This article was written by Ariel Glassman. She is no longer with Ostara, but we want to preserve this piece so that you can learn from her and from the work she did while part of the Ostara team.
Nonprofit organizations are traversing uncharted terrain in the 21st century. And, in the process, they’re being forced to address a complex series of questions about their ability to change the world; their relationship to the private sector; their leaders, boards; and missions; their diversity; and their capacity to raise money and innovate.
We’ve committed ourselves to telling our clients and nonprofit leaders the unvarnished truth on the ground in their organizations and in the sector. Sometimes, there are no clear-cut answers. But we’re all part of a thriving nonprofit community that is in constant conversation with itself about how to address these questions and challenges; our consultants see it in motion on the ground with clients every day. We can all help each other by freely sharing what we learn.
So to do our part, Ostara is going to talk about it. We’re going to blog about it. We’re going to podcast about it. We’re going to host conversations about it. We’ll raise important questions and bring our clients and other nonprofit leaders into the conversation to move us all closer to realistic answers and real solutions. We’re going to live out our commitment to truth-telling online, too.Â
Stay tuned in the coming weeks and months as we carve our own space in the conversation, forged from almost 100 combined years of experience on the ground with nonprofits of all shapes, sizes, and missions. There’s a lot we need to get off our chests, and a lot for us to learn from each other.Â