The organizations doing the hardest work deserve the strongest foundation.
I believe that nonprofits are some of the most important institutions in our communities and that the people leading them deserve the peace of mind of systems that actually work.
Blue Heron works with nonprofit leaders who are growing, in transition, or trying to get grant-ready, and need a calm, experienced partner more than a big firm. Every engagement is built so the capacity stays inside your organization. If some of that sounds like where you are, this page will tell you who you'd be working with.
Behind that work are Margot Holmes, the founder, and Angela Kelley, her co-lead on Interim Executive Director engagements.
Experience First
Why This Work, and Why It's Different Coming From Us
Blue Heron works with nonprofit leaders who are growing, in transition, or trying to get grant-ready and need a calm, experienced partner more than a big firm. We lead with what we have done. A nonprofit in the middle of a funding cut, a leadership gap, or a growth spurt needs someone who has sat in the chair and knows what the next right step looks like, even when the way forward is not a straight line. Every engagement is built so the capacity stays inside your organization, and every deliverable is yours to keep. That is the judgment we bring, earned by direct experience.
Founder
My Background
I am Margot Holmes, founder of Blue Heron. I believe nonprofits are some of the most important institutions in our communities and that the people leading them deserve infrastructure that actually works.
I spent most of my early career working in nonprofit organizations in the human services sector. As peers around me moved toward degrees in social work and counseling, I realized that was not where my passion was. What I really wanted to understand was how organizations work from the inside out, so that the people doing the direct service work could actually do it well. So I went back to school and got my Masters in Nonprofit Management from Northeastern University.
That led me to an Executive Director role at a mid-sized human services organization in Vermont, where I managed staff, board relationships, budgets, and the day-to-day reality of running a nonprofit with real constraints and real stakes. I loved it. I also had to build systems from nothing because no one had built them before me. That experience is why I started Blue Heron.
I live in Sharon, Vermont, with my family and several four-legged fur friends. I find joy in cooking, walking with the dogs, and watching my son play hockey. You can also find me on LinkedIn.
Why a Heron?
These birds have carried real meaning for me during some of the hardest moments of my life, and what they've taught me is simple: steadiness is possible even inside chaos.
A great blue heron doesn't rush. It stands still in the shallows, reads what's in front of it, and waits for the moment that actually calls for movement, then moves with total clarity. Patience. Stillness. A kind of internal strength that doesn't announce itself.
That's what I want this practice to offer the leaders I work with. Running a nonprofit is hard, important work, and I want to be the kind of partner who brings calm into the room.
Angela Kelley, Co-Lead on Interim Executive Director
On Blue Heron Nonprofit Consulting's Interim Executive Director engagements, Margot doesn't work alone. Angela Kelley is her co-lead. The two of them cover interim leadership together, so an organization in transition has more than one experienced person steadying it. Angela brings her own nonprofit leadership background to that work. A real co-lead means an organization isn't relying on one person during one of its most vulnerable moments.
Gratitude
Gratitude: Anne Peyton
I did not build this practice alone, and one person earns a direct thank-you here. Anne Peyton has been a mentor to me: guidance that shaped how I think about this work, and a referral network that sent me one of my earliest clients. Anne is not affiliated with Blue Heron; this is gratitude, plainly, for someone who helped along the way.
Work With Us
Thank you for reading. You know who you'd be working with. Take a look at our services to see how engagements are structured, or reach out directly. We respond within one business day.