Lessons from mistakes in grantmaking and philanthropy

Nonprofits who have just completed a scenario plan are wondering what comes next. How you share your journey with staff, board, and funders can build trust, spark collaboration, and strengthen resilience. In our latest blog our colleague, Carolina Ramirez, captures 5 important steps to think about as you consider sharing their scenario planning process with key audiences. https://lnkd.in/eyjZq8aV For more information on our scenario planning cohort: https://lnkd.in/ez7maWPu

🚀 Exciting News! I’m proud to officially announce the launch of Daniels Advisory Solutions, a professional consulting firm dedicated to helping individuals, nonprofits, and small businesses build stronger financial and operational foundations. Through this new venture, I’m combining my experience in grant writing, compliance, fundraising strategy, auditing, and information governance, systems development to provide clients with practical solutions that strengthen capacity and drive impact. Our services include: 💼 Grant writing and application support (state, local, and federal) 📊 Compliance reviews and internal audits 💰 Fundraising planning and donor strategy 🏛️ Nonprofit startup assistance 💳 Credit repair and financial coaching for individuals At Daniels Advisory Solutions, my mission is simple, it's to help organizations and individuals reach their highest potential through structure, strategy, and sustainability. If your organization needs support developing grants, building compliant systems, or improving financial health, let’s connect! #BusinessLaunch #Consulting #GrantWriting #NonprofitDevelopment #Compliance #Entrepreneurship #FinancialLiteracy #Leadership #DanielsAdvisorySolutions

Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) started life as a way to explain why people buy products. Clayton Christensen popularised the core insight: people don’t buy a drill, they buy a hole. They “hire” a product to help them make progress on a few levels: functional, emotional, and social. In theory, it’s truly elegant. If you understand the progress people are trying to make, you can design services that truly help them get there. A bunch of the organisations I advise and coach will tell you how much I like it. But in the world of nonprofits, funders, and community movements, it often produces the opposite of what it claims. In tomorrow's Theory of Change, I'll explain why (and how to avoid that). Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/eMn5rUDW (If you are already a subscriber, maybe repost this? It really helps bring the newsletter to a new audience. 🙏)

Adam’s work is a must-read for anyone trying to manage smaryly, especially in non-profits and media. I live his latest series on how common management frameworks have been bastardised and how to use them better. Tomorrow: Jobs to be Done. You should subscribe.

Unpopular opinion: I don’t like the word “Discovery” to describe the first phase of nonprofit strategic planning. “Discovery” came out of the legal and corporate worlds. It has a connotation of being focused on: ✓ Customer pain points and needs ✓ Market conditions and competitors For nonprofits, this can lead to underestimating the complexity of the system. WHAT’S A BETTER APPROACH? I’m an environmental economist by training and my profession talks about “unintended consequences.” The best way to find those “unintended consequences” before they happen? ↳ Talk to diverse stakeholder groups and ask a lot of open-ended questions. That’s exactly what makes Phase 1 a powerful place to learn about blind spots and unexpected opportunities. Therefore, I prefer calling that first phase, “INITIAL RESEARCH & STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT.” ↳ Admittedly, a boring title and I’m open to alternatives! Still, it breaks free from connotations around the word “Discovery.” Scroll through to see 5 key steps to include in Phase 1 of strategic planning. ↳ While the specifics will vary for your nonprofit, using a systems lens is critical to develop solutions to today's hard-to-solve challenges. What would you add - what is a critical step in the early phase of nonprofit strategic planning? ***************************************** Hi, I'm Elizabeth, founder of a boutique firm - Sustainable Economies Consulting, LLC. We help organizations gain clarity, collaborate around shared goals, and have more impact. We do this through strategic planning, community engagement and impact assessments. Reach out if you want to chat about your work.

Last week, I met with over a dozen nonprofit professionals online. We talked about their fears and their plans as they look toward 2026. The energy in the (virtual) room was clear: things are shifting. Fast. Here’s what the smart nonprofits are already doing: 1️⃣ Diversifying revenue streams – Moving beyond grants to build sustainability through partnerships, earned income, and individual giving. 2️⃣ Investing in brand + visibility – No more “best kept secrets.” They’re learning how to tell their story in a way that gets attention and support. 3️⃣ Prioritizing staff well-being – Recognizing that burnout is the biggest risk to mission impact. Healthy teams = stronger communities. 4️⃣ Measuring impact differently – Shifting from vanity metrics to outcomes that show transformation, not just transactions. 5️⃣ Building collaborative ecosystems – Partnering across sectors, not competing, because big challenges demand collective solutions. Nonprofits who wait until 2026 to start making these moves will already be behind. The question is: which of these shifts are you (or your organization) leaning into right now? How can I help?

September to November or Q4 are the grind months. Across the development sector, organizations are not only wrapping up the year but also looking ahead, asking the perennial question: what will funding look like in the new year? Unrestricted versus restricted funding is a debate that refuses to go away in those brainstorming rooms. This is not a discussion we can wish away, not this year, and not for the years to come. Restricted funding reflects an outdated belief: that impact is best guaranteed when every dollar is tied to a deliverable. While it may provide comfort to donors, in practice it fragments organizational focus, forces institutions to “chase” external priorities, and leaves little room to strengthen the systems that sustain long-term change. Unrestricted funding, on the other hand, challenges this model. Recognizing that they are closer to the ground, attuned to shifting contexts, and uniquely equipped to co-create solutions with communities, it places trust in local organizations to decide what matters most. It signals a move away from compliance-driven relationships toward true partnership. Unrestricted funding must move from the fringes to the mainstream if we are serious about shifting power. Donors and international partners must recognize that impact is not created by control, but by trust. Unrestricted funding is not charity; it is an investment in sovereignty, creativity, and resilience. It demonstrates that local organizations are more than just implementers. They are visionaries, strategists, and leaders of change. By giving local institutions the leverage to grow and explore, we are not just funding projects, we are fueling possibility.  The development sector stands at a crossroads. We have the option of continuing to adhere to restricted funding, which restricts organizations to short-term outcomes, or we can embrace unrestricted support, which enhances the impact over the long term. The future of development depends on our collective willingness to embrace this truth: trust unlocks transformation. If we dare to move beyond control and embrace unrestricted funding, we will not only sustain organizations, we will empower them to lead, innovate, and reimagine the future, at least on their own terms.

Does your nonprofit treat the budget as a formality or as a strategic tool for growth? The INS Group’s Playbook challenges organizations to reimagine how they approach budgeting. Our feature article, “Budgeting Reimagined: From Routine Process to Strategic Growth Tool,” shares three transformative strategies that turn numbers into narrative: 1️⃣ Make finance everyone’s business — collaboration builds ownership. 2️⃣ Budget like humans actually matter — prioritize wellness to reduce turnover. 3️⃣ Break free from the 12-month trap — plan for stability and long-term vision. Also featured: our client spotlight on the North Carolina Community Health Worker Association, who partnered with The INS Group to strengthen financial resilience through scenario planning and strategic foresight. “Budgeting is not just math — it’s mission.” Explore this edition and see how small changes can spark lasting impact. Read the Playbook here: https://lnkd.in/eGKiD4Wx #NonprofitLeadership #StrategicPlanning

The fastest way to miss a big goal is to treat every funder like they’re ready for a proposal today. As fundraising goals rise, the pressure on grant teams to deliver can feel relentless. What I’ve seen over the years is that pressure often pushes organizations into shortcuts: skipping cultivation and treating every funder as if they should be ready for a proposal right now. The paradox is that this rush simply doesn't produce the sustainable growth leaders are hoping for. The organizations that reach ambitious goals are the ones that resist the urge to accelerate every relationship. They know that bigger grants and multi-year partnerships don’t come from speed, but from trust built carefully over time. That doesn’t mean slowing down everywhere. It means being discerning. Moving quickly where the ground is already prepared. Giving space where it isn’t. Making choices that balance the short-term need with the long-term relationship. High goals can be met. But they’re met by cultivating depth, not by piling on more breadth.

Met with someone this week who has led a community of funders for many years. He told me he’s observed a certain “tribalism” amongst anti-trafficking orgs (his word not mine). In his community, over 15 different orgs fight trafficking, but they don’t talk to each other. He’s not alone in his experience. Funders, he said, aren’t seeing results and struggle with the sensationalism used by most orgs to fundraise. I’ve talked to several funders this year who are considering stepping back from investment in the space. At the same time, I’m seeing an increase of funding flow toward true collaborative, data-driven solutions and organizations. Overall, I’m optimistic about this shift. We talk about how collaboration is the only way to tackle a problem as complex as trafficking. We emphasize how collaboration leads to better solutions. That’s all true and good reason to be more collaborative. But it’s also the only way to sustain the work. Funders want to know their money is supporting real remedies to trafficking. They want to see the data on that impact. And they want the ecosystem of organizations trying to do something about trafficking to actually work together. Seems smart to me.