Good leadership doesn’t emerge overnight — it’s cultivated over time, through experience, reflection, and the right guidance at the right moment. These resources are designed to meet you wherever you are and help you grow.
Why Organizations Thrive
First published in 2011, this is the book I wish I’d been able to read in my first few years as a nonprofit Executive Director. It consists of fifteen lessons that any new or newish Executive Director should benefit from learning. Together, these Lessons aim to give an Executive Director a path by which they can harness their skills and talent into effective nonprofit leadership.
Why Organizations Go Off Course
Published between 2011 and 2015, this series of articles is a counterpoint to Why Organizations Thrive. Its fourteen lessons give nonprofit leaders a way to identify and sidestep the specific traps that can undercut your impact — each one useful on its own, but even more powerful as a whole picture of how organizations can stay on course.
The Essential Major Donor Toolkit
First published in 2020, this book was created to serve as a short guide for organizations wishing to expand their success raising funds from individual major donors. Whether you’re just getting started or have a budding major donor program, this guide combines important concepts with specific tips and tools you can start using from day one.
Book Reviews
Over the years, I’ve read many books of direct relevance to nonprofits. Whenever I can, I publish reviews of these books that aim to convey some essential lessons that the book in question provides, both as stand-alone lessons and as a way to help the reader determine if the book belongs on their own reading list.
Presentations
I have spoken over the years for dozens of organizations, coalitions, and conferences on topics ranging from strategic planning, to fundraising, to volunteer and coalition management, among others.
Tip Sheets
My tip sheets focus on a wide variety of nonprofit challenges and serve as practical 1-2 page guides that any nonprofit leader can use as you aim to level up your game. These can easily be downloaded as PDFs to share with others in your team.