What do you do best for your clients?
I help established nonprofit organizations creatively and clear-sightedly cross today’s critical frontiers. As a result, nonprofit leaders see new opportunities in their environments and effectively translate these opportunities into actionable strategies, tactics and funding options.
Who are your ideal clients?
My clients focus on the causes and impacts of inequality in our society – unequal access to capital, opportunity and a healthy environment. They range from national and state foundations and intermediaries to grassroots organizations building just and sustainable communities. Working at such diverse levels feeds my understanding of what is needed and what is possible. My clients typically answer yes to one or more these questions:
- Do you want to enter a new field of work but don’t know how to best figure out your niche and entry strategies?
- Do you see your funding landscape significantly changing over the next few years?
- Do you wish your retreats and planning processes produced more significant and productive change?
How can I get the best results from working with you?
Be clear about what you want, ask lots of questions, engage your stakeholders in the process and be willing to spend time reflecting.
What do your services cost?
My services are based on the value we create together. At the beginning, I carefully assess the results you want and together we determine the best course of action and how to maximize the value of your investment. I have always figured out a way to work with clients who value my services and are prepared to fully engage.
What knowledge and experience do you bring?
I have spent the past 30 plus years doing, funding, supporting and studying community-based development and philanthropy. Mostly working in the non-profit sector, I was the first Executive Director of both the Southern Rural Development Initiative (SRDI) and the Community Reinvestment Association of North Carolina (CRA-NC). I also served as co-Director of the legal services entity that preceded the NC Justice Center. I have served on many boards of directors at the local, state and national level.
Since 2007, I have consulted for a variety of local, state and national non-profit organizations and teach at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy, developing new courses on Nonprofit Leadership and Community Philanthropy (and teaching Chinese and Kazakhstani government officials about growing a third sector in their countries). I have an A.B. from the University of Chicago and a Masters in Regional Planning from UNC-Chapel Hill.
Can I contact other clients?
Absolutely.