for me. What's the messa...
It can be really hard right now as a Nonprofit leader to know where to focus your attention, what to be spending your advocacy energy on and what's going to have the biggest impact. For the vast majority of direct service non...
The right wing's "waste, fraud, and abuse" propaganda is being used to justify massive and indiscriminate slashing of federal funding for anything and everything. That propaganda is hurting nearly every nonprofit in this coun...
There is so much more still to discuss about how we can defend against ongoing attacks on your federal funding. In this week’s episode, we're focusing on the second key piece of the strategy, which is shaping public opinion ...
We have a lot to talk about with all of the threats that are aimed at federal funding for a critical array of safety net programs. We've had quite a rollercoaster ride in the last couple of weeks, but I believe that there are...
It feels like we're having a crisis about every 20 seconds, and this week is no exception. Just at the beginning of the week we had another sudden, chaos-inducing announcement from the new administration that they were going ...
If it wasn’t clear before this week, we now know that the entire suite of government-funded safety net programs is in the right wing’s cross hairs. The ambition to dismantle these programs isn't new. What is new is the level ...
Confidence is one of those things that so many people struggle with, and others seem to have no problem with. And neither group understands the other one very well. So I want to get into where does confidence come from, and h...
There's a really big problem out there that chances are you're experiencing: Too many money and policy decisionmakers just aren't getting your core message. What I want to help you do today is shift what you're doing just a l...
What makes intention setting so powerful is that it is more about the being than about the doing. If we fail to attend to our intentions, we risk not only missing our goals, but missing out on the experience we want to have w...
Between the waning light and the kind of tucking in that happens around the solstice, and the anticipation of closing one year and opening a new one. It's the perfect time to do some reflection on how the year has gone for us...
One of the most problematic tropes that gets emphasized over and over again for nonprofit leaders can wind up absolutely wrecking your ability to really connect with decision makers. That’s the belief that you must be ultra-p...
As nonprofit leaders, one of the many roles we have is that we are marketers. And if that's not part of the way you think about your role, or if that creates a little resistance for you, hang in there for a minute. Because th...
It's Thanksgiving time and we're all reflecting on things that we're thankful for. I think that can be particularly challenging at this moment in time when we're dealing with a lot of challenges in terms of the political envi...
Let me ask you this: When you’re in meetings with decisionmakers, what are you most focused on? If you’re like most advocates, you got a lot going on in your head. You’re thinking about your framing, and making sure it reson...
We have a lot to talk about in this time following the elections. I understand that everyone is still processing, myself included. And yet, it is time to begin turning our attention to: What do we do now? There is some clarit...
This is a really tough time for all of us in the progressive nonprofit world. And I wanted to share a few early thoughts, even as we don't have complete answers on all of the election results. But we have some very important ...
In this week’s episode we're taking a look at two of the most common decisionmaker behaviors that frequently throw advocates off their game. It definitely doesn't have to be that way, but I see it all the time. So I want to g...
The 2024 elections are less than two weeks away. And if your world is anything like mine, you and just about everybody in it are stressing out right now. There's a lot of anxiety. There's a lot of worry. There's a lot of fear...
