Welcome to the Sh*tshow. (Don't Worry. You've Got This.)

Nonprofit leadership or a dumpster fire?

Picture this: you're on the board of a nonprofit organization where your executive director just resigned, or worse, was fired. Finances are near bankruptcy. Morale is in the tank. Staff are resigning left and right. You have no succession plan. The board is burnt out, and no one from senior management can step in. You don’t have visibility on the depth of the problems, let alone the ability to attract a great candidate to take over this mess. It's a sh*tshow.

So what do you do?

You breathe. You stabilize. You triage. And then, you lead.

Welcome to The Nonprofit Survival Guide, a newsletter for the brave souls navigating organizational chaos — and for the smart ones trying to avoid it. Yes, this series is rooted in what happens when things go terribly wrong — but the lessons apply just as much to healthy organizations that want to stay that way.

Because here’s the truth: every nonprofit, no matter how well run, is one unexpected resignation, financial hiccup, or communications blunder away from being in crisis. But the best leaders plan for it, respond to it, and even use it to come out stronger on the other side.

In the weeks ahead, I’ll be sharing lessons learned from the front lines of nonprofit transitions — insights that apply whether you’re a board member, an executive director, or even in the for-profit world. Because dysfunctional culture? Budget black holes? Leadership churn? Those aren’t exclusive to nonprofits.

Here’s a sneak peek at what we’ll be covering:

• How to stabilize a nonprofit after leadership turnover — and avoid making things worse.

• Setting short-term strategic direction when long-term planning feels impossible.

• Financial triage that gets you back to break-even, fast.

• Staff morale and team cohesion, because good people don't stick around in toxic environments.

• Crisis management and communication when your org is under scrutiny.

• Rebuilding donor trust after scandals, walkouts, or public screwups.

• Navigating board–executive director dynamics (aka: “Why is this relationship so weird?”).

• Restructuring operations and workflows without breaking everything.

• Fundraising during periods of instability, when no one wants to take a risk on you.

• Succession planning that actually works, so you’re not here again in 12 months.

This is not just a newsletter about surviving a leadership transition. It’s a roadmap for resilience — how to lead with clarity when the room is spinning, how to create order from chaos, and how to build systems that won’t collapse the next time a founder walks out or a funder backs away.

So yeah, it may be a sh*tshow. But you’ve got this.

Subscribe, share, and stick with me.