Consulting, Coaching, and Interim Leadership that Gets Your Mission Moving

If charity is not the end goal, what exactly is the nonprofit sector for?

Why the people most upset about nonprofit salaries are often the same people who don't want government doing this work either Lately I've been watching the comments roll in every time a nonprofit's tax filing or a leader's salary becomes public. "I guess I got in the wrong business." "Nonprofits are being given too much money." "Nonprofits are ripping us off." The tone is consistent: disbelief, a little resentment, sometimes real anger. Here's what makes me pause every time I

I recently had the chance to hear Robert Egger speak at an event hosted by South Sound Partners for Philanthropy, and I walked out feeling like someone had finally put my thoughts into words. For years, I have been standing in front of community groups asking a version of the same question. Egger asked it better than I ever have, and I want to share what stuck with me.

A look at Hagitude, gendered ageism, and who still gets called wise There was a time — and it wasn't so long ago, depending on which culture and which century you're standing in — when a woman who had lived long enough to raise a family, bury a few people she loved, run a household or a village council or a healing practice, was the person you went to when you needed real judgment. She was the elder. The one who'd seen enough cycles to know which crisis was actually a crisis

When an organization falls apart — whether from a board that lost its grip on governance, or an executive who ran the place into the ground, or some tangled combination of both — what do we actually owe each other?

Sometimes founders and long-tenured leaders want to stay for the wrong reasons: they don't know what to do next, they haven't planned for their retirement, their identity is with the organization, or they don't think the organization can survive without them.

Never publicly shame anyone — this approach leads to resentment, damaged morale, and a workplace culture headed toward toxicity. That's not a culture any of us wants to build — especially not in mission-driven organizations where trust and psychological safety are foundational. Time for grace.

I'm not here to argue that outside expertise is always theater. It genuinely isn't. And after years of watching organizations navigate this, I'd say there are some situations where the outside voice isn't just useful — it's the honest choice.

One of the most disorienting things about accumulating genuine expertise is that it can start to feel like a liability.

If your organization is drafting a job description and reaches for "humble," pause and ask: what behavior are we actually trying to describe?