Turns out, culture eats fundraising and ultimately, your mission

Launching MissionCraft Partners. Because when people thrive, missions flourish.

Peter Drucker launched the now infamous business management catch phrase, and many hilarious memes and visuals ensued. 

But let's look at this statement through the lens of the nonprofit sector. After many years fundraising for organizations across arts, healthcare, and science/technology, one thing is abundantly clear to me: Nonprofit culture needs serious attention – and so do the people who work for these mission-focused organizations.

We talk endlessly about building a "culture of philanthropy" in our organizations, but I want to take this to the next level. Can we build a culture of empathy and support for those who use their talents to make a positive difference for the greater good? This is not easy work. We obsess over doing well by our constituents, but what about doing well by our teams and staff?

I've witnessed firsthand the startling lack of emotional intelligence in too many nonprofit executives – leaders who bring important technical and hard skills to their work but who lack the ability to manage people in healthy ways.

• I remember my stomach dropping after an executive handed a paper bag present to a Black staff member for Black History Month, with a handwritten note in Sharpie saying "Happy Black History Month."

• I'll never forget a supervisor who balked at me for leaving downtown D.C. at 5pm to get home to my then 2-year-old daughter (despite knowing I had a 40-minute Metro commute).

• Or the executive who sat in my office, telling me I wasn't doing a good enough job even though my team was meeting our fundraising goals – because she "didn't like how I was doing the work."

I could keep going. And based on what I'm hearing from colleagues across the sector, you probably could too.

Culture matters. When you don't pay attention to how you're treating your team, you eat away at what matters most – your mission. In the 2025 Social Impact Staff Retention Project survey, 7 out of 10 nonprofit employees said they would consider a new job this year. An overwhelming 52% cited unsupportive management or leadership as the reason.

Without these incredible people, who will be left to deliver services, run programs, and raise the funds needed to put work into action?

That's why I'm launching MissionCraft Partners – to help bring real solutions to the challenges we face with nonprofit culture. My hope is to support organizational leadership and fundraisers to find productive ways to work together, solve problems, and build better working environments.

Stay tuned for more updates on the launch.