Author:
Jon Huggett
Categories:
Equity-Centered Management
Health Justice
Indigenous Communities
Strategic Planning
Photo by Zulfugar Karimov on Unsplash Amidst a backlash against diversity, equity, and inclusion work, it is critical to recall the intention behind the work in the first place—which is to advance progress for communities being left behind. The long-established practice of “centering” communities can help us ground again the intention behind equity work. When an organization’s core constituents are prioritized and centered in its programming, resources, and decision-making, concepts like equity and inclusion are …
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Author:
Coty Poynter
Categories:
Capacity Building
Donor Relations
Financial Sustainability
Fundraising
Credit: Morgan Housel on Unsplash Welcome back to NPQ’s fundraising advice column, Ask Rhea. Rhea Wong is a fundraising expert and professional coach, exuberant author of Get That Money, Honey!, host of the Nonprofit Lowdown podcast, and an unfailingly encouraging voice in a sometimes-bleak landscape. Rhea wants you to succeed, and she’s here to answer your questions. In today’s issue, Rhea covers how to keep above water in the priorities pool when you find yourself …
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Author:
Coty Poynter
Categories:
Activism
Coalition Building
Immigration
Politics
Trump Administration
Credit: Liam Edwards on Unsplash In Defense of Civil Society, a column from the staff at Protect Democracy, provides timely, research-driven analysis on why protecting American democracy requires protecting civil society and how nonprofits can navigate this moment, stand in solidarity, and continue our mission-oriented work. In recent months, Americans have taken to the streets in record numbers to protest and dissent. Broad swaths of our communities—everyday people—gather at protests big and small across the …
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Author:
Aine Creedon
Categories:
Donor Relations
Foundations
Fundraising
Nonprofit Sector
Philanthropy
Photo by Ben Wicks on Unsplash I recently spoke with a major gift fundraiser who had quit her job with a large health care facility. Why? She couldn’t stand the focus on metrics as the reference point against which her work was evaluated. Everything was about numbers, and this prevented her from focusing on truly building relationships with the donors to whom she was assigned. I felt sad—for her, for the organization that could have …
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Author:
Coty Poynter
Categories:
Activism
Nonprofit Sector
Social Movements
WetheCivic
Credit: Hanna Brovko on Pexels What if the solution to our deeply polarized political life was more imagination, not less conflict? Centering so much of our public discourse on division—whether lamenting how far apart we stand or countering that we still have a lot in common—does not serve to heal those divides and may even reinforce fears that our sense of common purpose is beyond repair. Polarization itself is less a problem to solve but …
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Author:
Coty Poynter
Categories:
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Capacity Building
Organizational Culture
Technology
Credit: Cash Macanaya on Unsplash “Nonprofits and NGOs are adopting (generative) artificial intelligence technologies faster than they’re designing governance and training for their teams.” Thus begins the 2026 State of Nonprofit AI: Adoption and Governance Report. Researched and penned in partnership by NTEN and The Bridgespan Group, the report sets out to explain “how nonprofit and social sector organizations are adopting and using AI tools and technologies—from generative AI tools to AI-powered features embedded in …
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Author:
Aine Creedon
Categories:
Civil Society and Democracy
Climate Justice
Community Development
Economic Development
Economic Justice
Image Credit: Jacob Boomsma on iStock “This is just the start of the work,” said the lobbyist flatly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world at the end of an exhausting briefing. This moment was both a reckoning and the beginning of two people coming together to determine how we could begin building a new type of movement in pursuit of renewable energy in co-governance with local neighborhoods. Here, “we” are …
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Author:
Aine Creedon
Categories:
Civil Society and Democracy
Federal Government
Nonprofit Sector
Policy
Structural Racism
WetheCivic
Image Credit: Getty Images For Unsplash+ As the leader of a large nonprofit organization in Boston—the birthplace of the American Revolution—I’ve found myself asking: In the face of escalating attacks on our communities, our sector, and our society, what do modern-day revolutionary acts look like? Over the past year, as we’ve seen our hard-won rights deliberately eroded through policies that are fueling and exacerbating economic and social inequality, I’m reminded that revolutions aren’t always one-off, …
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Author:
Aine Creedon
Categories:
Activism
Race and Power
Racial Justice
Structural Racism
WetheCivic
Uncredited DOJ photographer, restored by Adam Cuerden. Wikimedia Commons. The story of a white teacher, Barbara Henry, and a six-year-old Black student, Ruby Bridges, integrating a New Orleans elementary school is an iconic civil rights story. But going deeper into that story illustrates key leadership dilemmas that we still face today. Many of us have been inundated with ideas of leadership deeply rooted in a dominant Western viewpoint—one that leans heavily on the fearless, rugged …
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Author:
Aine Creedon
Categories:
Civil Society and Democracy
Community Development
Community Organizing
Nonprofit Sector
Structural Racism
Photo by Yonas Bekele and Pablo Merchán Montes on Unsplash Many funders are rightly concerned about the state of our democracy. That concern has become more urgent in the lead-up to the midterm elections—as it does every two years, right on schedule. It’s true that multiple indices show our democracy is in free fall. But our “democracy” has always been a myth to far too many US residents. For the communities that have been consistently …
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Author:
Aine Creedon
Categories:
Civic Infrastructure
Climate Justice
Local Nonprofits
Nonprofit News
Stakeholder Engagement
Image Credit: Micael Nuñez ‘Whose Movement Is It’, a series co-produced by NPQ and the Environmental Justice Oral History Project, is a call to action for those at the forefront of environmental justice decision-making, drawing on insights, hopes, and visions for the future from some of the foundational women organizers of the environmental justice movement. When residents in southwest Tucson first discovered their drinking water was contaminated with chemicals used to clean airplane parts in …
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Author:
Aine Creedon
Categories:
Black Voices
Economic Justice
Racial Wealth Gap
Reparations
Image Credit: Oladimeji Odunsi and Jon Tyson for Unsplash Editor’s Note: The author used AI tools for grammar checks, structuring, and verifying references in the writing of this article. The ideas, context, and writing itself are entirely the author’s own. Dear America, On July 4, 2026, you marked 250 years as a sovereign nation. This entire year is being positioned as a milestone of triumph, achievement, and celebration. But for many of us, this year …
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