The Blog

We're Building a Vessel

Guide on the Side

01 Sep 2025

Build the Vessel:

By holding open conversations through The Next Voyage Series to uncover what is not working in current funding practices and sketch the blueprints for something new.

Test the Vessel:

By guiding our clients to experiment with funder facilitation, we help uncover what truly holds steady in impact, funding, and people as funders, grant writers, and nonprofits navigate together.

Launch the Vessel:

By establishing a five-year foundation that sails with a limited number of nonprofits, strengthening impact, delivering direct funding, and nurturing the flourishing of their people.

This came from our vision and mission.

The Gatekeeper Dilemma

Roles that are meant to serve marginalized communities often carry an invisible tension. On the surface, these positions are designed to open doors. Yet in practice, the people in these roles can end up acting as gatekeepers, holding the very power they are tasked with redistributing. Using Edward de Bono’

Grant Writers as the Bridge to a New Funding Future

I say this with the utmost reverence: too many executive directors are chasing funding for programs that are not effective. Programs that need to evolve. Programs that do not show deep impact but are still being sold with flashy language and half truths to secure the next grant. That lack

Funder Facilitation

I do not think I could ever prepare for the fact that one of our most highly screened funders was going to lead us through a yoga session in her living room. But that is exactly what happened. And that moment taught me something I will never forget. It taught

Not the End of the Road

It is a problem to think that submitting a grant application and then getting a no means the end of the road. You invest your resources, align your team, and put your heart into the process, only to come up short. And when that happens, it is frustrating. We had