Topic: Strategy

A Better Marketplace: Aligning Workforce Supply and Demand 

Posted on by Brianna Provenzano

Despite historic investments in workforce development, America’s talent marketplace remains deeply fragmented – employers can’t find the skilled workers they need, while millions of workers remain underemployed or left out of opportunity altogether.

During a NationSwell roundtable on February 10, leaders from business, philanthropy, education, and policy came together to explore how we can better align the disparate pieces of the workforce ecosystem. Below are a few of the models that surfaced that are bridging the gap between training supply and employer demand, and driving real results for workers, businesses, and communities alike.

Key Takeaways:

Design workforce strategies for non-linear career journeys. Real-world careers rarely follow a straight path from education to employment. Adults cycle through transitions – career changes, skill updates, pauses, and reinvention. Yet, many workforce systems remain built on linear assumptions (train → place → exit) and risk excluding the learners they aim to serve.

The opportunity:

  • Design pathways that anticipate re-entry and reinvention
  • Normalize career cycling
  • Build systems that assume movement, not permanence

Extend support beyond initial job placement to enable sustained economic mobility. Entry into a role is only one milestone. Workers often stall after landing their first opportunity. The true test of alignment isn’t placement – it’s progression. Continued upskilling, advancement pathways, and alumni engagement are important to achieving long-term economic mobility. We need to be asking if workers are building durable mobility over time.

Sustained mobility requires:

  • Continued upskilling
  • Advancement pathways
  • Alumni engagement
  • Financial capability support
  • Clear progression toward a thriving wage (not just a living wage)

Close the communication gap between skills and courses. There is a fundamental disconnect between how employers articulate needs (skills, competencies, capabilities) and how education systems structure offerings (courses, credits, seat time). Translating between these frameworks, and moving toward skills-based validation, remains a critical alignment challenge. Research from WGU highlighted that employers struggle to evaluate skill sets beyond resumes. Employers prioritize critical thinking, adaptability, problem-solving, and emotional intelligence – but struggle to see those signals clearly. Translating between these frameworks – and moving toward credible, skills-based validation remains a central alignment challenge. 

Anchor curriculum development in employer-identified skill gaps. Effective training models are co-designed with employers, focusing on what companies are hiring for now and where talent shortages persist. Demand-driven alignment strengthens both learner outcomes and employer confidence in training pipelines. Hands-on training models reinforce the importance of foundational technical competency alongside durable human skills.

Build post-graduation ‘captive ecosystems’ that promote talent portability. In K-12 education, we have a captive ecosystem: learners are enrolled, connected to infrastructure, supported by shared tools, and guided through a structured progression. That system – while imperfect – creates continuity, accountability, and exposure to skill-building environments. After graduation, that ecosystem dissolves. For many workers – especially those who are low-income, career-changing, or not attached to a large employer – there is no comparable structure guiding ongoing development, skill validation, or mobility. Navigation becomes fragmented and self-directed in a system that is complex and rapidly evolving. 

The opportunity is to intentionally design post-secondary and workforce ecosystems that replicate the strengths of captive ecosystems: continuity of support, access to shared infrastructure and tools, structured exposure to experiential learning, ongoing skill validation, real-time labor market insight, and clear progression pathways.

Embed experiential learning as a core signal of readiness. Experience is increasingly the differentiator. Learners must be able to demonstrate capabilities in addition to acquiring knowledge. Simulations, project-based learning, real-world datasets, internships, and apprenticeships were framed as essential mechanisms for building confidence, validating skills, and meeting employer expectations for experience. Experiential learning lowers risk for employers, provides tangible evidence of capability, builds durable skills in real contexts, and supports transferable skill translation (especially for veterans or career changers).

Adapt to how AI is reshaping hiring patterns and skill expectations. AI is not eliminating talent demand – but it is reshaping it. Employer data indicates a shift toward mid-level talent, reduced entry-level hiring in certain sectors, and increased emphasis on AI fluency alongside durable human skills. This evolution heightens the importance of adaptable credentialing and experience-building pathways. Lagging data – often 12 months behind labor market realities, also limits responsiveness. Real-time data systems and better cross-platform integration are critical to staying aligned with demand.

Working Effectively With Your Board of Directors

Posted on by Brianna Provenzano

For many impact leaders, success depends in no small part on what happens in the boardroom. Engaging your board effectively can accelerate strategy, unlock resources, and strengthen accountability. But it can also be one of the trickiest parts of leadership, especially amid shifting expectations, limited time, and complex stakeholder dynamics.

On February 5, NationSwell hosted a group of social impact leaders for a solutions-focused conversation on working effectively with your board of directors. Together, we unpacked the most common challenges, share strategies for deepening alignment and impact, and explored how to get the most from your board while avoiding the pitfalls that can slow progress. Some of the key insights surfaced during the conversation appear below.

Key Takeaways:

Board effectiveness is largely built between meetings, not during them. The most engaged boards are cultivated through intentional, ongoing touchpoints outside formal meetings. Regular one-on-one check-ins, clear ownership over follow-up, and consistent communication rhythms create the trust and continuity that make board time itself more generative.

Clarity of role matters more than activity level. Boards struggle when expectations are vague. The highest-functioning boards create explicit expectations about what type of board they are (working, strategic, funding, hybrid, etc.), what each member is being asked to contribute, and where the board should — and should not — engage. 

Design meetings for decision-making, not reporting. Replace presentations with pre-reads. When board meetings are structured around discussion, judgment calls, and trade-offs rather than status updates, engagement rises and meetings stop feeling repetitive or performative.

Match engagement strategies to individual motivations and working styles. Board members show up for different reasons and process information differently. Effective leaders invest time in understanding each member’s “why” and “how”, then tailor communication, asks, and involvement accordingly. 

Consistency builds confidence and accountability. Using stable agendas, shared frameworks, and recurring formats across meetings helps boards track progress over time and understand how decisions evolve, especially in fast-moving or uncertain environments.

Accountability works best when paired with trust and peer ownership. Scorecards and assessments can be powerful, but only when introduced thoughtfully. Several leaders emphasized shifting accountability conversations toward peer-to-peer ownership (via board chairs or committees) and using self-assessment tools to invite reflection rather than defensiveness.

Strong board culture depends on strong internal coordination. Effective board engagement is often enabled by close partnership between the CEO, board chair, and roles like Chief of Staff or Executive Operations — particularly around preparation, follow-up, and clarity of expectations.

Practical Applications for AI in Impact Work

Posted on by Brianna Provenzano

Most impact leaders know AI is changing and reshaping many contours of our economy and lived experience. Fewer feel confident putting it to use in their day-to-day work.

On February 3, NationSwell hosted a group of peer leaders for a virtual roundtable focused on immediate, practical applications for AI on impact teams. Together, we explored how leaders are using generative AI – and increasingly agentic AI – to increase speed, clarity, and capacity in core workflows like reporting, communications, grantee engagement, operations, and more.

From day to day low-lift use cases to opportunities for mission delivery, the session surfaced plenty of actionable insights for implementing AI within teams and organizations; a selection of those insights appears below.

Key Takeaways:

Anchor AI adoption in user-centered design from day one. AI tools are far more likely to succeed when they are built with a deep understanding of end users, informed by diverse perspectives, and tested for usability. Grounding AI in user needs reduces failure rates and drives adoption, especially as many digital transformation efforts fall short.

Start with low-risk, high-return AI use cases to build momentum. Impact teams are already gaining value by using AI for summarization, synthesis, reporting, and more. These applications save time, require minimal technical lift, and help teams build confidence before moving into more complex AI-enabled workflows.

Use AI to augment human judgment, not replace it. The strongest applications position AI as a thought partner that accelerates analysis and surfaces insights, while leaving critical thinking and strategy to people. Reviewing outputs, checking sources, and applying human judgment remains essential to responsible use.

Embed AI into products and systems to reduce friction at scale. When AI is built directly into platforms, such as grantmaking and employee engagement, it can automate administrative work, surface patterns, and recommend next steps. This allows impact leaders to focus more time on mission-critical work.

Treat AI as a capacity multiplier in resource-constrained environments. With impact teams being asked to do more with less, AI is increasingly a necessity rather than a nice-to-have. Thoughtful adoption can expand organizational capacity, accelerate access to funding and services, and ultimately drive greater impact.

Apply advanced use cases of AI to unlock insights for decision-making. AI-powered analysis of geospatial and time-based data can help organizations anticipate risks, target interventions, and allocate resources more effectively. Whether modeling climate impacts, forecasting service demand, or tailoring workforce strategies, AI can be used to better understand needs and deliver more responsive, targeted support to your communities.

Unlock new capabilities from off the shelf tools.  Big unlocks don’t require developing a full stack AI solution. Fully leveraging the existing capabilities in off the shelf low/no cost LLMS, while protecting sensitive data and respecting organizational policies, present opportunities for major advancements in productivity and impact. Be sure to check out voice to text capabilities for braindumping, deep research modes for research and insights, and experiment with Claude for writing.

AI for Nonprofit Empowerment

AI for Nonprofit Empowerment

Nonprofits face unique challenges when it comes to incorporating AI in their work.

NationSwell’s latest report, AI for Nonprofit Empowerment, funded by Annie E. Casey Foundation, provides knowledge on how nonprofit organizations can use AI to streamline processes and improve day-to-day functions, while maintaining focus on the work that truly matters.

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Identifying your Organization’s Impact Superpowers

Identifying your Organization’s Impact Superpowers

Every organization possesses unique strengths that hold potential to drive transformative impact. When applied effectively, these act as superpowers. 

Whether you are leveraging innovative technologies, tapping unique expertise, mobilizing extensive networks, or amplifying a trusted brand, understanding your organization’s superpowers allows you to target efforts where they can make the greatest difference.

This toolkit provides practical frameworks, self-assessment tools, and illustrative examples to guide leaders through an exploration of organizational strengths, resources, and opportunities. Use this resource to identify and elevate the capabilities within your organization that have the most potential to effect positive change.

Exercises covered in this toolkit include: 

  • Exercise 1: Impact SWOT
  • Exercise 2: Asset and Resource Map
  • Exercise 3: 360 Review
  • Exercise 4: Impact Wings
  • Exercise 5: Social Impact Initiative Post-Mortem
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What’s Ahead for Impact Leaders in 2026?

Posted on by Brianna Provenzano

The year ahead will challenge social impact leaders to stay focused, adaptive, and bold. Political volatility, economic uncertainty, and accelerating technological change will continue to reshape the landscape for companies, philanthropies, and nonprofits alike. To lead effectively, it’s essential to cut through the noise and anchor in a shared understanding of the conditions we’re operating within – the challenges, the opportunities, and the questions we can’t yet answer.

On January 13, NationSwell hosted a candid, forward-looking virtual Leader Roundtable on what’s ahead for social impact in 2026. Some of the most salient takeaways from the conversation appear below:

Key takeaways:

Build for permanent volatility, not temporary disruption. The organizations best positioned for 2026 are strengthening internal infrastructure (governance, systems, and decision-making) so they can stabilize and operate effectively in uncertainty, rather than react to periodic crises.

Emphasize the importance of risk management. Impact work is no longer solely about polished storytelling or reputational lift. It must demonstrate how programs reduce risk, strengthen resilience, and protect long-term enterprise value in a rapidly shifting environment.

Replace anecdotes with granular, actionable data. Stories still matter, but leaders and boards now expect rigorous data to inform decision-making. The most effective teams lead with evidence, outcomes, and ROI, and use storytelling to reinforce, not substitute, the business case.

Design impact strategies that solve executive-level challenges. Disjointed CSR strategies are of the past. High-performing impact teams embed their work into core enterprise priorities. For example: solve for the CFO’s constraints, the CHRO’s workforce needs, the CMO’s agenda, and the CEO’s growth strategy.

Make every dollar work harder. Resource pressure is real. Leverage scalable, well-structured partnerships to share risk, expand reach, and deliver multi-dimensional value. Ensure each investment advances both social outcomes and business objectives.

Ensure key programs have “tentacles” into real-world dynamics. Effective initiatives connect directly to what’s happening in communities, markets, and technologies. Programs that stay close to lived experience and external shifts maintain relevance and legitimacy.

Grow trust through connection, relationship building, and reconciliation. Collaboration across differences requires more than convening. Leaders must invest in relationships, acknowledge past harm, and rebuild trust before durable partnerships and shared progress are possible.

Q3 2025 Social Impact Trends

Q3 2025 Social Impact Trends

NationSwell’s quarterly trend spotter provides impact professionals with visibility into the most noteworthy, timely, and material shifts in the field. For Q3 of 2025, our report explores the following six trends:

  1. Corporations are quieter on ESG/DEI – and delaying some reports
  2. “One Big Beautiful Bill” has material implications for corporate giving strategies
  3. Values-driven public pressure is influencing reputations and sales
  4. Workforce development is surging as a strategic priority, driven by widening skills gaps
  5. Impact teams are increasing AI adoption while attention grows on need for ethical governance
  6. The U.S. is experiencing climate & ESG policy setbacks while global rules march on
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Place-Based Impact: Building Beyond the Pilot

Posted on by Brianna Provenzano

Place-based initiatives often begin with promising pilots, but the real challenge lies in building models that endure, evolve, and create lasting change for communities. From knowing when to sunset a project, to adapting an initiative as conditions shift, or to nurture long-term, community-driven impact, place-based work raises important questions about what success truly looks like. Should scale always be the goal—or are shifts in power and resources, and other changes representative of deeper measures of progress?

On November 13, NationSwell hosted a virtual Leader Roundtable event designed to explore what it takes to move beyond the pilot phase and built place-based impact that lasts. Some of the most salient takeaways from the discussion appear below:

Center on-the-ground leadership and lived experience. Effective place-based work starts with local leaders, residents, and young people as co-designers and decision-makers, not just “voices in the room.” When communities define the problems, interpret the data, and choose strategies, funders are able to support work that is more trusted, relevant, and durable.

Shift from standalone projects to long-term strategies. Moving from a collection of disconnected pilots to a portfolio and strategy approach allows leaders to track progress over time, reallocate resources, and adapt without “killing” programs overnight. This zoomed-out view makes it easier to align partners around shared outcomes.

Treat scale as systems change, not just numbers served. In place-based work, scale often looks like stronger civic infrastructure, policy shifts, better-aligned funding streams, and new local capacities, rather than big “vanity” reach numbers. What equally matters is what lasts after a grant cycle ends: local organizations that can attract new resources, shared data systems, and cross-sector tables that keep working.

Lead with values over metrics and logic models. Shared guiding principles – such as non-negotiable youth leadership, community involvement in all decisions, and non-extractive partnership – create the trust and alignment needed for complex collaborations. When values are explicit, they shape governance, grantmaking practices, and how power is shared between parties.

Use national power to open doors, not dictate direction. Large institutions can add enormous value by validating local models, attracting co-funders, and lending policy or communications support. But they don’t need to dictate the agenda. Showing up with humility, naming reputational or political risks transparently, and “walking alongside” community partners helps make sure big brands amplify local leadership instead of overshadowing it.

Standardize the framework but localize the solution. What transfers across communities is the evidence base, theory of change, and shared indicators for success; what must be locally tailored are the specific strategies and programs. The work is a continuous loop: look at the data, ground-truth it with residents, choose evidence-informed approaches that fit local realities, test, learn, and adapt.

Measure both the journey and the destination. Robust, shared data systems are important, but so are simple, practical signals: who’s showing up, which relationships are forming, and whether local leaders feel more connected and capable. Tracking process indicators alongside long-term outcomes helps manage leadership expectations, tells a more honest story of progress, and keeps everyone committed to the multi-year horizon real systems change requires.

Making the Case for Investment in Impact

Making the Case for Investment in Impact

This resource is intended to guide corporate social impact leaders in securing and growing their organization’s investment in their work. The case-making points and data included focus on the importance of social investments to key stakeholders: employees and customers.

The resource prepares impact leaders for budgetary conversations with context on the landscape, data, and talking points. We also provide tools for securing investment by aligning with business objectives, exploring measurement approaches for calculating ROI, and anticipating changes brought on by ongoing uncertainty.

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Preparing for Your 2026 Resourcing Conversations

Posted on by Brianna Provenzano

During the time of year when many impact leaders are preparing their 2026 budgets – and making their case for sustained or increased funding — NationSwell convened a virtual Leader Roundtable dedicated to providing a space for our community to connect on best practices, talking points, and novel approaches for making the case for investment, accessing adjacent budgets through deeper business alignment, and navigating stakeholder dynamics with confidence.

Some of the key takeaways from the discussion appear below:

Key takeaways

Advance multi-channel resourcing strategies. Organizations can adapt to flat or reduced budgets by creatively aligning with discretionary funds, cross-departmental resources, and pro bono assets. Embedding impact priorities into broader business strategies supports continued relevance and resilience in constrained financial environments.

Elevate holistic definitions of corporate giving. Leaders are moving beyond foundation dollars to account for the “totality of giving,” including volunteerism, product donations, and operational investments. Tracking and celebrating these broader contributions helps unlock hidden value and provides a fuller picture of corporate impact to key stakeholders.

Benchmark against peers while embracing discretion. Companies are increasingly willing to share impact data in aggregate but hesitant to disclose specifics, reflecting reputational sensitivities. Collective benchmarking can guide strategic planning while respecting privacy, and offers opportunities to highlight product-based and in-kind giving models as complements to cash philanthropy.

Embed executive sponsorship in impact initiatives. Executive champions can unlock access to budgets, headcount, and expertise across the enterprise. Formal sponsorship programs and structured “away models” for employee participation provide scalable ways to extend impact teams without new headcount.

Balance visibility and employee engagement in shifting climates. With many corporations opting for quieter public-facing stances, there is a growing emphasis on internal employee engagement. Nonprofits can adapt and embrace this momentum by providing safe  and risk-aware opportunities to corporate partners. 

Promote cross-sector collaboration to meet systemic challenges. Leaders are eager for truth-seeking and collective momentum in a moment where organizations are largely working in silos. Building integrated approaches that link corporate assets, nonprofit expertise, and public funding streams can build shared resilience in the face of economic, environmental, and compliance pressures.

Leverage AI and technology responsibly for capacity-building. With fundraising and impact teams already stretched, enterprise AI tools can provide efficiencies – but must be deployed with clear guardrails to ensure ethical use, compliance, and trust.