Should You Consider a Strategic Alliance?

by James Barrow Will the “New Normal” suggest new opportunities?  Many nonprofits are questioning what is next for their organization. One avenue suggests there will be a whole new level of collaborative initiatives driven by a new attitude about working together, or by recognition that a more streamlined organization is required. This may result in […]

Read More…


Communicating in a Crisis: Thoughts from ESC

By Marjorie Bauer, Debra Yanofsky, Gabriele Loebbert, and Janice Dolnick Introduction We hope you are all healthy, safe and sound during this unprecedented time of social distancing and virtual service delivery. While marketing is about the last thing you want to think about during a crisis like COVID-19, the need to communicate to all your […]

Read More…


ESC helps GALA with Strategic Business Plan for Makerspace and Vocation Hub in Wolfeboro, NH: “We use this plan as our Compass”

by Josh Arnold, Executive Director, GALA and Carol Holyoake Behind most great ideas that successfully cross the bridge into reality is a great plan. A case in point was an idea that emerged from the Global Awareness Local Action (GALA) board retreat in 2016, when the board asked, “How can we build upon our strengths […]

Read More…


Board Governance: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

By Craig Anderson, ESC Northern New England Consultant When it comes to governing boards, there are the good, the bad, and the ugly.  Bad boards are complacent boards.  They meet on a regular schedule, most members show up, so that’s 80%, but they never do anything, or at least anything new. A friend and I […]

Read More…


A Pickpocket on the Bus

by Craig Anderson, ESC Northern New England Consultant I was on a bus heading downtown in Manhattan when I saw a young man pick an older man’s pocket.  At the next stop, the young man and several cronies got off and beat it down the street.  I continued downtown feeling uneasy and then switched to […]

Read More…


Annual Development Planning

Looking back on 2019, what are your donors telling you? Strategic planning is important to the success of development programs too. It’s incumbent on nonprofits, no matter their fiscal year, to look back on donor and gift history for each calendar year to inform development planning. If your fiscal year is not a calendar year, […]

Read More…


Immigrant Advancement in a New Political Landscape

This week we feature a guest post from Ashok B. Boghani, ESC of New England’s Board Chair. I attended a Forum at The Boston Foundation on April 19th. Titled “Our Shared Future: Charting a Path for Immigrant Advancement in a New Political Landscape,” the program provided a platform for discussing many issues related to this […]

Read More…


Guest Blog: Nonprofit vs. Corporate Board Smackdown

Guest blog post by ESC Consultant & Governance Expert Theresa Hamacher If there’s an evergreen topic in the governance world, it’s comparing and contrasting nonprofit and corporate boards. Lengthy articles analyzing the similarities and differences appear at regular intervals in the nonprofit press. Some of these pieces argue that the two types of boards are […]

Read More…