Let’s say you’re leading a team meeting with the main goal to ‘Decide on new donor database’.

Two hours later, you’ve heard passionate arguments, five different options, and you’re running out of trail mix in the middle of the table.

Then someone says, ‘So who’s actually deciding this?’ Blank stares across the room. And that is the moment everyone realizes…nobody knows.

I’ll be honest …I was very guilty of this myself. When I was the Executive Director for MyLifeLine Cancer Foundation, the organization I founded, I thought being a good leader meant pleasing everyone and inviting all staff into every decision. I wanted my team to feel included.

But what often happened? Our big group wasted time spinning in circles and indecision. People left meetings frustrated.

I didn’t know it then, but I had confused inclusivity with clarity. Today, I’ll share a decision-making framework that saved the day and helped us address this challenge for good.

Marcia Beckner helps nonprofit executives lead with confidence and create healthy, thriving workplace cultures, especially during times of growth and change.

After nearly 20 years in the nonprofit sector, she’s seen far too many talented, hard-working leaders burn out and walk away.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Nonprofit CEO SPARK is your invitation to pause, pivot, and reignite your energy so you can lead with clarity, courage, and balance.

Feeling exhausted and on the edge of burnout?

Grab my free guide - 4 Strategies for Nonprofit CEOs to Reduce Burnout, Unify Your Team & Build a Culture That Lasts. Go to https://culturecares.com/guide.

If this episode resonated, I invite you to join my Tuesday newsletter. Each week I share the podcast topic, practical leadership insights, and occasional special offers and event invitations designed to help you lead with clarity without burning out.

If you know another nonprofit leader who could use this support, please pass it along. And if you’d ever like to connect directly, you can reach me at https://culturecares.com.

Welcome back to Nonprofit CEO SPARK. I’m Marcia Beckner, and today we’re kicking off with a hot take I’ve been sitting with for a long time:

On-going staff drama isn’t normal. It’s a leadership choice to tolerate a low-trust environment.

I know...that’s bold, maybe even a little controversial. But I also know it’s true, because I lived through one of the most painful and ultimately transformational chapters of my Executive Director career.

There was a season when my staff split into factions. Our culture unraveled. Fundraising tanked. And I found myself standing at a crossroads, facing decisions I never thought I’d have to make.

But what happened next changed everything for me, for my team, and for the organization we built from the ground up.

I’m going to get a little vulnerable today, because I’ve never shared this story quite like this.

But if it helps even one CEO or ED understand that you get what you tolerate with your team, then it’s worth it.

Marcia Beckner helps nonprofit executives lead with confidence and create healthy, thriving workplace cultures, especially during times of growth and change.

After nearly 20 years in the nonprofit and social impact sector, she’s seen far too many talented, hard-working leaders burn out and walk away. It doesn’t have to be this way. Nonprofit CEO SPARK is your invitation to pause, pivot, and reignite your energy so you can lead with clarity, courage, and balance.

Feeling exhausted and on the edge of burnout? Book a Burnout to Boundaries Strategy Session today and start reclaiming your time, energy, and joy.

Go to CultureCARES.com.

As we step into a new year, I want to talk about one resolution that almost every nonprofit leader needs, but very few actually name out loud:

Stop personally sacrificing yourself to get the work done.

Consider giving yourself permission to lead without losing yourself.

Today, I’m giving you 3 practical strategies to stick to this resolution, so you don’t spiral back to living on caffeine, email triage, and pure adrenaline.

Typical resolutions sound like:
“I want to work less.”
“I need boundaries.”
“I have to take better care of myself.”

But those are vague wishes, not commitments. Here’s a more powerful reframe:

“I will no longer sacrifice my peace, my health, or my joy to keep the mission running.”

This moves you from survival mode… to decisive CEO mode.

Marcia Beckner helps nonprofit executives lead with confidence and create healthy, thriving workplace cultures, especially during times of growth and change.

After nearly 20 years in the nonprofit and social impact sector, she’s seen far too many talented, hard-working leaders burn out and walk away. It doesn’t have to be this way. Nonprofit CEO SPARK is your invitation to pause, pivot, and reignite your energy so you can lead with clarity, courage, and balance.

Feeling exhausted and on the edge of burnout? Book a Burnout to Boundaries Strategy Session today and start reclaiming your time, energy, and joy.

Go to CultureCARES.com.

As we wrap up 2025, it feels like the perfect moment to pause and reflect.

This year stretched every leader I know from staff transitions, funding dips, and the nonstop pace of change

So before we sprint into 2026 planning mode, let’s take a breath and look back at what actually worked.

I asked four incredible nonprofit leaders one simple question:

“What’s your #1 best strategy to build trust and morale during times of disruption?”

Their answers? Honest. Practical. Grounded.

They also cost nothing to implement but the payout is enormous.

You’ve heard the saying, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”

Well… one of my clients proved it.

By focusing on building a high-trust culture, they didn’t just meet their $20M fundraising goal…they hit it two months early.

That’s the power of trust in motion.

Marcia Beckner helps nonprofit executives lead with confidence and create healthy, thriving workplace cultures, especially during times of growth and change.

After nearly 20 years in the nonprofit and social impact sector, she’s seen far too many talented, hard-working leaders burn out and walk away. It doesn’t have to be this way. Nonprofit CEO SPARK is your invitation to pause, pivot, and reignite your energy so you can lead with clarity, courage, and balance.

Feeling exhausted and on the edge of burnout? Book a Burnout to Boundaries Strategy Session today and start reclaiming your time, energy, and joy.

Go to CultureCARES.com.

Hey there, nonprofit CEOs and Executive Directors — welcome back to Nonprofit CEO SPARK,
where we help you lead with more clarity and confidence — without burning out.

I recently met a CEO who runs a nonprofit refugee center.

As you can imagine, her organization is facing some of the toughest challenges imaginable —threats to documented and undocumented immigrants, shifting government policies, and the constant emotional weight of caring for people in crisis.

So when she told me, “I love my job,” — I was stunned… and inspired.

I asked, “What makes that true for you, especially in a year this hard?”

And she said, “Because I have a lot of agency.”

That one sentence stopped me in my tracks.

Because so many nonprofit leaders feel like they don’t have control. But today, we’re going to unpack what it really means to have agency, how to reclaim it, and why this mindset can change everything about how you lead.

Marcia Beckner helps nonprofit executives lead with confidence and create healthy, thriving workplace cultures, especially during times of growth and change.

After nearly 20 years in the nonprofit and social impact sector, she’s seen far too many talented, hard-working leaders burn out and walk away. It doesn’t have to be this way. Nonprofit CEO SPARK is your invitation to pause, pivot, and reignite your energy so you can lead with clarity, courage, and balance.

Feeling exhausted and on the edge of burnout? Book a Burnout to Boundaries Strategy Session today and start reclaiming your time, energy, and joy.

Go to CultureCARES.com.

Hey there, nonprofit leaders, tell me if this sounds familiar…

You leave a staff meeting thinking, “Yes! We’re totally aligned. Everyone’s got it.”
Then 48 hours later, your inbox tells a different story.

Half the team took your idea and sprinted in one direction.
Another half politely waited for more instructions.
And one person… somehow started building an entirely new project.

You sit back, reread your own notes, and think, “How did we get here? I was so clear!”

That’s today’s topic — the moment when we realize: what we said isn’t always what people heard.

Whether it’s a staff member, your board, or a partner — clarity gaps happen everywhere.
And as leaders, we can’t afford to keep losing time, trust, and energy to mixed messages.

So today, we’re going to unpack why this happens, how to spot it early, and practical ways to bridge the clarity gap — before it turns into conflict or confusion.

A few months ago, my son Jake — who was 19 at the time — and I did a mobile order from my phone at our local Starbucks.

It was one of those Starbucks stores that sits on the edge of a big shopping center parking lot. We parked right in front. The front door was practically staring at us.

I handed Jake his mission: “Run in and grab our order, please.”

Easy peasy, right?

He hops out of the car while I check my phone for messages. Five minutes pass. Then ten. By the twelve-minute mark, I’m thinking, Did Starbucks run out of coffee beans?

Finally, Jake comes walking back across the parking lot looking slightly sheepish… and holding no coffee.

He says, “Ohhh… I thought you meant the Starbucks inside King Soopers.”

Yep. He had marched right past the Starbucks directly in front of us — past the Einstein’s Bagels, the Marshalls, the PetSmart, and the dry cleaners — all the way to the Starbucks kiosk inside the grocery store.

And of course, that one didn’t have our mobile order.

That, my friends, is the tale of two Starbucks. Same parking lot. Two totally different destinations.

☕ And today’s episode is brewed around one of my favorite real-life leadership lessons: what a Starbucks mix-up can teach us about effective communication with our teams and boards.

Marcia Beckner helps nonprofit executives lead with confidence and create healthy, thriving workplace cultures, especially during times of growth and change.

After nearly 20 years in the nonprofit and social impact sector, she’s seen far too many talented, hard-working leaders burn out and walk away. It doesn’t have to be this way. Nonprofit CEO SPARK is your invitation to pause, pivot, and reignite your energy so you can lead with clarity, courage, and balance.

Feeling exhausted and on the edge of burnout? Book a Burnout to Boundaries Strategy Session today and start reclaiming your time, energy, and joy.

Go to CultureCARES.com.

Have you ever had a staff member who seemed great on paper, or even had moments of brilliance, but behind the scenes, their toxic behavior slowly drained the energy out of your whole team?

Maybe you found yourself thinking, “If I just give them one more chance, maybe this time it will stick.”

Today, we’re exploring what happens when those second, third, and fourth chances start working against you.

Because sometimes, the real damage isn’t just in what the employee does, it’s in the ripple effect their behavior has on everyone else.

People call in sick. Morale tanks. The culture you’ve worked so hard to build starts to quietly erode.

In this episode, I’ll share the story of Claire, a healthcare nonprofit leader, whose year-long struggle with one employee pushed her staff to the breaking point.

It’s a story full of drama, fallout, and ultimately relief, and it might sound eerily familiar. We've all been there, right?

If you’ve ever wrestled with the tension between being kind and being firm, this story could shift everything.

And thanks to Disney, I’ll give you a reframe that can help you feel better when it’s time to let someone go.

Marcia Beckner helps nonprofit executives lead with confidence and create healthy, thriving workplace cultures, especially during times of growth and change.

After nearly 20 years in the nonprofit and social impact sector, she’s seen far too many talented, hard-working leaders burn out and walk away. It doesn’t have to be this way. Nonprofit CEO SPARK is your invitation to pause, pivot, and reignite your energy so you can lead with clarity, courage, and balance.

Feeling exhausted and on the edge of burnout? Book a Burnout to Boundaries Strategy Session today and start reclaiming your time, energy, and joy.

Go to CultureCARES.com.

Welcome back to Nonprofit CEO SPARK, the show that fuels your leadership, protects your energy, and helps you spark lasting change. I’m your host, Marcia Beckner.

Let me paint the picture.

You spend three hours writing a job posting. You list all the “must-haves,” cross your fingers, and wait.

--> Fifty-three applications land in your inbox.
--> Only two even kind of fit the bill.
--> You reach out to one, and they ghost you.
--> The other wants $30K more than you can offer.

Sound familiar?

One CEO recently told me, “I feel like I’m chasing people who don’t even want to work here.” And that stings especially when you know your mission matters.

So today, we are getting real about a leadership headache so many of you are facing:

Why it’s so dang hard to recruit and hire great staff right now, and what to do instead of just “posting and praying.”

Marcia Beckner helps nonprofit executives lead with confidence and create healthy, thriving workplace cultures, especially during times of growth and change.

After nearly 20 years in the nonprofit and social impact sector, she’s seen far too many talented, hard-working leaders burn out and walk away. It doesn’t have to be this way. Nonprofit CEO SPARK is your invitation to pause, pivot, and reignite your energy so you can lead with clarity, courage, and balance.

Feeling exhausted and on the edge of burnout? Book a Burnout to Boundaries Strategy Session today and start reclaiming your time, energy, and joy.

Go to CultureCARES.com.