Across the country, employee ownership models are quietly transforming what’s possible for workers — delivering increased wealth, stronger employee retention, and better business outcomes for investors. In this session, we spotlight models that shift power and equity to the people who help create value every day. From ESOPs to worker co-ops to hybrid models, we’ll examine what’s actually working, what it takes to transition, and how capital and policy can play a catalytic role in expanding these approaches.
On July 15, NationSwell hosted a virtual Leader Roundtable designed to give leaders a space to talk about the models that are working the best approaches for continuing to expand pipelines to economic opportunity.
Some of the most salient takeaways from the conversation appear below:
Insights:
Promote employee ownership as a scalable wealth-building strategy. Integrate employee ownership into your organization’s wealth-building, economic mobility, or shared value strategies. Emphasize not only the wealth-building and business performance benefits, but also the proven outcomes like increased retention and engagement.
Implement employee ownership models that correspond to your business type and readiness. Identify the best-fit ownership model and tailor it to company size, financing, and exit plans. Encourage other ecosystem actors to build pipelines and decision-making tools to help assess and prepare for transitions.
Design ownership programs for transformational impact. Prioritize models that meaningfully shift power and wealth, not just offer symbolic shares. Aim for payout structures that exceed typical bonuses, while advocating for equity to be additive for wages or benefits.
Build cultures of ownership, not just equity plans. Equity alone isn’t enough. Build cultures of ownership where employees have voice, trust, and the tools to engage—such as financial education, leadership pathways, and inclusive governance practices.
Act on the silver tsunami of business transitions. With many baby boomer-owned businesses approaching retirement, create conversion campaigns or community ownership pipelines. Collaborate with local partners to convert these businesses to employee-owned and avoid closures or exploitative sales.
Adopt a “big tent” strategy to champion multiple models. “Big tent” doesn’t result in diluting impact, moreover, it recognizes that different ownership models serve different sectors and capital contexts. Encourage coordination across ESOPs, co-ops, trusts, and equity participation efforts to avoid fragmentation and build a more unified field identity.
Support field-building through shared messaging, tools, and policy advocacy. Alignment across funders, intermediaries, and advocates is critical to unlocking capital and legitimacy at scale. Use shared language, frameworks, and tools to help mainstream employee ownership across the range of models. Highlight its bipartisan value and its ability to create civic, economic, and business benefits.
On a warm July afternoon in Atlanta, a group of corporate, philanthropic, and community leaders gathered to experience what place-based impact looks like when it’s rooted in history, shaped by community voice, and powered by a shared vision. As part of NationSwell’s Place-Based Impact Collaborative, and in partnership with The Annie E. Casey Foundation, this immersive, two-day experience offered a firsthand look at Atlanta as a “tale of two cities.” Throughout the experience, participants learned how bold, collaborative investment is helping communities reclaim land, preserve and celebrate identity, and build a more just economic future.
Day One: Grounded in history, connected by movement
Our time together began with something deceptively simple: a walk. Led by a close partner of NationSwell, GirlTrek, the walk to Centennial Park focused on presence and intentionality. “We walk, talk, and solve problems,” our leader shared, describing GirlTrek’s model of wellness and connection. It was a chance to move through the city, feel its energy, and open space for reflection.
Later that evening, we headed to a welcome reception, setting the tone for what would be a day of honesty, inspiration, and exchange. In a circle, we heard from visitors and locals alike about their personal and professional motivation for joining the immersive. Participants were welcomed to Atlanta as a city of neighborhoods, of legacy, of resilience.
Day Two: A tale of two cities
Breakfast opened with a powerful panel, “Atlanta’s Path in Perspective,” laying bare the complexity of the city’s narrative. As Courtney English, Interim Chief of Staff to Mayor Andre Dickens noted, “Atlanta is a tale of two cities and two stories.” On one hand, it is the cradle of civil rights, home to Black leadership and cultural innovation. On the other, it is among the lowest in economic mobility for Black families, shaped by redlining, disinvestment, and policy decisions that still echo today.
Site visits followed, including a deep dive into the Atlanta Beltline’s evolution – a project that has generated both opportunity for entrepreneurs and concern for displaced residents. Led by the Atlanta Beltline team, we saw examples of responsive solutions: affordable housing built to combat gentrification pressures; shipping containers repurposed into microbusiness spaces; and ongoing work to address basic infrastructure, like stormwater and sewage management. We also heard from a small business owner, Sarah Pierre, owner of 3 Parks Wine Shop, about her partnership with the Beltline.
We then made our way to Pittsburgh Yards, standing out as a living example of what it looks like when development is done collaboratively with a community. Built on land acquired by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the space has grown into a hub for locally-owned businesses, creatives, and entrepreneurs – including some that have transitioned to brick-and-mortar storefronts in retrofitted shipping containers (check out Carrot Dog and PinkPothos). Individual co-workers, businesses, and events hosted at Pittsburgh Yards bring in revenue, helping sustain the space without compromising its mission. “We would like to think that the Annie E. Casey Foundation is a collaborative partner and listener,” Tomi Hiers, vice president of the Center for Civic Sites and Community Change at the Annie E. Casey Foundation said, reflecting on the ongoing effort to ensure that the people closest to the challenges are closest to the decisions. As we stood outside Pittsburgh Yards, a child played on his bike, calling out “Hey, neighbors!.” As one participant noted, “The fact that a little boy came up and called us ‘neighbor’ — that’s what success looks like.”
Our visit included a Partnerships for Collective Action roundtable, held in the heart of Pittsburgh Yards’ Nia Building. Amanda Jaquez, Senior Associate, Annie E. Casey Foundation opened by naming the legacy of the neighborhood — founded by formerly enslaved people and long a center for Black self-determination — and reminded the room that development must build on, not erase, that foundation.
The panel explored what makes cross-sector collaboration work, with Mindy Binderman, Executive Director of GEEARS, emphasizing that shared purpose and trust must come before action. Natallie Keiser, Executive Director of HouseATL, added that structure, sustained engagement, and clarity of roles are important, especially when tackling entrenched challenges like affordable housing and displacement. The cost of inaction was made clear: unchecked infrastructure investments can rapidly raise property values and inadvertently displace the very communities they intend to serve.
Jay Bailey, President and CEO of the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs (RICE), offered a powerful charge: “Collaboration beats competition every day of the week.” But he cautioned against “collaborative theater” — partnerships formed for optics rather than outcomes. He urged leaders to confront uncomfortable truths, including the stark contrast between Atlanta’s image as a Black mecca and the reality of its low Black economic mobility. “Let us have the courage to say no…because we are worth investing in.”
The day ended at The Third Space, where a happy hour and signature dinner prompted deeper conversation and laughter. Over shared plates, attendees unpacked the day’s learnings: how land becomes leverage, how rest becomes resistance, and how institutions can be built to last.
Day Three: Collaboration and continuity
Our time together concluded with a tour of RICE. The impressive center, which supports Black entrepreneurs with space, mentorship, and capital access, sparked conversations about ecosystem thinking. During the tour, participants saw how the organization is cultivating Black entrepreneurial success at scale. The 54,000 square foot space was built with intentionality: every wall, quote, and photo was curated to inspire ownership, legacy, and possibility. As Bailey summed it up: “We don’t need another symbol of hope. We need institutions that manufacture hope.”
As attendees began to head home, there was a palpable sense of momentum. Participants reflected on what they had seen and learned, and how they can apply it to their own communities and work.
What Atlanta taught us
Atlanta is not a monolith. It is a microcosm of the broader American story — a city where systemic harm and radical possibility coexist. Place is not neutral here, it is contested, storied, and powerful. From listening sessions designed with dignity to equitable housing strategies and entrepreneurship ecosystems, the visit to Atlanta reminded us that place-based work requires honesty, trust, and collaboration.
As one participant shared, “The system isn’t broken. It’s working how it was designed to work.” But in Atlanta, people are redesigning it — together.
This immersive experience was offered to NationSwell through the NationSwell Collaboratives. To learn more or get involved, visit nationswell.com/nationswell-collaboratives/
Nonprofit organizations today are facing a range of significant challenges related to federal funding cuts, adoption of and adaptation to emerging technologies, workforce strain, and more.
On July 8, NationSwell convened nonprofit leaders and funders for an open, solutions-oriented dialogue on how to strengthen organizational resilience across the sector and explore the most promising strategies for building nonprofit capacity, increasing organizational durability, supporting team members, and ensuring mission-driven organizations are able to thrive in 2025 and beyond.
Some of the most salient takeaways from the discussion appear below:
Key takeaways:
Resilience in the nonprofit sector must evolve its orientation from survival to impact. Many organizations are operating reactively, focused on enduring budget cuts, staffing strains, and shifting demands. Building resilience should not just mean staying afloat, but developing the internal capacity and adaptive systems needed for long-term mission delivery.
Nonprofits must embrace their role as businesses with a mission — not just tax-exempt entities. While driven by social outcomes, nonprofits function in dynamic, competitive markets and must adopt mindsets and practices that reflect this. Financial discipline, strategic agility, and resource efficiency are as vital here as in any other sector.
Capacity-building is not a luxury, it’s the structural foundation of organizational health. Investments in leadership development, systems, infrastructure, and collaborative learning are essential to sustainable impact. Rather than being deprioritized in lean times, capacity building should be viewed as non-negotiable.
Intermediary organizations must be better equipped to defend and represent the sector. As political headwinds intensify, many nonprofits are finding themselves underprotected at the federal level. There’s a growing need for advocacy networks to modernize their tactics, elevate member voices, and build political literacy across the sector.
Strategic partnerships and nonprofit mergers are underutilized tools for sustainability and scale. Unlike in the private sector, where mergers signal strength, consolidation among nonprofits is rare and often stigmatized. Encouraging more open exploration of mergers, acquisitions, and shared services could improve outcomes and reduce inefficiencies.
Continuous learning and intentional unlearning are prerequisites for innovation. To be truly innovative, organizations must embed learning practices into their culture — not just as a response to funder evaluation, but as a tool for reflection, iteration, and growth. This includes letting go of legacy practices that no longer serve mission or community.
Building comfort with ambiguity is essential to adaptive leadership. Social impact work exists in complex, evolving ecosystems. Strengthening a team or organization’s capacity to navigate the unknown, rather than seek false certainty, can improve decision-making, creativity, and long-term resilience.
On June 25, NationSwell hosted a virtual Leader Roundtable designed to offer social impact leaders a chance to dig into some of the most important aspects of developing and implementing a successful skills-based employee engagement program.
Some of the key takeaways from that discussion appear below:
Key takeaways:
Embed skills-based volunteering into talent development strategy. Volunteering is a structured learning experience for employees. Employees that participate in skills-based volunteerism report increased pride and engagement, with the opportunity to share expertise and develop soft skills like communication and mentorship.
Secure cross-functional leadership buy-in early. Senior leaders can be not only sponsors but active contributors to program design and refinement. Their involvement should send a strong internal signal that the skills-based volunteerism initiative is strategic, not just philanthropic.
Align initiatives with business strategy to deepen impact. Skills-based initiatives should be designed with a dual purpose: supporting community workforce development while helping address internal skills gaps in key markets. This alignment helps secure both funding and sustained engagement.
Co-create curriculum that reflects real-world demands. In skills-based programs, training content can be directly informed by operational experts and frontline managers. This ensures emphasis on skills like systems thinking, logistics processes, and real-time decision-making – elements not typically covered in standard curricula. Additionally, curriculum should be reviewed periodically to include new trends like AI, digital skills, and climate consciousness. Feedback loops with operations and HR help ensure the content remains market-relevant.
Measure what matters: outcomes, not just outputs. Programs should move beyond basic metrics to track employment outcomes, increased income, and career progression of learners. Data can be shared with internal stakeholders to demonstrate ROI and inform future investment decisions.
Prioritize inclusive workforce pipelines through program design. Curriculum can be deliberately designed to include students from traditionally lower-paid administrative tracks, such as young women, helping them transition into higher-paying roles and contributing to equity in the sector where you work.
Leverage internal data to guide geographic targeting. While being cautious of self-dealing, consider talent development efforts focused on regions with the greatest talent shortages for your market. Internal HR leaders can map workforce needs to help prioritize cities and states where the program would have the most strategic impact.
Guaranteed income is quickly evolving from bold idea to proven strategy—offering direct support to individuals and families with powerful results. In parallel, new models for delivering benefits, improving financial health, and reducing administrative burdens are helping to build a more resilient, inclusive economy.
On June 24, NationSwell convened a virtual Leader Roundtable dedicated to elevating the most promising innovations — what’s working, why it’s working, and what leaders across sectors need to know as they design or support efforts to scale economic dignity.
Below are some of the most salient takeaways from that event:
Insights:
Scale comes from not just new programs but also shifting existing systems. Explore how to “cashify” more parts of the social systems in place, and make them more equitable e.g. pushing to make large scale programs like TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) in California to be aligned to guaranteed income principles of ease, no strings, and trust in communities.
Deploy strategic pilots to generate momentum. From Boston to Appalachia, targeted pilots are building political will, seeding narrative change, and giving form to a more just economy. They galvanize support, build coalition muscle, and serve as “proof of concept” for broader policy momentum. With preemptive bills threatening local pilots and federal budget cuts looming, initial wins must be protected while pushing for more humane, equitable public systems.
Every voice needs to sing the same song, but not the same note. Not every actor needs the same approach, but alignment on principles like dignity, agency, and equity is critical. From child tax credits to baby bonds to safety net reforms, harmony across efforts amplifies impact and drives scalable change.
Evolve with the movement. There is a tried and tested rubric for movement building: Provoke the big idea (e.g. instigate pilots, argue the case in public), Legitimize the idea (e.g. Legal changes, policy shifts, narrative change), and then Win. You may need new team members and new ways of talking about the big idea as you move through these phases. It’s ok if we need to move away from certain phrases over time — e.g. If “guaranteed income” feels politicized in corporate circles; the movement still moves forward.
Use language as leverage. “Every baby deserves a shot at the American dream” may resonate in rooms where “guaranteed income” doesn’t. In polarized environments, accessible, emotionally grounded framing builds bipartisan buy-in and unlocks doors policy can walk through. Policy that respects people’s agency leads to better outcomes and challenges long-standing assumptions about who is deserving.
Lead by scaffolding the movement. Corporate and private funders can play a critical role by supporting data harmonization across pilots, investing in messaging, and acting as connective tissue without wading into policy advocacy directly. They can amplify what’s working and help knit together a fragmented landscape.
Center proximity to those experiencing the challenge to build sustainable and scalable solutions. Conduct listening tours and establish a shared frame of reference among diverse stakeholders. When solutions come from those closest to the challenge, they resonate more deeply and work more effectively. The most resonant stories preserve the relational, community-rooted spirit that birthed them and avoid diluting the dignity at the heart of this work.
Empower fresh voices to drive narrative change. Guaranteed income is making progress but lacks broader understanding and support among the public. To fill this void, The Economic Security Project has recently launched the Economic Futures Cohort to empower a new generation of content creators to put it into their own words.
Artificial intelligence is rapidly redefining what’s possible across industries. That brings challenges, but also huge potential to drive positive change if its power can be harnessed by social impact organizations. With AI, nonprofits can unlock new ways to streamline operations, expand their reach and capacity, and devote more energy to their core purpose. As part of the AI Opportunity Fund, Google.org is supporting these organizations by delivering innovative AI solutions and guidance, empowering them to maximize their impact and achieve stronger outcomes for the people and causes at the heart of their mission.
As part of its year-long capacity-building initiative, the AI Opportunity Accelerator, Project Evident has been hosting Discovery Days across the U.S. to bring the tremendous possibilities AI offers to the nonprofit sector. To further open up the dialogue around this opportunity and the goal of upskilling nonprofits with AI, NationSwell — in partnership with Project Evident and with support from Google.org — hosted a series of dinners across the U.S. this spring in parallel with the Discovery Days. The dinners brought together a range of cross-sector leaders in each city to exchange ideas, challenge conventional thinking, and explore how to accelerate the adoption of AI in the nonprofit sector — and lay the groundwork for future collaboration for transformation and impact.
It is not often we have the opportunity to bring leaders from every sector together to discuss AI. In the spirit of supporting inclusive innovation, we have shared below some of the most productive insights that emerged from the dinners.
Big picture
AI possesses enormous impact potential. As AI continues to transform our daily lives — at home, work, or school — we must make space to explore questions and ethical concerns while also maintaining a sense of optimism and excitement for the technology’s many benefits. By balancing caution with curiosity, we can ensure the advancement of AI to support humanity.
AI can be a great equalizer. It offers individuals, practitioners, and organizations access to insights and capabilities that were previously only available to a narrow few. AI-enhanced workflows can help overcome barriers to education access, language divides, and learning abilities to level the playing field and unlock opportunities in new ways.
AI isn’t just a tech solution — it’s a tool for real-world outcomes. Examples included using AI to increase access to free health screenings, engage voters with limited English proficiency, and address food deserts by empowering local small business owners with data on opportunities to sell more fresh groceries. When AI is paired with community insight, the impact is tangible.
The quality of AI’s output depends on the quality of its input. Local data integrity—including census information, community feedback, and lived experience—is essential. Everyone must be included, especially now. That includes disabled communities, LGBTQ+ people, and other often-excluded groups.
Current imbalances in AI must be addressed. It’s important not to lose sight of the disparities in AI usage: Women and marginalized groups are using AI less frequently and adopting it more slowly, and many nonprofits have their hands full dealing with the changes happening at a federal level and are at risk of being left behind.
Practical guidance
Delegate the responsibility of championing widespread adoption. Successful AI adoption requires support: Empowering 2-3 people to act as ambassadors in championing the use and testing of new tools can help other employees understand how new technology can be applied to their roles and facilitate broader AI use across an organization.
Explore ways to integrate AI into existing institutions and systems for maximum reach. Running AI programs in high schools, for example, creates space for youth to learn and have conversations around AI, promoting accessibility, skills building, and widespread adoption.
Co-design and capture learnings to ensure AI tools are human-centered. It’s essential to consider the needs of all stakeholders from the beginning stages of technology design and throughout implementation. Help nonprofits develop and implement learning cycles to understand what works, for whom, and how it can continuously be improved.
You don’t have to create new technology — existing tools can be used for innovation. For instance, one nonprofit supporting immigrants launched a WhatsApp chat bot that distributed “know your rights” information.
Educate decision makers at all levels — including Boards — on AI. Bring trusted voices to tell stories about what’s happening and challenge senior leaders not to fall behind (but do not expect folks to absorb it all in one day).
Invest in “unsexy tech” (i.e., data infrastructure for nonprofits). This is a critical gap, but many organizations don’t have the bandwidth or comfort to ask for a data infrastructure grant right now given tremendous fluctuations in the broader nonprofit funding landscape.
On June 11, NationSwell convened a braintrust for members to dig into some of the most important currents shaping team and role structure and some of the organizational models that can help to support and sustain impact work.
Some of the key insights from the event appear below:
Key takeaways
Structure and reporting lines vary widely based on organizational strategy and maturity. Where impact teams report can depend on the maturity and strategic goals of the program, and reporting lines may need to evolve over time. Social impact and sustainability are often separate functions, reporting into different parts of the company (e.g., COO, operations, HR, or marketing). Placement of the function (e.g., under CLO, HR, or comms) often depends on program maturity and whether the organization is people-first, compliance-driven, or brand-focused. Several leaders reflected that reporting into HR, for example, enabled more access to talent systems, while legal provided early structural rigor.
Team composition trends toward generalists with both strategic and operational skills. Many teams are small, averaging around 8 to 10 people, and rely on generalists. Leaders expect individuals to handle a full range of activities: strategy, partnerships, metrics, and implementation. There’s a strong emphasis on hiring people who are both strategic thinkers and capable of hands-on work (e.g., activating events).
Embedding impact within business strategy strengthens staying power. Teams that align their work with core business priorities, such as talent, compliance, or innovation, are better positioned to access resources and avoid being viewed as a cost center. One leader noted aligning with workforce development helped justify programming.
Use cross-functional councils to build shared ownership. Internal councils are an effective tool for grounding impact goals across the organization. These groups are organized around key strategic pillars and bring together employees from a range of departments who touch the work in different ways. Participation is encouraged to contribute insights, share progress, and help connect the dots across business units.
“Do more with less:” empower local champions to scale impact. Explore models that extend reach without growing headcount. Consider activating employee “ambassadors” or “champions” to lead local efforts, particularly in geographies where dedicated impact staff are not present. These roles are typically voluntary but treated as extensions of the core team. To support them, some organizations create toolkits with pre-vetted nonprofit partners, templated event ideas, and communications materials. Others align local efforts with broader impact pillars, encouraging flexibility while maintaining cohesion.
Community-centered approaches are replacing top-down models. In terms of programming, local activation and place-based work is increasingly common, accompanying a shift from models that “swoop in with solutions” toward ones that listen to and co-create with communities. Companies often prioritize impact in communities where they operate, reinforcing brand values while allowing tailored, responsive programming.
Metrics and measurement are growing priorities, but still a challenge. There was wide agreement that impact teams are increasingly expected to deliver meaningful metrics, not just stories. Yet many leaders indicated that capacity or clarity around measurement remains uneven.
From early childhood to early career, every life stage presents a critical window to shape opportunity, dignity, and outcomes. And yet, too often, interventions remain fragmented, siloed, or under-resourced—especially for those most impacted by structural inequities.
At a pivotal political moment, NationSwell convened a group of experienced leaders to connect on the community-rooted solutions, place-based approaches, public-private partnerships, and system-level strategies that are demonstrably delivering results for young people and families across the country.
Some of the insights that surfaced appear below:
Insights
Neutral, community-led backbones are essential to the work. Rather than imposing top-down directives, showing up as a non-threatening backbone convener of disparate groups, including school districts and local nonprofits, fosters a neutrality that helps avoid competition and power struggles that can derail collaborative work.
Start narrow and build momentum. Trying to address the full cradle-to-career continuum at once is often overwhelming and counterproductive. Instead, start with a specific issue — like early childhood, youth opportunity, or workforce entry — where there is both community will and a clear gap. Achieving visible progress in one area helps generate trust and alignment that can then be expanded to broader outcomes, and also allows for iterative learning and increased credibility with partners and funders.
Success hinges on more than education. While many cradle-to-career efforts focus on educational benchmarks, external factors like housing instability, transportation, healthcare, and access to social services all dramatically influence a young person’s ability to succeed, and therefore must be integrated into any serious strategy aimed at improving life outcomes. Communities that only measure progress through school-based indicators risk overlooking the real barriers families face; a systems-level view that connects education to broader quality-of-life supports is essential.
Corporate partners need to engage authentically and early. It’s critical to be aware of the ways a corporate presence can spark suspicion or resentment due to lack of transparency and community engagement. By involving communities as co-designers of your programs, forging early bonds, and listening humbly, impact leaders can establish trust and credibility.
Philanthropies must balance catalytic investment with humility. While philanthropy plays a vital role in getting cradle-to-career work off the ground, overstepping or trying to “own” the work — particularly when insufficient community input or trust has been established — can unravel progress.
Rural communities are facing unique workforce tensions. Unlike urban areas, many rural regions lack the job infrastructure to retain skilled youth, creating a disconnect between education and opportunity. This raises critical questions about whether cradle-to-career efforts should focus on helping young people thrive where they are — or prepare them to leave. For truly inclusive economic mobility, rural models must address not only education and training, but also long-term job creation and community vitality.
Policy and systems change must follow practice. While programs and partnerships can drive localized change, real, lasting impact requires policy alignment. Even amid federal dysfunction, local and state policy wins are possible — and crucial. Translating data and outcomes into legislative or regulatory reform ensures that success isn’t limited to a single program or grant cycle.
As climate risks intensify, social impact leaders play a critical role in building resilience — leveraging business assets, philanthropic capital, and cross-sector partnerships to protect vulnerable communities.
On May 29, NationSwell convened leaders from business, philanthropy, and NGOs to surface actionable insights on what’s working, how to scale solutions, and the role of impact teams in helping communities adapt to the threats posed by a changing climate. Some of the insights they surfaced have been collected below:
Insights
Combine your geographic footprint with other variables to triangulate where you can have the greatest impact on disaster preparedness and response. One participant shared that using retail density is a useful criteria for where to concentrate resources and prioritize disaster preparedness. Cross-referencing these high-density areas with existing partnerships, active employee resource groups, strong leadership presence, and community vulnerability can provide strong cues for how and where to invest and deploy resources.
Invest in communities’ fundamental needs in order to improve their resilience. Resilience begins at the most basic level: Communities need food, water, and adequate housing, and other key assets to thrive.Commitments to provide these upstream components of security should come alongside any rapid response initiatives.
Empower local leaders and sites to make funding decisions that meet community needs. Passing the budget down to those working at the most local level possible ensures that the money has the greatest chance of getting exactly where it needs to be. Community-based work can help to mobilize employee engagement, build trust on the ground, and make an outsized impact in the localities you serve.
Leverage your existing assets to increase disaster preparedness. Focus on efforts and initiatives where your company can have the greatest impact, based on your unique assets and capabilities. Taking a more targeted approach also requires making tough decisions about which initiatives to pursue and which to sunset, ensuring resources are directed where the company is best positioned to succeed.
Don’t overlook the simple solutions; they can be quite impactful. While the urgency and frequency of natural disasters deserves our attention, so too do the factors contributing to climate change. While initiatives that involve recycling or planting trees might feel overly simple to some, research shows that they have the potential to create outsize impacts in communities in more ways than one.
Leverage balance sheet capital, corporate venture funds, and other pools of resources to invest in climate technology, new energy programs, and other climate solutions. There is an urgent need to fund innovation by founders with lived experience confronting climate challenges. Diversifying funding to ensure that underrepresented founders have a seat at the table helps to create a fairer and more effective climate tech ecosystem. Working with intermediary partners like LabStart and Village Capital can help you to source these founders.
Non-profit leaders are navigating mounting challenges — from funding freezes to attacks on the language they use and the communities they serve — and the need for space to regroup and strategize has never been more urgent.
On May 28, NationSwell convened a group of peer leaders for a candid discussion about how we can be nimble and effective in a swiftly evolving landscape.
Some key insights from the discussion appear below:
Key takeaways:
Adopt short-term pragmatism while planning for long-term resilience. Rather than framing strategy around long-term organizational sustainability, several leaders are focusing on short-term adaptability, emphasizing nimble pivots, warm lead cultivation, and realistic budgeting.
Bridge the gap between funder caution and nonprofit urgency. A disconnect persists between what nonprofits need (e.g. more capital, more flexibility) and what funders are offering (e.g. deliberate, slower-moving strategies). Bridging this chasm requires coordinated field-wide messaging, funder education, and intermediaries that can facilitate solution-oriented discussion.
Prioritize transparency and grounded leadership. Executives emphasized the importance of open, honest communication, both within leadership circles and with staff. Being clear about what is known and unknown, while modeling vulnerability, has helped maintain trust, particularly in moments of organizational or funding instability.
Normalize nonprofit consolidations and shared infrastructure. In a financially constrained and uncertain landscape, nonprofit leaders are proactively exploring mergers, acquisitions, and structural partnerships. This moment presents an opportunity for funders to support responsible consolidation efforts and shared services that streamline operations and extend impact.
Rethink donor engagement strategies. Leaders are seeing success with listening tours, reframing proposals in response to donor constraints, and rebalancing toward more place-based, community-anchored approaches. These methods help preserve key relationships and open doors for new partnerships.
Invest in leadership development as a resilience mechanism. The field is confronting a dual crisis: external funding threats and leadership fatigue. Now is a critical time to support succession planning and mentorship across generations, particularly for rising leaders managing back-to-back shocks early in their careers.
Use values alignment as a stabilizing force. Organizations are returning to their core values to navigate ambiguity, realign priorities, and avoid mission drift. Reaffirming organizational identity, especially when facing funding restrictions on identity-centered language, anchors staff morale.
Recognize and respond to the emotional toll of continuous crisis. Nonprofit leaders likened the current environment to the early pandemic, marked by confusion, fatigue, and emotional overload. Strategies like all-staff transparency briefings, mental health weeks, and permission to “tap out” reflect an emerging ethos: institutional survival depends on tending to human needs
