Misty Copeland almost disappeared quietly. After 25 years with American Ballet Theatre—with metal plates, torn ligaments, and constant pain—she was ready to fade away. No farewell gala. No public goodbye. Then Darren Walker intervened. Walker, the outgoing president of Ford Foundation, convinced her to make it public. "It feels like a launching pad," Copeland said after his encouragement. Then Walker did something even better: Ford Foundation became the lead underwriter for her October 22...

Hi! I want to tell you about something that happened last week that reinforced why I do this work the way I do (and how I accomplish my work as well). A client needed board training. Not the cookie-cutter, here's-your-binder-good-luck variety. Real training, as in: How do we run an annual review process for our executive director? We need to learn how to read financials without glazing over! What's our actual role in fundraising? How do we onboard new members so they don't spend a year...

You probably use the word "stakeholder" dozens of times a week. In proposals, meetings, strategic plans. It feels neutral, professional, standard. It's not. The term comes from literally driving stakes into land to claim it—to forcibly mark indigenous territory as someone else's property. Every time we use it casually in our sector, we're invoking the language of dispossession. I just released a podcast episode with Austen Smith and Julie McFarland diving into why this matters and what to do...