A practical framework for the final quarter of 2026: protecting mission, money and people as nonprofits plan for the year ahead. Introduction As 2026 draws to a close, nonprofit leaders are building budgets, renewing contracts and setting priorities for 2027. At the center of those conversations is a difficult question: how do you plan for the year ahead when you cannot rely on the next quarter? Last year, I watched nonprofit organizations navigate what felt like a landscape

A practical framework for nonprofits navigating workforce strain, funding volatility, and system fragmentation “How much longer can we keep operating like this?” It's a question that surfaces more often than most nonprofit leaders like to admit. As I work with organizations across the sector, I hear it in moments that rarely make it into team meetings or strategic plans. It's the question that comes up inside conversations after a team meeting where another resignation was an

When I wrote my last piece on workflow automation , the conversation around technology in human services felt very different. Automation was a helpful tool that we used to streamline tasks, reduce duplication, and reclaim time for the work that truly matters. At that point, AI was still emerging. It was useful, impressive, but not structurally transformative. That landscape has shifted. Quickly. Generative AI (and now agentic AI) has evolved into a practical force that is res