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“Network intelligence is the ability to learn from a diverse group of connections. Wherever you work, look beyond your walls: there are more smart people outside than inside your organization.”
– Reid Hoffman (digital strategist)
2025 has been one for the record books. So many shocks to so many systems, including most nonprofit organizations in this country. Sudden cuts and changes in funding flows, threatening policies, toxic and unstable political leadership, economic uncertainties, culture clashes, literal fires and floods…all resulting in physical and mental health challenges, staffing shortages, and ongoing fatigue teetering towards burnout. We have definitely seen and felt it in our own organization.
In times like these, even finding basic stability can feel unclear. We have written in other posts about the crucial nature of leadership practices that center on care and well-being (see blog here). Those are certainly foundational, and alongside them, we continue to emphasize the importance of leaning into and cultivating strong networks. Networks are a source of resilience, resource-sharing, extended capacity, creativity, and mutual support. They remind us that no one has to navigate uncertainty alone.
What Networks Make Possible When Conditions Are Hard
We know the power of nurturing connections to keep our energy going and flowing. Sometimes that looks like turning to people beyond our organizational walls to be seen and heard, share honestly how we are feeling, and perhaps commiserate. In one place-based network we helped to launch and now co-steward, a community of practice for executive directors has become a crucial space to unburden and not feel so alone.
In another network we have supported on and off for a decade, we have seen how like-minded program directors can mentor one another around practice and innovation. Bringing in perspectives from other organizations and communities can feel like a breath of fresh air – one that can help us see things differently, spark new ideas, and increase energy and enthusiasm.We just recently witnessed this at a national gathering of this network, where a series of “spark talks” about different initiatives happening around the country got people talking excitedly about possibilities, which they carried home with them.
In a multi-state watershed network, we have seen how shared capacity can stabilize the whole ecosystem. Organizations take turns leading based on bandwidth and hand off stewardship when they need a pause. Knowledge-sharing across the network, from grant opportunities to policy updates to new technologies, has become essential for groups trying to stay grounded amid constant change.
We are also seeing more organizations that have needed to shrink explore shared infrastructure with other organizations, from co-locating office space to pooling administrative support. Some ecosystems are even asking a bigger question: What work is each organization best positioned to hold right now? While the losses in these cases are real, there is an upside, as “doing what you do best and connecting to the rest” can support the creation of diverse and interconnected ecosystems, which are inherently more resilient.
Steps Leaders Can Take Now
Whether you are already part of a larger network or starting to build one, nonprofit leaders can begin cultivating the benefits of collective power by:
Keep looking beyond your organizational walls
Map the larger ecosystem of which you are a part
Identify peers and mentors with whom you might connect
Consider where you might let go in the name of doing what you do best
Gauge where you have excess capacity to share with others in your ecosystem, and let them know
Meet with others to discuss where there are collaborative efficiencies to be gained through joint staffing, shared back-office resources, use of technology, and peer-to-peer exchanges
Encourage funders to support convenings/collaborative conversations and invest in stronger ecosystems
In a time when certainty is scarce, networks offer something steadier: collective possibility.
Where might you reach outward, even in a small way, to strengthen the web that can hold you, your team, and your community through what comes next?
Notes from Race Forward’s Just Narratives for Multiracial Solidarity 2025
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Years ago, in my first nonprofit communications role, a colleague asked me why I was shaping my work around what the system allowed (what I thought was “realistic”), instead of imagining a system that actually served us. That question changed everything for me.
At Race Forward’s Just Narratives for Multiracial Solidarity 2025, it felt like the whole convening was grappling with that same tension: What possibilities are we leaving behind because we’ve accepted the limits we were handed? If harmful systems were imagined into existence, what could happen if imagined something better?
Throughout panels, performances, research sessions, and even late-night conversations, imagination wasn’t framed as a soft skill. It was treated as political power, and one we need to take seriously if we want to build something better.
Imagination is the Starting Point
The opening panel reminded us that pointing out what’s broken is only step one. Movements can’t grow without a shared picture of what comes next. Fear can ignite urgency, but it rarely sustains people. It shrinks our sense of who belongs and narrows what feels achievable.
Hope, on the other hand, builds the kind of community that lasts. It expands our sense of belonging, creates room for collaboration, strengthens trust, and helps people stay in the work through long periods of uncertainty. And choosing hope doesn’t mean we just ignore the compounding crises we’re in – it means recognizing that hope requires action, discipline, and a willingness to stick with the work even when progress is slow.
Monica Roa from Puentes put it plainly: “The world is indeed shit, and we can choose to compost it together.” The circumstances are tough, but we are not powerless. And if harmful systems were imagined into existence, then new systems can also be imagined.
Later, a Palestinian dabke performance from Canaan Wellspring reinforced that imagination can also be embodied. Culture, rhythm, and collective movement are forms of political storytelling.
Nikko Viquiera from Race Forward added a grounding point: imagination without action is just delusion. Naming and posting aren’t enough – dreams require steps.
Infrastructure Shapes What Imagination Can Actually Do
Rinku Sen from Narrative Initiative grounded the conversation by discussing infrastructure – not in an abstract policy sense, but in terms of what allows imagination to become reality. We at IISC wrote about the importance of infrastructure a few months ago here. Infrastructure is not only organizations or reports. It’s people’s stories, their capacity, their confidence, their relationships. It’s whether everyday people (not only professionals) have what they need to share narratives that matter.
Jennifer Ng’andu from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation added that infrastructure also includes trust, support for leaders who are under-resourced or targeted, and the relational glue that keeps movements going.
Anna Castro from the Transgender Law Center reminded us that infrastructure isn’t just the bones, it’s the joints. It’s what makes movement possible. And she pointed out that the South has been living with disinvestment long before national headlines caught up. Southern organizers have had to imagine new solutions out of necessity, and there’s a lot to learn from that.
Together, these points made something clear: imagination is powerful, but it needs structure. Without infrastructure, imagination never makes it off the page.
The Hope Gap: When People Support Change but Don’t Believe It’s Possible
One of the clearest connections between imagination and political power came from folks I deeply admire: the BLIS Collective. Their workshop introduced the Hope Gap, the distance between what people support and what they believe is achievable.
Their research shows major gaps in belief:
76% of Black Americans support reparations, but only 21.5% believe it can realistically happen.
80% of Indigenous people support Land Back, but only 19% believe it’s possible.
This pattern extends across many bold policies. People want transformative solutions, but decades of disinvestment, backlash, and political messaging have convinced many that big changes are unrealistic. When people don’t believe change is possible, they disengage or lower their expectations. The Hope Gap isn’t just a barrier to action, but a crisis in political imagination.
The BLIS research is ongoing, so instead of presenting final answers, their workshop taught us how to identify Hope Gaps in our own issue areas. We worked collectively to explore narratives that invite participation rather than resignation.
My biggest takeaway was this: we don’t have to start from scratch. We can learn from what already exists. We can amplify the wins, from reparations efforts to LandBack victories, so they feel possible, repeatable, and real. When we lift up these examples, we normalize the idea that what we imagine together can take root.
Imagination Grows Through Community
Outside the formal sessions, the theme of imagination showed up again in the way people gathered. I spent time tending to old and new relationships, eating and dancing together, laughing through a spontaneous mini-makeover session. At one point, nearly everyone said some version of, “This is why we come.”
These moments truly were the heart of the gathering. They confirmed that narrative work, hope-building, and movement strategy grow through connection, the kind you build by showing up, sharing space, and remembering that people are the reason this work moves at all.
ALOK’s Call to Choose Humanity Over Convention
ALOK Vaid-Menon’s brilliant keynote tied the theme together. They asked why our sector continues to choose convention over humanity. They reminded the audience that our values come from the people who have held and supported us through our lives.
Their central point was that all justice work is connected. Trans justice, racial justice, climate justice, gender justice, disability justice – these are not separate fights. When we act like they are, we weaken all of them. And there are systems intentionally built to keep them separate.
ALOK also named the funder-industrial complex’s role in encouraging fragmentation, but insisted that collaboration is where our movements gain power. We shouldn’t need to justify why justice movements are linked. We should care because people matter.
What I’m Taking With Me
Imagination is political power
Action gives imagination meaning
Infrastructure makes imagination possible
Relationships make imagination sustainable
Hope must be intentionally built, protected, and nurtured
It is not enough to critique the systems we live in. Just like we need better messaging, we also need better imagination to actively build alternatives. And we need the conditions that allow people to believe in what they already want for the world. If fear built the systems we’re fighting, imagination can replace them.
Take a moment to ask yourself and your team:
What possibilities have we dismissed because we assumed they weren’t realistic?
Start naming them, imagining them, and then start building the infrastructure that makes them real.
A Quick Recap of Our LinkedIn Live with Amy Casso & Miriam Messinger
When everything around us feels unstable, “planning” can feel like an impossible task. Budgets fluctuate, uncertainty grows, and teams are stretched thin. During our recent LinkedIn Live, IISC Senior Associate Amy Casso and Director of Practice Miriam Messinger offered a refreshing alternative: Strategic Direction Setting – a more adaptive, human, and justice-centered way to move through complexity.
Rather than forcing organizations into rigid plans that rarely survive contact with reality, Amy and Miriam explored how teams can stay grounded in purpose while navigating uncertainty with clarity and care. They shared insights from the field about burnout, pressure, and the limitations of traditional planning, along with practical ways leaders can build resilience without compromising their values.
The conversation was lively, honest, and rich in insight, from reconnecting to your North Star, to planning for multiple futures, to designing a strategy that centers equity and strengthens collective capacity.
If your organization is seeking a way to think strategically without needing all the answers up front, this 45-minute conversation offers both grounding and inspiration. Watch the recording above or on YouTube here.
Ready to Move from Chaos to Clarity?
If your team or organization is navigating complexity, burnout, or uncertainty and still dreaming of impact, justice, and transformation, we’d love to connect!
Reach out to explore how we can support your team through Strategic Direction Setting. We’ll help you align around what matters most, build courageous collaboration, and chart a course grounded in shared power, visionary leadership, and real-time responsiveness.
Editor’s Note (updated 2025): Originally published in 2016, this piece has been lightly updated to reflect current language around Indigenous fire stewardship and the growing movement to restore cultural burning as a practice of ecological and community care.
Controlled burn in Sequoia National Park. By James Fitzgerald via Unsplash.
I’ve had the pleasure of supporting some important work happening through The Nature Conservancy’s Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network. According to the FAC website, a fire-adapted community “acknowledges and takes responsibility for its wildfire risk, and implements appropriate actions at all levels.” Actions in these fire-threatened communities “address resident safety, homes, neighborhoods, businesses and infrastructure, forests, parks, open spaces and other community assets.” In addition, it is noted that every community is unique in terms of its circumstances and capacities, so that local action may vary from place to place.
While there may be differences from community to community in the FAC network, it is also united by a common belief that there is a need for more of the right kinds of fire that support the regenerative capacity of ecosystems. As I’ve learned from members of these communities, “controlled fires” can be used to help build resilience into forests, feeding and encouraging new growth and diversity.
Indigenous fire stewards have long practiced cultural burns to support the long-term health of the forested landscape, enrich the soil, clear pathways for fauna, and promote biodiversity, all of which contribute to the health of their own communities. However, these cultural fire practices were criminalized through colonization and U.S. fire suppression policy, severing communities from their stewardship traditions. The result of the new management practices was a decline in the health of the forests and a rise in the vulnerability of those living in or near them. As one community leader put it, they are working to “reclaim prescribed fire and give fire back to people.” Today, cultural fire leaders and public agencies are collaborating to restore these Indigenous-led practices at scale – not as an emergency tactic, but as a path toward resilience and ecological justice.
This idea of giving fire back to people metaphorically resonates with the network-building and democratic engagement work we do at IISC. Much of our capacity building focuses on creating processes and structures that are more inclusive, specifically for those who have been historically marginalized, to support more just, healthy, and sustainable communities. And increasingly, we see the need for more distributed, diverse, flow-oriented approaches to social change as both the means and ends of our work. At IISC, we see “regenerative networks” the same way: when power is shared and flow increases, resilience grows.
Energy network sciences suggest that focusing on diversity, flow, and intricate structures in human networks can be a foundation for long-term and equitable prosperity. In many ways, this is about extending the lessons from fire-adapted communities regarding what it means to tend to the holistic health of the forested landscape – the importance of considering and conserving biodiversity, choosing strategic interventions and disturbances that encourage resilience and new growth, and empowering those who know local landscapes the best to act.
The “cool burns” of human networks might be thought of as “disruptions” in the form of learning, truth-telling, resource sharing, power building, and prototyping that allow new possibilities to spring up. The lessons from fire – distributed power, shared stewardship, and regenerative disturbance – may be exactly what our movements need now.
How are you tending the regenerative “fires” of learning, power sharing, and collective care in your networks? What might become possible if we did this together?
For more on “good fire,” listen to this podcast hosted by Amy Cardinal Christianson and Matthew Kristoff, watch this short video, or check out the Indigenous Peoples Burning Network website.
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We are living through so many transitions in the nonprofit sector, as with elsewhere in the world. People are leaving long-held roles, teams are shrinking, and organizations are rethinking how they survive in a time when everything, from funding to trust, is shifting. The sector is being reshaped in real time.
And while the headlines often focus on who’s leaving or what’s being lost, I’m starting to believe that change doesn’t have to feel like loss. It can also be an act of love if we approach them with care.
Leaving Well Is a Form of Leadership
After nearly 13 years at IISC, I’m in my own big transition. I’ve been thinking a lot about how to leave in a way that feels honest, grounded, and caring – for myself and for the people I’ve worked alongside. And, my cheerleader self is on full display this fall.
When a key leader departs or several staff members move on, the focus often lands on logistics: files, budgets, and inboxes. But the deeper work is emotional and relational. My own “transitional hygiene,” as my colleagues call it, has been equal parts planning, presence, and cheerleading. I’m handing off pieces of my job to other current colleagues as we are not re-hiring for my role (budget constraints!). What keeps bubbling up is how caring and skilled my colleagues are. So it is cheerleading in the best sense – not some false “rah, rah, you can do this” but rather a deeply grounded sense that others can master the spreadsheets and the tasks and that, in fact, they will bring fresh eyes and ideas to the table. They will improve on my contributions and leadership.
That realization has been healing. Instead of feeling like I’m disappearing, I feel like I’m passing something on.
How to Make Transitions Healthier for Everyone
In the nonprofit world, we often treat leadership changes like crises to be managed instead of opportunities to grow collective capacity. But what if, without being Pollyanna-ish about it, transitions were seen as opportunities for renewal?
Whether it’s one person leaving or major shifts or an organizational closure, here are some practices I’ve leaned into:
Start with care, not checklists. Before diving into to-do lists, take a breath together. Acknowledge what’s changing and what’s hard about it. That small moment of grounding makes everything else easier.
Document, but don’t dump. When you hand things off, don’t just send a pile of folders. Share the story behind the work – why certain choices were made, what relationships need care, and what you’ve learned along the way. In fact, ask what files might no longer be needed and when it’s more important to offer a frame than a set of to-dos, which really need updating anyway.
Honor relationships and the work you have done. Tell people what you’ve valued about working with them. It sounds simple, but it builds connection and confidence when the ground feels shaky. In a meeting about one of our most significant clients over the last ten years, after tactical sharing about relationships and ideas, we waxed for 20 minutes about how meaningful the work was/is, how awesome it is to see change in the direction of racial equity in a large system/network, and how much we enjoy being together as a team.
Build continuity into culture. Cross-train regularly. Share leadership. Make sure that knowledge lives in the community, not in one person’s inbox.
Grieve. Leave time for where you and others feel grief and loss. In not skirting by this, you are building strength and connection into the system.
Celebrate and mean it. It turns out that when you take time and celebrate others, they want to do the same for you. Genuine appreciation creates confidence, which creates continuity. In my transition meetings, I say, with real belief, that I know they will elevate the work to another realm.
A Transition Toolkit for Nonprofits
Here are some things I’ve found useful in my own transition and in supporting others through theirs:
Transition Documentation: Outline key processes, relationships, and decision criteria. Use plain language like “what future me would want to know.” Reflection Template: Ask departing staff: “What have you learned? What unfinished questions remain? What advice would you give your successor?” Peer Learning Check-Ins: Pair departing and remaining team members to share context, insights, and gratitude. It’s not just about transferring work, but sharing wisdom. Onboarding Continuity: Build onboarding systems that emphasize culture, not just compliance. How do new staff learn who you are as an organization? Celebration Rituals: Closing circles, storytelling sessions, or shared meals mark endings with gratitude. They reinforce the community even through change.
The Real Legacy of Leadership
At its heart, leadership transition is an act of trust. Trust that others will hold the mission. Trust that the organization will evolve. Trust that letting go can be a form of contribution. When we treat transitions as part of the work rather than an interruption of it, we open the door to institutional renewal. And, we create room for new leadership in expected and unexpected places, in ways that many of us profess to do. It is true that Facilitative Leadership™ makes room for others to shine and lead. So here’s to every cheerleader holding the pom-poms of purpose right now. May we all leave and arrive with care, courage, and celebration.
How does your organization mark transitions? What would it take to make change a source of renewal instead of fear?
Author’s Note
From Miriam Messinger: In my experience, it is hard to end well: to feel good about oneself and one’s contributions, to shift work to others, and to know that you are leaving folks well set up. After nearly 13 years at IISC, I’ve learned that the heart of a healthy transition isn’t about perfection but about presence, celebration, and trust. This piece is both a love letter to my colleagues and an invitation to the broader field: let’s model the kind of endings that make new beginnings possible. I’m happy to be part of a great ending for me at IISC.
Ready to Lead Through Transition with Care?
Whether your organization is preparing for a leadership handoff, restructuring, or renewal, IISC can help you design processes that honor both people and purpose. We’ll help you build clarity, continuity, and culture in times of change so you can move forward with confidence and care.
Image Description: Illustration of a person with long black hair and closed eyes, wearing a colorful striped sweater. They appear calm as abstract lines and circles of various colors swirl behind them. By Yeti Iglesias via Unsplash.
Over the past 32 years, Interaction Institute for Social Change has supported thousands of leaders, hundreds of organizations, and dozens of networks to navigate challenges and build diverse collaborative power. We have done this in rural, suburban, and urban communities, in this country and around the world. Between the two of us, we have seen a lot, dealt with many different scenarios and situations, and worked with an incredible variety of people and groups. All that said, over the past several years, we have faced an increasingly “perfect storm” of forces that have deeply challenged us, and on some days have left us feeling overwhelmed. These are truly extraordinary times, and they call for extraordinary habits.
At a recent gathering of sustainable agriculture advocates and new economy thinkers, someone made the point that while we may not know what is coming next, this is a good time to develop these habits. In considering this some more, we started thinking about this time of “in-between” and “not yet” as an opportunity to develop stronger transitional hygiene: the small, sustaining practices that keep us healthy, grounded, and connected as the world shifts around us.
What seems clear is that regardless of what is coming our way, there is a set of practices that will benefit ourselves as well as others, foster stronger social connections, promote community well-being, and prepare us for the future.
Here are some of the habits that have helped us and the leaders we work with stay steady and open through uncertainty:
Curtis’s Seven Habits
Take care of ourselves: As they say on planes, put your own oxygen mask on first. It is difficult to be of service and support to others if we always think of others first and ourselves last.
Be kind and generous towards others: This is key to creating a sense of abundance and possibility. Without grace for others and ourselves, we can get caught in a spiral of doubt, anger, and grief.
Stay connected to what really nourishes us: Whether it is spending time with family, friends, a pet, walking in the woods, taking a bath, staying hydrated, or eating good food, staying grounded can keep our nervous systems from letting fear rule the day.
Get out of our bunkers/silos and engage with others, including across differences: Isolation can be a killer of our spirits, our creativity, and our hope. We will each have our own sense of what the right amount of connection is, and with whom/what.
Cultivate playfulness and curiosity: In times of seeming contraction, if we shrink too much, we can lose sight of the larger world. Sometimes it can be helpful to say to ourselves, “Step back. Step back again. What do I see now?” This can also be a good time to try new things, keeping in mind that through contractions, there can be birth.
Keep a healthy sense of humor and humility: Those who laugh, last. And they tend to have a better time, no matter the circumstances. Also, remember, we don’t know the full story. Our view is ALWAYS partial and limited, and influenced by our mood. So much remains hidden. What aren’t we seeing, including supports and new paths forward?
Commit to ongoing learning: This is how our species has survived this long and made it through some really rough patches. And it is especially helpful when we share what we are learning with and seek this out in others!
Kelly’s Seven Habits
Lean into your devotion: In times like these, don’t drown in the to-do list and tasks. Unlock your passion for your work and the people who are around you. Dedicate yourself to the bigger picture – what’s actually going to move us forward, you forward, and dive in with your fierce love and commitment. If it’s not moving you, find what is. A public health leader, Carlene Pavlos, shared that we must approach everything we do with “commitment to love and emotion.” Without it, we’ll be empty, used up, and isolated.
Tap in. Tap out: It’s tiring to breathe in the politics of this moment and work with fewer resources. Cross-train staff and create redundancies and shared leadership so that people can tap in and out of duties and leadership. Tapping in looks like taking on more leadership and projects when we have energy and time, so others can rest and renew. Tapping out looks like removing things from our plate, taking time off, and sabbaticals before burnout sets in.
Be ready to keep unraveling: It won’t be like this forever, and we can expect more challenges and shocks ahead. Accept change as the natural order of things, and normalize for yourself that each hour and day may feel different and require a different resource. When the culture and electoral shifts occur, be prepared to undo the damage and create anew, together.
Contribute to and support your culture: Move through anger and fear (or let them move through you/us) so we can be good to each other and generate good ideas.
Ask for help and ask again: Consider your friend, family, personal, and professional networks. Your relationships and resources are sturdier than you know. Expand your circles – new connections await!
Persist through contraction: Even if our organizations get smaller, we can still be mighty and effective by doing what we do best, and connecting to the rest.
Stop when you can’t move another step: Don’t force yourself past exhaustion or get caught spinning in fear. Stop moving your body and mind, listen to the silence, and see what messages, ideas, and decisions are trying to find you.
These habits are how we stay human in inhuman times – small, steady practices that keep collaboration alive when the world feels uncertain.
How about you? What good habits are you cultivating now, for the short and long-term? And what are you hearing from others? Please share your thoughts with us!
Image Description: Illustration of a person lying on their back in a field at night, gazing up at the stars. The sky glows with shades of blue and pink, and a shooting star arcs above. By Naila Conita via Unsplash.
In our July blog, we introduced five practices for organizations and networks seeking clarity in uncertain times. Over the next few months, we’ll explore each of those practices more deeply.
First up:Clarify Your North Star
The North Star has long served as a symbol of direction and survival. Enslaved people followed it as a guide toward freedom. The North Star imagery is both historical and gripping. In the late 1840s, Frederick Douglass and Martin Delany named their abolitionist newspaper The North Star with the slogan: “Right is of no Sex—Truth is of no Color—God is the Father of us all, and all we are Brethren.”[3][4]
This history reminds us that clarifying a North Star is not just about strategy; it is also about values. It is about orienting ourselves toward survival, justice, and our shared humanity. In today’s turbulent times, organizations are facing funding cuts, political attacks, burnout, and an increase in community needs. A North Star helps organizations maintain their purpose while navigating change. The image of the North Star is about setting direction and grounding us in a clear purpose, something we can’t do without.
With that historical weight and justice orientation, we want to write about this step in strategic direction setting with clarity and heft. It asks us to plan with the right balance of focus and creativity, and at the right altitude. Strategic direction requires us to stay focused like a laser to move our missions forward, while also building in the flexibility and shock absorbers needed to navigate bumpy terrain.
Why Clarifying Your North Star Matters
So what is the “right altitude” for our planning in turbulent times? We believe it begins by clarifying your North Star.
Ask: What is the core purpose that must remain constant, even as the world shifts? How can you stay emergent and responsive to crises while still focusing on building long-term power and transformation?
While clarifying your North Star might seem lofty in tough times, if we don’t know where we are heading, we are sure to get lost. The North Star is a belief and is directional; it serves several functions:
Reminds all staff, board members, partners, and network of what we are striving for.
Provides a compelling vision that keeps us going beyond the day-to-day of our work.
Establishes criteria that can help us determine what to pursue and what not to pursue, grounding us in a strong identity.
Anchor decisions, strategies, and culture in tough times
Helps folks decide whether this is the right organization or network for them
Without a North Star, organizations risk drifting with funder demands, political winds, or the crisis of the moment. With one, you can adapt without losing identity.
Making It Real
A North Star is only useful if it lives beyond a vision statement.
To bring it to life:
Bring the right people around the table: Those most impacted by your work must be part of naming and having a voice in the core vision and destination
Embed it in decisions: Practice using your North Star in daily decisions, big and small. This will help make informed decisions when conditions or funding change, allowing for a focus on key elements of a program.
Use Your North Star as Anchor/Compass: During times of stress or transition, let your North Star be a touchstone, helping you stay grounded in what is most important and purposeful even as conditions shift or a crisis emerges.
To begin, ask yourselves:
What do we want to keep aiming for, especially in the toughest of times?
How do we ensure that our purpose is reflected in our decisions, not just in words? Whose voices are missing in naming or refining our North Star?
Clarifying your North Star is the first step in setting strategic direction with clarity and purpose. It provides focus and steadiness while leaving room for flexibility and emergence. External forces will always shape our path, but a strong North Star ensures they don’t paralyze us. Instead, it grounds us in clarity and steadiness, positioning us for thoughtful, flexible, and equitable direction.
In our next blog series, we will explore how we can plan for multiple futures as a means to stay purposeful without being too rigid, keeping your North Star in view while preparing for the unknown.
Ready to Move from Chaos to Clarity?
If your team or organization is navigating complexity, burnout, or uncertainty and still dreaming of impact, justice, and transformation, we’d love to connect!
Reach out to explore how we can support your team through Strategic Direction Setting. We’ll help you align around what matters most, build courageous collaboration, and chart a course grounded in shared power, visionary leadership, and real-time responsiveness.
Image Description: Colorful abstract illustration of overlapping human silhouettes filled with varied textures and patterns, like stripes, scribbles, brushstrokes, and bold colors like orange, blue, pink, green, and black. By Getty Images via Unsplash.
Every movement for justice has faced backlash. The abolitionists felt it. So did the suffragists and the leaders of the Civil Rights era. Today, organizations advancing racial justice, equity, and DEI are navigating a new wave of political attacks, censorship, and intimidation. The stakes are rising fast.
In this Nonprofit Quarterly feature, IISC President Kelly Frances Bates and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Vice President Fiona Kanagasingam lay out a framework for how justice-rooted organizations can respond with courage, solidarity, and organized power. They explore the spectrum of responses emerging across the field, from compliance and silence to pragmatic adaptation and bold collective action.
As the authors write, “Courage is contagious. Seeing others wield it helps us build our own.” Their message is clear: while the work is under attack, it is not illegal, and this moment calls us to deepen our commitment, not pull back.
For organizations, funders, and networks alike, this article is both a reality check and a roadmap. It asks: Where do you fall on the spectrum? What risks can you take to protect equity work under threat? And how can we act in solidarity so that the most vulnerable are not left to carry the heaviest burdens alone?
“We will all be worse off and concede too much if we think we can ‘wait out the storm.’ Rather, we can organize within and across institutions to build power. We can work together, in small and big ways, to create courageous actions that can be replicated throughout our communities and our country.“
Image Description: Illustration of a human head silhouette filled with branching, colorful neural pathways in red, blue, pink, and yellow, resembling both a brain and tree roots. The background features abstract shapes in red, blue, yellow, and pink. By Yeti Iglesias via Unsplash.
What happens when communities, not corporations, shape the future of AI in schools? This case study illustrates how IISC facilitated a cross-sector collaboration to build a bold, equity-centered AI framework rooted in equity, ethics, and human engagement in education. The work centers on the belief that how we come together determines what becomes possible and that those closest to the problem hold critical wisdom for the solution.
The Big Picture
AI is transforming classrooms, influencing everything from instruction and assessments to mental health monitoring. But while AI holds promise, it also carries serious risks: amplifying bias, eroding privacy, and deepening educational inequities, especially for Black, Brown, and low-income students.
AI tools are appearing in schools quickly and often without anyone checking how they’re used. Companies are selling directly to teachers, skipping over school districts, parents, and community voices. That means decisions are being made behind the scenes, with little clarity or accountability. Without clear guardrails, AI risks doing more harm than good.
A Community-Led Response
In response to these urgent challenges, a collaboration of national organizations, led by the NAACP, National Black Child Development Institute, and the Schott Foundation for Public Education, and facilitated by the Interaction Institute for Social Change (IISC), co-designed a collaborative process to guide the ethical and equitable integration of AI in public education. This case study captures that effort and explores how community-led design and racial equity principles can inform the future of education technology.
This initiative emerged from the recognition that most school districts and communities lack the tools, knowledge, and infrastructure to meaningfully shape AI policy. The current landscape allows for ad hoc AI adoption without community input and accountability, risking harm and undermining trust. To protect students and promote equity, it is essential to center human engagement, community wisdom, and ethical guardrails in the development and deployment of AI technologies.
Dr. John H. Jackson, President and CEO of the Schott Foundation for Public Education, emphasized,
“We wanted to ensure that there’s a democratic process by which parents, educators, and students are engaged in the integration of AI in their lives.”
IISC’s Role: Holding the Space for Transformative Collaboration
At IISC, facilitation is at the heart of our work – we teach it, practice it, and refine it every day. Our “special sauce” lies in designing meetings, experiences, and networks that are inclusive, equity-based processes that build a bigger we, rooted in the simple conviction that:
Together, we know much more than we know individually, and people closest to a problem have important wisdom about the solutions.
True buy-in is built through invitation and inclusion. Successful processes require not just engaging individuals, but intentionally designing the right level of involvement, ranging from consultation to co-creation to shared leadership.
In this project, IISC created a six-month journey grounded in those values. Our facilitation helped our partners:
Build a shared language around AI
Name and honor fears, tensions, and power dynamics
Surface both the threats and the possibilities of AI
Move from uncertainty and skepticism to strategy and collective action
As Dr. John H. Jackson, President and CEO of Schott, reflected: “It was a journey – moving from the threat space to imagining the opportunities.”
Many came to the table with different levels of tech literacy, policy experience, and emotional readiness. IISC’s role was to meet each of them where they were, not to force consensus, but to cultivate connection. Through careful design and deliberate facilitation, we helped shift the tone from caution to courage.
“Through intentional facilitation, this collaborative journey honored where people began, nurtured curiosity, and guided partners in shifting toward shared possibilities and collective action.” – Amy Casso, IISC Co-Facilitator on the project
“Schott Foundation and the other partners were brave and forward-thinking for hosting these conversations and community.” Kelly Frances Bates, IISC Co-Facilitator on the project
The Framework
Together with significant support from HR&A, the group created an AI Equity Framework designed to help educators, parents, and communities:
Ask the right questions when AI is introduced
Push for transparency, consent, and ethical use
Ensure decisions are made at the district and community level, not just by vendors
The framework is accessible and actionable. It includes decision trees, guiding questions, and language that empowers non-technical stakeholders to speak with clarity and confidence.
Why This Work Goes Beyond the Classroom
Beyond schools, the framework offers a model for philanthropy, tech accountability, and community-led governance. Dr. Jackson noted that many funders are either engaging tech companies without equity guardrails or sitting out entirely.
The implications reach far beyond pedagogy. As AI tools like chatbots shape youth relationships, decision-making, and mental health, the urgency to center human connection and community wisdom becomes undeniable.
Where the Movement Is Headed
With the framework now in distribution, partners are gearing up to support its implementation through technical assistance, storytelling campaigns, and sector-specific adaptations. The goal is to ensure educators, parents, and communities can meaningfully apply the framework, not just in schools, but in adjacent fields like healthcare and housing.
“It’s not just about learning outcomes. It’s about human development.” – Dr. John H. Jackson
Want Support Facilitating an Equity-Centered Process?
Whether you’re navigating a moment of change, bringing new voices to the table, or co-creating strategy, alignment, and coordination across lines of difference, how you gather matters. IISC designs processes and facilitates individuals, organizations, coalitions, communities, and networks through processes that are interactive, inclusive, participatory, and grounded in equity.
We can help you:
Bring people together across roles, power, and lived experience
Ensure collaborative and coordinated action amongst your partners
Align around shared values and direction
Navigate complexity and conflict with purpose
Build trust and collective ownership of the work ahead
Let’s talk about how we can support your process! Transformational systems start with transforming how we come together.
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In our last blog post, we reflected on network weaving as “light work” – the gentle, steadfast practices of connection that counter fear and isolation. We drew on teachings from the Brahma Kumaris and Father Richard Rohr to remind ourselves that while the noise of destruction is loud, the quiet tending of seeds can be even more powerful. We named how fear, misinformation, and division are being used to fracture communities, and how networks can serve as lanterns in the dark, offering warmth, clarity, direction, and care.
That first reflection highlighted a simple truth: networks are not just technical structures or professional associations. They are living systems of relationships. When woven with love, they can help us break out of isolation, amplify what matters most, and remember that the light is always present, in and around us, even when circumstances try to convince us otherwise.
Networks are most powerful not only when they respond to crises, but when they sustain possibility, care, and connection in everyday life. In our recent webinar, we explored how weaving relationships can be both practical and profoundly spiritual work, fueling resilience, amplifying joy, and keeping us tethered to what matters most. Our guests, Noel Didla and Keith Bergthold, shared powerful examples of weaving connections, sharing resources, and bringing light and love to places that might surprise you.
In conversations leading up to that session and since, we’ve been naming the everyday choices that sustain this kind of work: how we listen, how we show up, how we keep one another tethered to what matters most. So this follow-up offers a closer look at these practices that many of us are already experimenting with or longing to deepen. They are often small and simple, yet when repeated and shared across networks, they generate warmth, resilience, and joy.
Here are some of the practices that have come to mind and heart:
Collective Action & Mutual Care
Doing mutual aid work
Facilitating restorative circle work
Banding together with others to defend those who are most vulnerable
Protecting our leaders (including protecting them from themselves)
Keeping in mind “excess” resources/capacity and offering to others
Practices of Wellbeing & Connection
Holding space with loving intention
Sharing the appreciations we have for one another
Seeing one another and reflecting back our strengths and values
Engaging in dialogue while holding complexity and not devolving to blame
Care-full listening to ourselves, others, and the more-than-human world
Respecting and savoring both silence and stillness
Inner Work & Growth
Grounding ourselves deeply in a sense of humility
Remembering not to take ourselves too seriously and being willing to laugh
Practicing gratitude and forgiveness (for/of ourselves, others, the universe)
Doing our own “shadow work” so that we are not projecting on others
Doing “bridging work” rather than defaulting to “breaking” behaviors
Setting loving boundaries to keep from being overwhelmed
Staying curious and always eager to learn
Spiritual & Cultural Wisdom
Extending the teachings of elders to these times and our specific places
Remembering and honoring our more-than-human kin
Expressing awe and wonder about … everything
Taking time to step back and look at the bigger picture
Living like you believe a more beautiful world is possible
Keeping focused on the higher goal of your work/life
Loving without any good reason
These practices can become that much more powerful through what Grace Lee Boggs once called “the invisible fabric of our connectedness.”
Which of these speak to you?
What might you add?
Want to learn more about the power of networks? Join us for Feeding Ourselves: Networks, Data and Policy for Just and Sustainable Food Systems, a live webinar on October 30, 2025, from 12 – 2 pm ET. Register here.
Image Description: An illustration of Earth surrounded by an explosion of colorful, stylized foliage and flowers. The continents are marked with small red hearts, and the colorful leaves and petals radiate outward in all directions against a black background. By Getty Images via Unsplash+.
There’s a quiet revolution underway. You can see it in church gatherings and small-town meetings, on Zoom calls between elders and young organizers, in community art projects, healing circles, and protest planning sessions.
Across the country, IISC has had the deep honor of supporting and witnessing this movement: the call for food justice in Mississippi, the fight for immigrant rights in Florida, and unincorporated towns in California’s Central Valley organizing and standing against corporate land grabs with the memory of ancestors alive in their bones.
This June marked 32 years since IISC was founded to build collaborative capacity for social change. As we reflect on more than three decades of work, we are clear that real transformation is rooted in the relationships, strategies, and structures that make long-term change possible.
This is what power-building looks like – not only marching or resisting, but reimagining how we live, lead, and make decisions together.
We’re living in a moment full of pressure and possibility, where movement leaders are not only responding to harm but also building blueprints for belonging, designing ecosystems of mutual care, shaping decision-making structures that reflect their values, and challenging the status quo about who leads, who benefits, and who gets to be fully seen.
And in the background, behind the chants and policies, something quieter (and often invisible) is also happening: Movements are collaborating in deeper, more intentional ways. And we are helping to seed and shape that work together.
Power Building Is Infrastructure Work As capacity builders, we’ve learned that what sustains movements isn’t just energy or the rightness of the cause – it’s the infrastructure that doesn’t always show up on a stage, but holds everything in place. While people typically think of “infrastructure” as technology, tools, funding, and flows of information and resources, there is a deep need for relational, human infrastructure and the skills that enable people to make and sustain change together.
Behind every campaign or viral hashtag, there is slow, deliberate work. Networks negotiating values, grassroots leaders navigating conflict and decision-making, and organizers choosing to stay in relationship when things get hard because they know liberation isn’t a solo act.
This is the kind of power that movements are building and that we co-construct with them. Power built through:
Clear strategy rooted in shared values
Equitable decision-making across lines of difference
Leadership that centers collaboration, healing, and shared accountability
Networked action that multiplies impact rather than fragments energy
This kind of infrastructure does not emerge overnight or from passion alone. It takes facilitation, training, culture-building, relationship tending, strategic clarity, and people who are willing to hold space for discomfort, emergence, and transformation. It takes collaborators who understand that the right kind of structure does not limit people; it liberates them to move together toward something more powerful than any of us could hold alone.
Movement Work Is Evolving, and So Must Our Support In this era, the most critical support for power-building groups is not marketing or messaging or a one-time DEI workshop – it is long-term, trust-based relationships coupled with visionary strategy that build the muscle of collaboration, collective care, and self-governance. It is support that meets movement leaders where they are, with tools that are grounded in deep equity, shaped by experience, and designed not just to help organizations “function” but to help them thrive in alignment with their purpose and people.
This is the kind of capacity-building work we at IISC and many peers in the practitioner ecosystem are committed to:
Facilitation that invites truth and transformation
Strategy development that is relational, emergent, and rooted in values
Cohort design that cultivates brave space
Network weaving that strengthens interdependence
At its core, this work is about building the capacity for collective liberation, and doing so in ways that reflect the values and visions of the people who are most impacted.
Deep Investment and Choice We are witnessing a moment of both resurgence and retaliation in the U.S. and globally. While movement leaders dream and deliver bold new futures, political parties and their supporters are doubling down on repression. And yet, movement leaders keep showing up. They keep convening. They keep trying to do the impossible: imagine a future where everyone can thrive and build together toward that day while under attack.
What would it look like if we, as capacity-builders, met their courage with our own?
What if philanthropy prioritized sustained infrastructure for movements instead of short-term wins?
What if intermediaries slowed down to listen deeply and moved at the pace of trust instead of deliverables?
What if everyone pursuing justice understood that strategy, facilitation, and organizational development are not extras but essential nutrients and foundation for the long road to justice?
The Invitation If you are building power, thank you. If you are funding frontline power building, consider funding infrastructure as well, to resource the ecosystem as a whole. And if you’re an infrastructure-building organization, be humble, be bold, and be in right relationship with folks who are building power.
Change is already underway. And what grows next will depend on who is willing to hold it with both courage and love.
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In today’s fast-paced and often chaotic world, organizations need a way to stay grounded and nimble while remaining visionary. Networks and organizations are, on the one hand, handling fast flying objects and, on the other, trying to be strategic and proactive.
If we only respond to challenges with fear to what’s coming at us, like increased community needs, staff burnout, or tightening budgets, we risk becoming overwhelmed with organizational fatigue and getting stuck in the muck.
However, we know many of you are also looking toward the horizon, seeking trends and partners, and asking what is most critical to ensure your impact in the community/sector is lasting and meaningful. We call this: building strategic direction for uncertain times.
Why We’re Choosing Strategic Direction Over Traditional Planning
At IISC, we approach strategic direction setting with a keen awareness of the uncertainties and emerging opportunities that organizations face.
Conventional strategic planning often assumes a stable environment. It involves a deep analysis of current reality (SWOT analysis), and typically emphasizes clear objectives, fixed timelines, and detailed implementation strategies based on what is known today.
Building alignment and accountability is of utmost importance, but in uncertain times, this kind of rigidity may lead to plans that are quickly outdated or otherwise fall short.
Strategic direction setting, by contrast, helps you stay attuned to a changing landscape, making sense of what’s happening, and co-creating a flexible path forward. The goal isn’t to create a rigid plan; it’s about identifying a clear direction that can evolve and pivot, leaving room for emergence, learning, and innovation while still providing clarity, focus, and purpose.
How Do We Do It?
Engagement that builds buy-in and trust – We build buy-in and trust by engaging hearts and minds across our organization, including members, constituents, partners, board members, and especially those closest to the challenges and injustices we aim to address, because making a meaningful impact takes all of us.
Strategic collaboration – We design and facilitate collaborative processes that bring these voices into the conversation, helping you shape strategies and strategic priorities rooted in shared values and lived experiences.
Values-alignment at every step – At each stage, we work with you to ground in your values and mission, acknowledging but not being guided by fear or urgency.
Flexibility and creativity for complex times – We co-create a space for emergence, experimentation, and iteration to move forward in today’s reality.
Why This Matters Now
From movements to nonprofits to foundations, we feel and hear the impact of attacks and uncertainty on and within organizations. There is growing fear, stress, burnout, and internal conflict, as well as a hunger for clear and strategic direction, knowing that we can’t solve everything or be sure about the long haul. The cumulative impact of COVID, work, and health changes, and authoritarian practices, including against foundations and nonprofits, means that you need support, space for grieving, and thoughtful planning processes.
In this blog series, we will explore five practices to guide organizations toward clarity and momentum.
We consider this a love offering to our sector: how can we help you to get clearer, to shake loose what needs changing, and to be more healthy and successful in your work?
The Five Practices We’ll Explore in This Series
1. Clarify Your North Star
Ask: What is the core purpose that must remain constant, even as the world shifts? How can you stay emergent and responsive to crises while still focusing on building long-term power and transformation?
2. Plan for Multiple Futures
Ask: What are the factors we know or can imagine, and what is beyond? How can we hold the future lightly as we plan and move with purpose?
3. Design for Flexibility, Iteration, and Collaboration
Ask: Is our strategy flexible enough to adapt, and do we have strong processes in place to support ongoing experimentation and collaboration?
4. Center Equity and Building Power for Your Organization and Community
Ask: What are we building? Who are we accountable to? Are we building in ways that foster a more equitable future?
5. Strengthen Internal Capacity for Resilience and Well-Being
Ask: What do we need to sustain our people, funding, and infrastructure in the long run?
If your organization is seeking a more grounded, adaptive approach to strategy, especially in these times, we’re here to walk alongside you. Whether or not we work together, we invite you into this journey. We’ll be sharing more on each element in upcoming blog posts, so stay connected.
“How do we cultivate the muscle of radical imagination needed to dream together beyond fear?” – Adrienne Maree Brown
Ready to Move from Chaos to Clarity?
If your team or organization is navigating complexity, burnout, or uncertainty and still dreaming of impact, justice, and transformation, we’d love to connect!
Reach out to explore how we can support your team through Strategic Direction Setting. We’ll help you align around what matters most, build courageous collaboration, and chart a course grounded in shared power, visionary leadership, and real-time responsiveness.
Make Meetings MatterJoin us on February 5 for a practical and energizing webinar that teaches simple facilitation practices to turn meetings into inclusive, focused conversations that lead to real progress!
