New Year, New Strategic Direction

High-Performing Organi...Power of Good Blog

Jan 28

Reflections on 2018

I just celebrated my one-year anniversary as the “not so new” CEO of Mission Capital. It was an amazing year of personal, professional and organizational growth. During this first year, I realized that we have the unique opportunity to truly “practice what we teach” at Mission Capital, as a capacity builder, consultant, leadership & learning provider, Aligned Impact backbone, and Social Venture Partner affiliate. There were many milestones and lessons learned, and in the spirit of collective leadership and community resilience, I’m excited to share some 2018 highlights with you!

Change is Hard!

As many of you know, one of our consulting offerings at Mission Capital is Executive Transition Management (ETM), which includes recruitment and onboarding of a new executive director or senior staff member. For years, we’ve helped nonprofits navigate these pivotal transition moments. In 2018, we had our own “lived experience” of onboarding a new CEO, strengthening our own financial stability, while adding 50% new staff, and launching a comprehensive community listening tour to better serve you, our clients.

Building a Bold Board

During the Spring of 2018, we added new board members to 30% of our Mission Capital board, with the intent of becoming more inclusive and reflective of the diverse communities we serve in Central Texas. I joined fellow community partners and board members at our Board Essentials training – a great workshop on how to leverage the board’s role in organizational effectiveness. We are excited about partnering with The New Philanthropists in June 2019, as we bring back our Board Summit connecting nonprofits to interested board members, with a focus on equity and inclusion.

Supporting the Dream Team

One of my favorite parts of this job is working alongside exceptional leaders like our Mission Capital staff. Early in 2018, our team went through Mission Capital’s DISC training to learn about each other’s working styles and strengths. The MC staff are wicked smart, talented and courageous. I should have known I was in for a ride, when our first book club selection was Brené Brown’s, Braving the Wilderness!

Aligning Impact

A significant highlight in 2018, was supporting the continued expansion and evolution of two backbone initiatives at Mission Capital: Foster Community - a collaborative of organizations tackling a wider and more diverse recruitment of foster parents within the foster care system, and Good Measure - a collaborative of philanthropic funders focused on increasing the data capacity of nonprofits and funders in Central Texas. Both initiatives have proven that “many hands make light work” and true community impact is possible through our collective efforts.

Promoting Innovation through Social Venture Partners

Mission Capital is home to the Austin affiliate of Social Venture Partners (SVP), a global venture philanthropy organization established over 20 years ago. The SVP network is going through an important discernment process as it reflects on the power/privilege dynamics inherent in philanthropy, and how SVPs can apply their time, talent and treasure in service to nonprofits supporting equity and inclusion efforts through their work.

Creating a Circle of Trust for Leaders

As a new CEO, “I didn’t know, what I didn’t know”, which was daunting at times (like daily at 3:00am!). In 2018, Mission Capital launched an ED Coaching Circle series; small cohorts of executive directors who come together for peer executive coaching and have a confidential space to problem solve and encourage one another. This group has been an invaluable support and will continue to be offered in 2019.

Strategic Planning

And as if onboarding a new CEO, adding 50% new staff, re-energizing our membership base, and hitting the ground running with fundraising wasn’t enough, in 2018, we also launched a new strategic planning process for Mission Capital. As many of you know, Mission Capital provides strategic planning consulting for clients. And therefore, we knew we needed to engage an external consultant to help guide us through this process.