Nonprofit leaders moving the needle

I feel fueled by the gritty determination and eternal optimism of so many nonprofit leaders.

This past year, I’ve watched people innovate, collaborate, dig deep, and persevere even when it felt like the world was collapsing around them.

I’m inspired by more than the messages of resilience I read on LinkedIn. I’m fired up by conversations with the folks I’ve worked with as a consultant.

They aren’t just more optimistic than the rest of us; they’re moving the needle and achieving results against the odds.

Most were first-time nonprofit CEOs/EDs who knew their stuff but still had to battle the insomnia that comes with navigating a new role. Listening to them, I’m as awestruck as a Taylor Swift fan in a front-row seat.

As the year closes, I want to share a few of their stories:

• Kwofi Reed, CEO of San Diego Habitat for Humanity, has — within four years — devised a new operating model that increased the number of families purchasing affordable homes from 6 to 21 annually. It'll be 30 in 2026.

• Kerri Fox, CEO of Resounding Joy, has in just two years transformed a rare bird — a music therapy nonprofit — from a shaky financial model to generating nearly 50% of its income. As a result, RJ can now serve more vulnerable people of all ages. She has also created new pathways for aspiring music therapists and developed an innovative partnership with Mama's Kitchen.

• Eva Matthews, CEO of Mama's Kitchen, has, in two years, been a pioneer of medically tailored meals, partnered with Resounding Joy to bring music therapy to clients, and secured innovative funding for work that now delivers nearly 1 million meals annually to economically vulnerable, homebound people.

• Kimberly Grady, MBM, Executive Director of Think Dignity, has—in only a year—refreshed the organization by attracting new board members, relaunching impactful legal programs, overseeing its ID bank, and ensuring TD remains a hub of innovation for helping unhoused people.

• Sarah Tuakli Cooper, Executive Director of the Elementary Institute of Science, has in just two years expanded high-quality STEM education for underrepresented kids. This year, EIS launched a new literacy-and-science program that is deepening its impact even further.

There are others too, including Joe Buehrle, who is rockin’ it at Home Start Inc.; Etleva Bejko, serving some of the most vulnerable among us at Survivors of Torture, International; Angela Landsberg doing amazing work at the San Diego County Dental Society, Adama Dyoniziak continually inspires me at Champions for Health, Travis Kemnitz at San Diego Bird Alliance moves mountains, Nicole Mione-Green a powerhouse at Casa de Amistad and Donnie Dee, who is growing San Diego Rescue Mission.

If you’re looking for a light at the end of a hard year, look no further.

And if you’re still deciding where to give, I’d place my bets on these leaders and the terrific nonprofits they’re running

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Pat Libby is a change management consultant working principally with nonprofit corporations. She is author of The Empowered Citizens Guide: 10 Steps to Passing a Law that Matters to You, Oxford University Press, The Lobbying Strategy Handbook, second edition, Oxford University Press, and Cases in Nonprofit Management, SAGE. She has served as an academic, senior executive, board member, and consultant to innumerable nonprofit organizations and foundations for more than three decades.

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