June 6th, 2026

The last couple of weeks have been the first time in nearly a decade that I have only had one job, do not serve on any boards (other than The Change Campaign’s), and am not in school. Honestly, I was concerned about whether or not I would be able to do just one thing well. I had gotten good at keeping multiple plates spinning, but questioned if I had the discipline to do just one thing well. These concerns have proven to be unnecessary, as there is more than enough work for me to do with The Change Campaign, but being able to focus has been a privilege. 

Over the last couple of weeks, my days have been filled with strategizing and writing, planning and meeting, and setting a schedule that is already building through the summer. After needing to take time off from speaking engagements while completing my master’s and transitioning out of my role with CTIPP, there have already been some with others on the horizon (as last week’s blog highlighted, this is an activity that really fills me with great joy). After so long spent planning in the background, I am getting my voice out there more with these blogs and will continue to develop more communication streams to try and influence broader conversations. But what has really been the most noteworthy is just the ability to plan and execute strategy that was simply not possible in the same way when I was wearing so many hats. 

In just a little bit of time, I have developed the beginnings of an organizational structure - with the guidance of my friend and mentor Sandy Bloom - that models a living system as opposed to a static structure. One of my greatest frustrations in my work in the nonprofit sector is the deeply flawed structure where a Board of Directors has disproportionate power despite not being the ones doing the work everyday. When a Board is well orchestrated and humble in its approach, this body can be incredibly supportive. This structure is not automatically damaging, and I do not mean to insinuate that. However, it does give the ability for the body to become authoritative without checks and balances on itself beyond itself. And I have seen well intentioned boards cause strife within the organization because they were disconnected from the staff and network. 

This structure is common and I am not trying to pass judgment on those I have seen operate this way, but in getting to set the foundation for The Change Campaign, I get to ask what a different structure could look like. I am still exploring this question, but as it has been a lot of what I’ve been thinking about this week, it is no surprise that it is what I am sharing today. 

Biocracy is a term that was introduced to me by Sandy as an antithetical governance structure from mechanistic models. It combines life and democracy into the way systems are organized, as opposed to static, top-down models. There is a need for both, a machine line, for instance, relies on a rigid structure so that pieces go where they must. It would not work for an assembly line to have employees trying different things on different products. But when we are dealing with social serving systems, we cannot pretend that humans are machines. We are more complex, and having more complex structures is necessary to both better serve our mission as well as adapt to the evolving circumstances and needs that our organizations exist within.

Board play a critical role in organizations, but their primary duty is a fiduciary responsibility. They must ensure that organizations are financially solvent and are in line with laws and regulations. Many boards require fundraising to support these efforts, but to my knowledge that is not a legal requirement for board members, though it is obviously preferable. Any other work can be wonderful but is additional to this legal requirement for board members. 

For the purposes of illustration in an effort to bring to life how a different organization could look than just the normal top down model, I will start with an ultra-simplified brain model, which in full transparency is where most of my thinking has been done thus far. The brain evolves from the bottom up and the inside out, so the board plays the critical role of the hind brain. This earliest part of the brain controls the automatic functions we take for granted when we are regulated, it ensures survival. The board is the hind brain, their fiduciary responsibility ensures that the organization can thrive. The directors of the organization, what in some companies may be referred to as the c-suite, make up the midbrain, supporting sensory processing and motor control, ensuring that strategy meets capacity and need. Managers and team leads within the organization make up the forebrain, supporting complex and abstract thought, providing strategy and ensuring execution of plans that are put into place.

Of course, a brain without a body does not do much work for the world beyond itself, nor can it do what it needs alone to sustain itself, so the rest of the body is critically important to draw out. This is where I am still trying to understand what an organizational model would look like, but to help explain how I am thinking about this, I will first describe how I see the balance of the organization’s functions first. I always grew up admiring the triangle offense, and so that is how I think about The Change Campaign’s programming. The triangle is made up of Administration (taking care of the business needs of the organization), Mobilization (integrating the work of the organization into the world), and Transformation (learning from what works, what does not, and shaping future strategy, both for the organization and beyond). 

Not wanting to create silos in the organization, individuals and teams don’t work in just one part of the organization, but work across the triangle, just like the triangle offense was able to flow. This adds complexity to the organizational model that I am trying to develop, but my current thinking has gotten me this far. Mobilization feels the easiest and is the musculoskeletal system, as it supports organizational movement. Administration is both the circulatory and respiratory system, as it ensures that resources are supplied throughout the organization. Transformation is the hardest for me to figure out, but the best I have right now is the nervous system as it helps process information and control response from the organization. Within each of these teams listed is a slew of different positions, so recognizing that there are many other systems within a body beyond these I have laid out, there may be a need to further breakdown the positions into different systems beyond just these three arms, or perhaps there is not the need to do so, but this is where my thinking on the matter currently is.

The final body part that Sandy has talked me into believing is that as the leader, I am the organization’s heart. While I am working to build a team that can add to my own thinking, the values I hold and ways I go about work play an important role in where the organization goes, and is not a role to be overlooked. Beyond a final product, I am happy right now about the thinking that has started to move past the traditional organizational structure that has frustrated me so many times before. As I mentioned at the beginning, it is the time to sit down and really focus on what kind of organization I want to build that has made this thinking possible. 

I must admit that this has not been approved by the board, meaning that as of now, somewhat ironically perhaps, I must wait for their approval before this or any derivative of it can be proclaimed as the official organizational structure of The Change Campaign. I am not however concerned about the board we have developed entertaining these thoughts and having the humility and intelligence to understand the concept and help me improve it. 

What is more ironic in all of this is that The Change Campaign is still so small that to spell out so many teams is almost insane at this point. But as I have continued doing the work, even just seeing the growth that has taken place over the past month, I have hope that before long this will be more than just a concept. Having that hope, honest hope, that growth at this scale is possible is new for me, and planning for it is energizing. One of the issues for nonprofits in scaling, especially new ones that are not directly connected to wealth that can create huge endowments, is that you fundraise off the present budget which keeps you from being able to scale easily. The nonprofits that I have seen escape this cycle have two things in common: 1) they do amazing work; and 2) they have a vision for what growth looks like. I have been trying to hold both of these characteristics myself to increase the likelihood of scaling the organization. 

This year our budget is $215,000. I feel we are punching well above our weight class with the work we are able to do, but this is an impediment in achieving our ambitious mission to create a sustainable planet and a better future for all. But we are doing good work to build momentum, and now, in addition to an organizational structure that we can scale into, have a budget for how money would be allocated up to a $10,000,000 annual operating budget. This enables us to continue the work at our current capacity while looking to substantially increase our funding. 

In building budgets, it is critical to recognize that a budget is a values statement. I feel proud of what has been built so far not just in terms of how we would compensate our team and how we build into the structure outlined above, but also that as we grow we give higher percentages of the funding we receive to the world around us; rather than just growing for our own sake, we are looking to grow to serve the work and world beyond us. As I told a friend about the structure laid out in this piece, he reminded me that in addition to the body, I must consider how our structure relates to nature. I need to continue thinking about this, but nurturing nature in this way gives us the ability to partner and learn alongside others in valuable ways, and marries administration, mobilization, and transformation in incredible ways that further our mission exponentially. 

All of this may be premature to share, but I have been thinking a lot about it. Obviously much more work needs to be done on all of this and more. I hope even at this early stage it can model the paradigm shift we are hoping to support. We cannot reasonably go about things the same ways we always have and expect outcomes to change, and I have found it energizing thinking about what those different ways of being, thinking, doing, knowing, and relating can look like. Trying to integrate across the organization, trying to support living systems that receive information from all around it while making a broad impact, trying to live into our values.