Nonprofit Strategy & Communications

Your mission is clear.
Your message isn't.

Most nonprofit organizations are doing work that matters. Few can explain it in a way that moves people — funders, boards, staff, or the public. That gap is solvable. It starts with an honest look at what's actually broken.

See What We Fix
30+
Years across five sectors
Broadcast journalism, corporate, higher education, county government, and nonprofit — each one teaching something the others don't.
3
Problems most orgs share
Internal misalignment. External positioning that undersells the work. Impact storytelling that doesn't land. Usually all three at once.
1
Engagement at a time
Retainer-based. Not a deliverable shop. If we work together, you get full attention — not a slice of it.

What We Do

The full scope of how organizations communicate, and where that breaks down.

Strategic Communications Advisory
Ongoing counsel for executive directors navigating internal relationships, public positioning, crisis response, and stakeholder communication. This is ongoing communications work that doesn't fit a general deliverable.
Retainer-based
Grant Writing & Funding Narratives
Proposals that read like someone wrote them in-house. Built around your theory of change, your outcomes data, and the specific funder's frame. In a world that's increasingly AI-driven, we write your narratives by hand — not a rinse-repeat template.
Retainer-based
Messaging Architecture
Foundational work on how your organization describes itself and its mission to funders, the public, staff, and board. If these audiences receive different messages or keywords, credibility leaks.
Project-based
AI Integration for Nonprofits
AI has many practical use cases. Some make your life easier. Others make you sound as generic as everyone else. We focus on implementation where it makes sense to offload non-critical tasks that free up time and resources, as presented on AI in Social Services at the 2025 MN Social Services Conference.
Advisory or project
Board & Stakeholder Communication
Board materials, reporting frameworks, and stakeholder communication systems that reduce the executive director's preparation burden without sacrificing quality.
Retainer-based
Crisis & Transition Communication
Leadership transitions, funding losses and critical shortages, or publicized internal or external controversy. Organizations in motion need communication that holds steady while everything else shifts — especially when media hones in on your organization.
As-needed retainer

Who This Is For

Executive directors who are done explaining what they need.

If you've hired communications help before and spent the engagement educating the consultant on how nonprofits actually work, this is for you.

  • Organizations with annual budgets between $500K and $10M navigating a growth inflection or funding shift
  • Executive directors who carry the communications function personally because no one else has the context
  • Organizations preparing for a capital campaign, leadership transition, or major funder relationship
  • Nonprofits whose public presence doesn't reflect the quality of the work they're actually doing
  • Program officers and development staff who need a thought partner, not a ghostwriter

"The organizations that struggle to communicate their impact usually don't have a communications problem. They have a clarity problem that shows up in their communications."

501 Communications — working principle

Michael

About

I've spent 30 years in situations where things were often complicated and someone had to figure out what to say to keep things moving. From corporate medical, to newsrooms on deadlines, to county operations under pressure, and from nonprofits trying to hold staff, board, and funders together with the same message and alignment.

Emceeing St. Paul OktoberfestI've represented adjunct faculty as a union negotiation team member. I've had the privilege to educate and resuscitate. I've also emceed the St. Paul Oktoberfest six times.

Those are experiences that go beyond a résumé. But if you are looking for formal education, I've got that, too.

MS/MA Communications  ·  MS Organizational Psychology  ·  Certified Scrum Master  ·  Certified Professional Project Manager

Let's Find Out

Five questions. Thirty minutes. You'll know if this is worth pursuing.

The blitz assessment takes two minutes. It tells us both whether a call makes sense and gives you something useful to think about regardless of what you decide.