As nonprofits continue to face headwinds from increased demand for services and tighter budgets, collaboration will be key. Legacy collaborations and partnerships should be evaluated to determine if they remain the right fit for sustaining and advancing a mission moving forward. Nonprofits must recognize that foundations are actively reconsidering their grantmaking strategies. The successful ones will view this as an opportunity to frame or reframe their work as aligned with existing and potential new funders. For their part, foundations must be able to clearly communicate their strategic shifts and provide as much advance notice of shifting priorities to funding-dependent organizations. 

Nonprofits and foundations will benefit from being open to exploring and investing in more cross-sector innovation, including the formation of creative coalitions and the exploration or development of new revenue-generating models. Simply put, the strategies that have helped mission-driven organizations reach this point may not be enough to propel them into the future. They must embrace new ways of thinking and working that can often be revealed and tested through collaboration.

In a moment when the cultural and political ground feels increasingly unstable, being consistent in the application of an organization’s core values can be the boldest leadership move possible.

Particularly in volatile times, people seek stability and transparency. Consumers, employees, grantees, and partners alike all want to know what a given organization stands for. Staying rooted in purpose and core values is the clearest way to signal both. And just as purpose and core values shouldn't shift with the political winds, leaders should be consistent in conveying those values. In the year ahead, the boldest action a leader may take is consistency. Nonprofit and foundation leaders should be willing to take the courageous step of defining and adhering to their purpose and core values and then ensuring their commitments hold steady, even as change happens around them.

Strategic planning should not be underestimated in times of uncertainty. While there are many factors outside an organization’s control, the benefit of having a clear and focused organizational strategy — whether it's a one, three, or five-year plan — is that it keeps teams aligned and enables them to pivot more effectively when outside forces require a change. Having a North Star (what we define as the “destination of a strategic plan”) to follow as part of an organization’s strategic plan will help its leaders clearly communicate strategic focus to key constituents — from community members, to partners, to funders — who in turn, will have a better understanding of the priorities and challenges an organization faces. 

Remember, it is more effective to shift course in a strategic plan than to not have a clear sense of the destination. Leaders and their teams across nonprofits and foundations can benefit from developing strategies that articulate aligned areas of focus and desired areas of impact, with room for flexibility in how that work might advance. In times of change, and through proactive strategic planning processes, leaders can also support their teams in better navigating ambiguity, building resilience, and managing conflict when it arises.

Organizations with the resources to integrate new technology, including AI, can achieve dramatic gains in efficiency and mission advancement by doing so swiftly, ethically, and thoughtfully. However, many purpose-driven organizations — particularly nonprofits that are already stretched thin — may struggle to adopt these tools at the required speed. The result could be a widening gap: those who can harness AI responsibly will scale their impact, while others risk falling further behind — not because their missions are less critical, but because their access to technology is limited. Because the field is still relatively new and changing so quickly, and the principles on how to apply AI in the workplace are still so gray, nonprofits and foundations can consider how to explore and build a framework and policies for implementing new technologies to support mission advancement, together. In a period of such rapid change, much can be gained by learning together — from safe, trusted exploration to practical use cases. A shared focus on how to learn and leverage new technology provides the platform for building community and can support more organizations in realizing its benefits, too.