Happy New Year!
As we step into 2026, we’re thinking about the questions and opportunities many nonprofit leaders and boards are facing: How can we govern more effectively? How can we plan with confidence? How can we make the most of diverse voices in our work? These questions aren’t new — but the answers are evolving, and sharing them across our sector makes us all stronger.
Over the coming year, this newsletter will explore themes that matter deeply to nonprofits of all sizes: governance, strategy, financial understanding, leadership transitions, mission, vision & values statements and inclusive engagement. Each month, we’ll offer practical insights, tools you can use, and questions to consider with your board or team.
What We’ll Cover This Year
These topics are rooted in real challenges and opportunities we see across the Canadian nonprofit sector. Our goal is to help you reflect, plan, and act with confidence — not prescribe one “right way,” but share approaches that can be adapted to your context.
Practical Strategic Planning
Strategic planning doesn’t need to be overwhelming. A simple, useful plan helps clarify priorities, align energy across your team and board, and guide decisions when the unexpected arises. We’ll share frameworks and exercises that help make strategy accessible and actionable.
Thoughtful Board Governance
Governance is about clarity — knowing who does what, and why. We’ll explore ways to strengthen board role clarity, improve onboarding, and build governance practices that support good decisions and healthy relationships.
Understanding and Using Financial Information
Board members don’t need to be accountants. But they do need to understand the story behind the numbers. We’ll look at ways to build confidence in reading and discussing financial reports, asking good questions, and using data to inform decisions.
Leadership Transitions and Succession
Transitions can be stressful if unplanned — but they can be opportunities for renewal when anticipated thoughtfully. We’ll unpack what succession planning looks like at different levels, from executive leadership to key program roles.
Inclusive Facilitation & Engagement
Good decisions come from listening — to staff, volunteers, boards, and the community you serve. We’ll highlight facilitation practices and engagement approaches that create space for diverse voices and build shared ownership of direction and decisions.
Clear & Meaningful Mission, Vision & Values Statements
Beyond a poster on the wall – these statements are your organizational DNA. Not about what you do, but about what guides what you do. If used in day to day decision making and actual application, everyone will be better aligned in serving your mission.
Tools & Resources to Support Your Work
Each newsletter will point you to practical tools and approaches — checklists, reflection questions, meeting practices, and ways to adapt resources for your organization’s needs. These are drawn from common challenges we hear from charities & nonprofits and from proven practices that help boards, leaders & teams work together more effectively.
Some examples we’ll explore:
- Board information checklists for new and existing directors
- Templates for meeting agendas and consent agendas
- Approaches to clarifying roles and responsibilities
- Financial discussion guides for boards
- Succession planning processes that reduce risk and build confidence
These are tools for reflection and action — not one-size-fits-all prescriptions.
Looking Ahead with You
This year is an opportunity to strengthen the foundations that help your organization achieve its mission. By exploring these themes together, we hope to spark questions worth asking, conversations worth having, and practices worth adapting.
Thank you for the work you do and the care you bring to your communities. We look forward to exploring these topics together.
Wishing you clarity, connection, and good momentum in 2026.
