Thanks for visiting my site.
I’m a consultant, facilitator, and “tech tinkerer” with a passion for helping organizations and leaders unlock their potential. My polyglot approach blends years of hands-on work, design thinking, social entrepreneurship, and teaching experiences to drive tangible, lasting change for my client-partners.
In addition to my solo practice, I'm a Vice President with The Compass Group, a leading national fundraising strategy firm driving campaigns, studies, and audits.
I’m a consultant, facilitator, and “tech tinkerer” with a passion for helping organizations and leaders unlock their potential. My polyglot approach blends years of hands-on work, design thinking, social entrepreneurship, and teaching experiences to drive tangible, lasting change for my client-partners.
In addition to my solo practice, I'm a Vice President with The Compass Group, a leading national fundraising strategy firm driving campaigns, studies, and audits.
What makes my approach different?
I’ve partnered with organizations across nearly every portion of the impact sector: associations, arts & culture, conservation, federated giving, foundations, faith, historic preservation, education (private, charter, higher ed), healthcare, media, social service agencies, and veterans groups. From scrappy start-ups securing their first major gift to some of the US most prominent institutions, I’ve seen how some organizations thrive while others merely survive.
As one of very few nationally-engaged consultants with deep experience in both programs and management, I bring insight and strategic empathy to people and teams across an organization.
As one of very few nationally-engaged consultants with deep experience in both programs and management, I bring insight and strategic empathy to people and teams across an organization.
Let's grow together
Explore my services and unique approach below, then reach out to discuss how I can help maximize your work.
FACILITATION
I design and facilitate a session(s) that move ideas into action—whether for a board retreat, team planning, or a community initiative. I ensure we mix structure with spontaneity, asking participants not to lean back, but lean forward. We'll surface insights, strengthen trust, and define what’s next.
My approach: Leveraging my background in anthropology and performance, my facilitation is customized for your institutional culture while consistently holding firm to clear outcomes and next-steps.
My Services:
My approach: Leveraging my background in anthropology and performance, my facilitation is customized for your institutional culture while consistently holding firm to clear outcomes and next-steps.
My Services:
- Ideation and brainstorming (up to six hours)*
- Retreat facilitation (single or multi-day)*
- Community engagement workshops*
- Town halls*
- Strategic plans (see below)
STRATEGIC PLANNING
I've facilitated strategic planning for nonprofits, development and programs departments, and multi-institutional associations. Let's face it: most strategic plans fail for one of three issues: (1) attention (they take too long), (2) authenticity (they don't reflect grassroots reality), and (3) actionability (with no accountability, they sit on a shelf).
My approach: Through a unique model and key tools, I mitigate each of the above issues. My work includes strategic positioning (a specific form of scenario planning), deep stakeholder engagement (surveys, focus groups, interviews), and my ATLAS® Matrix to measure progress and drive accountability.
Services:
My approach: Through a unique model and key tools, I mitigate each of the above issues. My work includes strategic positioning (a specific form of scenario planning), deep stakeholder engagement (surveys, focus groups, interviews), and my ATLAS® Matrix to measure progress and drive accountability.
Services:
- Organization-wide Strategic Plan (one year, multi-year)
- Programs Strategic Plan
- Fundraising Strategic Plan
- Multi-Institutional Strategic Plan (collaborations, campus partners)
BOARD governance
Why is half our board absent? How should our committees be structured? Why does our CEO seek advice -- then claim they feel micromanaged? These are just some of the many questions I've helped board leaders overcome. We'll work together to understand how to build a culture of engagement .
My approach: We know what inspires board members -- it's not sitting in meetings listening to reports read off a pre-distributed PowerPoint deck. Leveraging my BoardSource Certificate in Nonprofit Board Consulting from BoardSource and years working with boards and serving on them, we'll identify and advance custom tools aligned to your organization's challenges, size, lifecycle, sector, and cultural dynamics.
Services:
My approach: We know what inspires board members -- it's not sitting in meetings listening to reports read off a pre-distributed PowerPoint deck. Leveraging my BoardSource Certificate in Nonprofit Board Consulting from BoardSource and years working with boards and serving on them, we'll identify and advance custom tools aligned to your organization's challenges, size, lifecycle, sector, and cultural dynamics.
Services:
- Full-scale and rapid board assessments
- Structural assessment (committees, executive committee, terms)
- Bylaws creation or modification
- Overcoming lifecycle challenges: leadership transitions, mergers, acquisitions
- Capacity building, presentations and training in best-practice and emergent trends
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
The question is no longer "if". It's "when" your organization will adapt to AI's presence in the professional work. let's demystify emerging tools, build AI-ready processes, and introduce practical agentic systems for your real-world problems.
My approach: utilizing AI in the social sector doesn't eliminate jobs—it empowers staff to do the meaningful work they envisioned when they entered the nonprofit sector. We'll implement a rigorous needs analysis for repetitive tasks, pain points, and key needs; then imagine, iterate, and integrate solutions. Effective implementation of AI reduces burnout, lowers overhead, increases employee joy, and maximizes organizational impact.
Services:
Note: I only provide this service for small and midsize organizations.
My approach: utilizing AI in the social sector doesn't eliminate jobs—it empowers staff to do the meaningful work they envisioned when they entered the nonprofit sector. We'll implement a rigorous needs analysis for repetitive tasks, pain points, and key needs; then imagine, iterate, and integrate solutions. Effective implementation of AI reduces burnout, lowers overhead, increases employee joy, and maximizes organizational impact.
Services:
- Organizational opportunity scan
- Programs opportunity scan
- Fundraising opportunity scan
- Capacity building, presentations and training in existing tools, emergent trends
- Custom tool creation for programming teams (data management, automation, front-line service deployment)
- Custom tool creation for fundraising teams (donor lifecycle automation, major gift tools, automation)
Note: I only provide this service for small and midsize organizations.
grantmaking PROCESSES & STRATEGY
A funding application is not just a first-impression for potential recipients--it's a distillation of your institutional values. I bring thousands of hours of hands-on experience in funding evaluation and assessment paired with deep empathy from having served on all sides of the process—as a funder, facilitator, evaluator, and applicant.
My approach: I work with teams to design evaluation processes that reflect their organization's values and ethos while remaining rigorous, equitable, and intentionally mitigating of bias. When done well, application processes strengthen every participant by inviting meaningful reflection—whether eventually funded or not.
Services:
I have worked with these organizations in various fund distribution and grant evaluation capacities:
My approach: I work with teams to design evaluation processes that reflect their organization's values and ethos while remaining rigorous, equitable, and intentionally mitigating of bias. When done well, application processes strengthen every participant by inviting meaningful reflection—whether eventually funded or not.
Services:
- Process assessment and revision
- Creation of panel and evaluation materials: rubrics, training, portals
- Facilitation of selection processes
- Capacity building, presentations and training in existing tools, emergent trends
I have worked with these organizations in various fund distribution and grant evaluation capacities:
PROGRAMMING AUDIT
Nonprofit programs exist for one reason: to serve people. Effective strategy depends on clarity about who your programs serve and how they improve lives. But that clarity often becomes obscured by real-world complexity: scope and scale, staffing, departmental integration and evaluation across communities and geographies, partnerships and funding sustainability.
My approach: Let's creates space to examine these tensions with depth and candor. By blending rigorous quantitative analysis with qualitative inquiry, I lead with identifying what's already working, surfacing assumptions, and understanding how we can strengthen programs balancing intention and long-term continuity.
Services
My approach: Let's creates space to examine these tensions with depth and candor. By blending rigorous quantitative analysis with qualitative inquiry, I lead with identifying what's already working, surfacing assumptions, and understanding how we can strengthen programs balancing intention and long-term continuity.
Services
- Strategic alignment review
- Comprehensive assessment
- Departmental strategic planning
- Facilitation of staff, board, and stakeholder working sessions
- Calendar planning (quarterly, annual, multi-year)
- Growth and scalability strategy (opportunity assessment, SOPs, partnerships, and collaborations)
DEVELOPMENT AUDIT
I have helped organizations raise tens of millions of dollars in more than a dozen states, working inside annual funds, major and planned giving programs, capital campaigns, and complex, multi-site development operations. This experience informs a pragmatic, field-tested perspective on what works, what scales, and what quietly undermines momentum.
My approach: A development audit is an opportunity to pause the motion and interrogate reality. I combine close analysis of performance data, pipelines, staffing models, and systems with candid conversations across the organization—development, leadership, and governance alike. We identify strengths to protect, friction points to address, and structural changes that allow fundraising to become more focused, credible, and durable over time.
Services:
My approach: A development audit is an opportunity to pause the motion and interrogate reality. I combine close analysis of performance data, pipelines, staffing models, and systems with candid conversations across the organization—development, leadership, and governance alike. We identify strengths to protect, friction points to address, and structural changes that allow fundraising to become more focused, credible, and durable over time.
Services:
- Full-scale development audit
- Departmental strategic planning
- Lifecycle readiness assessment
- Planned Giving services (launch, evaluation, analysis, materials enhancement)
- Calendar planning (quarterly, annual, multi-year)
- Funding opportunities scan
PUBLIC SPEAKING
Let's leverage data, discovery, and dialogue to equip your team with a new skill or idea. Each session blends practical tools with real-world context to deepen understanding and spark new ideas. I'm also available for panels, media outlet needs, and more.
Previous topics: multi-generational donor engagement, associate board best practices, charitable gift planning, AI's influence on philanthropy, the nonprofit - social enterprise - BCorp spectrum, city-specific philanthropic landscape analysis (Kansas City, NW Arkansas, Nashville), the impact of arts revelation projects on neighborhood and economic impact, and more.
Previous presentations: UMKC Center for Nonprofit Management, UMKC Bloch School of Management, Kansas City Chamber of Commerce Foundation, Mid America Charitable Gift Planners, Arts Impact Ohio, League of American Theatres, Friends of Englewood Theatre, The Grand Oshkosh, KC Jewish Community Foundation, KC Jewish Federation, Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, Folk Alliance International Conference, National Guild for Arts Education, Comcast.
Previous topics: multi-generational donor engagement, associate board best practices, charitable gift planning, AI's influence on philanthropy, the nonprofit - social enterprise - BCorp spectrum, city-specific philanthropic landscape analysis (Kansas City, NW Arkansas, Nashville), the impact of arts revelation projects on neighborhood and economic impact, and more.
Previous presentations: UMKC Center for Nonprofit Management, UMKC Bloch School of Management, Kansas City Chamber of Commerce Foundation, Mid America Charitable Gift Planners, Arts Impact Ohio, League of American Theatres, Friends of Englewood Theatre, The Grand Oshkosh, KC Jewish Community Foundation, KC Jewish Federation, Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, Folk Alliance International Conference, National Guild for Arts Education, Comcast.
CUSTOM PROJECTS & ASSESSMENT
Some projects simply require a "Swiss Army Knife consultant". My cross-institutional experience with logic models, social venture plans, budgets, fundraising, programming, an IDEO.org's design thinking model help solve your needs.
My Approach: I blend rigorous qualitative and quantitative analysis to engage staff, participants, and community stakeholders. Only once we know where opportunity truly exists can we define and demonstrate solutions that will ultimately better serve your core beneficiaries.
My Approach: I blend rigorous qualitative and quantitative analysis to engage staff, participants, and community stakeholders. Only once we know where opportunity truly exists can we define and demonstrate solutions that will ultimately better serve your core beneficiaries.
Time in the fieldI spent over a decade in the nonprofit sector prior to consulting.
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Qualitative immersionI've worked in front-line service and programs, not just 'behind a desk'.
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Quantiative expertiseI've worked in and trained for world-class firms and initiatives.
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