For many nonprofit leaders, "doing more with less" has become the unofficial job description. Demand for services continues to grow. Funding is increasingly competitive and often restricted. Staff capacity remains limited while administrative requirements continue to expand. Funders want greater accountability and stronger evidence of impact. And while technology has given organizations access to more data and insights than ever before, many leaders still struggle to turn tha

For more than 15 years, I have encouraged nonprofit leaders to answer a question that can fundamentally change how they manage programs, communicate with funders, and allocate resources: What does it cost for one person to successfully achieve the outcome your program exists to create?

Philanthropic organizations face an understandable temptation to address every urgent need they encounter. Communities experience interconnected challenges involving financial security, health, housing, education, workforce development, food access, and many other issues. A funder may see worthy opportunities across all of them.

For years, nonprofit leaders have heard the same message from funders: Show us your impact. That expectation has pushed many organizations to collect more information about their programs, participants, services, and results. Nonprofits now maintain donor records, participant assessments, case notes, spreadsheets, program logs, surveys, financial reports, and grant reporting data. Yet collecting information and using information are two very different capabilities. In the Sta

For decades, nonprofit success has often been described through measures of organizational growth. A larger budget, more employees, new locations, and higher participation numbers could all signal that an organization was thriving. Those measures still provide useful information. Yet they reveal only part of the story. A nonprofit can serve more people without producing better outcomes. It can receive a major grant without developing a dependable funding model. It can launch

Let’s cut right to it. The best way for nonprofits to measure social impact is to focus on how you’re improving people’s lives—not just how many people you serve, but how they’re actually better off because of your programs. Everything else feeds into that. Start with the difference you want to make, map how you’ll get there, bring in feedback from the people you serve, and keep everything connected through reliable data. Let’s talk through how this really works, and why so m

Nonprofit leaders are being asked to achieve more with fewer resources. Budgets are tight. Staff capacity is stretched. Community needs are rising. Funders and donors want clearer evidence that their dollars are creating meaningful change. These pressures point to a major shift in how nonprofit success will be defined over the next decade. Size will matter less than clarity. Longevity will matter less than evidence. A recognizable name may open a door, yet measurable results

Over the past several weeks, I've had the opportunity to conduct Quarterly Business Reviews with nonprofit organizations serving communities across a wide range of issue areas, including workforce development, housing stability, healthcare access, youth development, family support, food security, and community engagement.

For years, communities across the country have invested significant time, energy, and resources into building collaborative networks. Nonprofits, schools, faith communities, government agencies, healthcare providers, businesses, and foundations have come together around a common goal: improving the lives of the people they serve. These partnerships have strengthened referral networks, increased coordination, and reduced duplication of services. Yet despite these advances, mos

Last week, I had the privilege of attending the Flywheel Impact Catalyst in Cincinnati, an inspiring gathering of social entrepreneurs, impact investors, nonprofit leaders, philanthropists, and changemakers who are committed to solving complex social challenges.

Out-of-school time (OST) providers are being asked to do more than ever before. Funders want evidence of impact. Families want high quality experiences for their children. Staff want supportive workplaces with opportunities to grow. Community leaders want programs that contribute to educational success, workforce readiness, and community well being. Meeting those expectations requires more than good intentions. It requires good data. Yet many OST organizations struggle with a

Out of school time programs have never been more important. Across the country, families are looking for safe, engaging, high quality opportunities for their children before school, after school, and during the summer months. At the same time, OST providers face a difficult reality. Demand continues to grow while funding remains uncertain, staffing shortages persist, and many organizations struggle to reach all the young people who could benefit from their programs. Yet some

Over the past several months, we’ve worked alongside organizations ranging from domestic violence shelters and museums to workforce collaboratives, universities, aging services agencies, and community nonprofits through the Managing to Outcomes Bootcamp. At first glance, these organizations seemed very different. Some were navigating major funding transitions. Others were expanding programs, implementing new CRMs, preparing for strategic planning, or trying to improve board

Nonprofits are expected to show measurable results, and funders, boards, and communities all want clear evidence that real change is happening. That expectation has intensified in 2026. The report State of Nonprofits 2026: What Funders Need to Know describes a sector under sustained pressure. Demand for services is rising sharply, while funding has become more constrained and less predictable. At the same time, leaders and staff are facing significant burnout. These pressures

Nonprofit leaders have always carried serious responsibility. They steward missions, serve communities, support teams, answer to boards, meet funder requirements, and make hard choices with limited resources. The pressure has intensified. Funding priorities shift. Policy changes affect programs. Community needs change faster than annual planning cycles. Technology creates new expectations for service delivery, reporting, and accountability. Staff want clarity, agency, and pur

For nonprofit leaders, mission drift is one of the most common strategic challenges organizations face. It rarely happens all at once. It develops through a series of reasonable decisions made under growing pressure. Many leaders start close to the need. The mission is clear, work is direct, and impact is easy to explain. As organizations grow, new pressures begin to accumulate: funding requirements, reporting obligations, partner expectations, and staffing constraints. Decis

If you’re a nonprofit leader today, you’re being asked to do more than ever before and prove that it’s working. But here’s the challenge: many organizations can’t prove they are making a measurable difference, even as expectations from boards, funders, and communities continue to rise. That gap between expectation and insight is where the next era of nonprofit leadership will be defined.

Nonprofit boards have always carried a serious responsibility. They protect the mission. They steward resources. They support the CEO. They ask hard questions. They help build trust with donors, funders, staff, clients, and the community. But the expectations placed on boards are changing. BDO’s 2026 nonprofit outlook states that boards are asking for greater clarity around performance, liquidity, risk, and measurable outcomes. It also argues that nonprofits need to connect f

When navigating the crowded landscape of nonprofit technology, one decision can significantly shape your organization’s ability to fulfill its mission: can your nonprofit CRM track and report on impact, or do you need a purpose-built impact platform? This choice directly affects how you measure impact, streamline data collection, report to stakeholders, and ultimately demonstrate real, meaningful outcomes. Understanding the Difference: CRM vs. Impact Platform General nonprofi

As nonprofit leaders prepare for the next fiscal year, many face a familiar pattern. Budgets are drafted. Fundraising targets are set. Marketing plans take shape. Staffing decisions follow. That sequence feels logical. It is also backward. During last week’s workshop, we challenged a core assumption that has shaped nonprofit planning for decades. Most organizations begin with money and work their way to mission. The stronger approach begins with impact and works back to resou