Nonprofit Consulting Services for Vermont, New Hampshire, and the Upper Valley

Blue Heron Nonprofit Consulting works with nonprofit leaders at pivotal moments, when growth, transition, or complexity has outpaced the infrastructure underneath it. Most of our work is project-based and time-bound, with a clear scope and a defined end. Strategic Leadership Partnership is the one exception, an ongoing relationship for leaders who want a thought partner in their corner. We specialize in Strategic Leadership Partnership, Organizational Assessment & Design, and Grant Strategy & Support, and everything we build is designed to keep working after the engagement ends. Wherever you are in that arc, you're welcome to start the conversation before you know exactly what you need.

Great blue heron flying low over marshland

Services

Our nonprofit consulting services

  • Strategic Leadership Partnership

    Regular one-on-one time with a steady, experienced partner, open-ended by design. Clients describe it like this: "I no longer feel like I'm flying blind. I have somewhere to go to work things through."

  • Organizational Assessment

    You can feel that something isn't working, but naming it is the hard part. The Organizational Assessment runs 6 to 8 weeks and ends with a written summary that tells you what to address now and what can wait.

  • Interim Executive Director

    When a leader leaves, boards need a stabilizer with full executive authority, in the seat fast. Our Interim Executive Director service places that leadership, co-led by Margot Holmes and Angela Kelley. It's the engagement where in-person presence matters most, so we keep it close to home: primarily remote, with targeted on-site support for organizations in Vermont and New Hampshire.

  • Organizational Design

    Systems, structures, and financial planning your organization owns and keeps. Organizational Design starts from a completed Organizational Assessment. With The Blueprint, you receive the full plan and take it from there. With The Blueprint, Built Together, we build it with you and stay through adoption.

  • Executive Transition Planning

    Executive Transition Planning is how you plan now, so your board can calmly enact a policy it already has rather than scrambling to invent one in the moment. It covers up to 4 hours of facilitated conversation and the finished policy, in one session or spread across a few.

  • Succession Planning

    Leadership continuity for your whole organization, beyond the ED role alone. Succession Planning looks at the depth of your bench, how you're growing talent, and where institutional knowledge sits. It runs about 3 to 4 months.

How engagements start

  1. 1. You reach out.

  2. 2. We listen first.

  3. 3. We recommend a starting point.

  4. 4. We scope it plainly.

    Clear deliverables, a clear timeline, and a clear price before anything begins.

A note on fit

We may not be the right partner if you're looking for:

  • Ongoing grant writing
  • Facilitation-heavy consulting without systems follow-through

Frequently asked questions

How many organizations does Blue Heron work with at once?

We work with a small number of organizations at a time, and we keep it that way so every engagement gets real attention.

Do I need to know which service I need before I contact you?

No. Tell us what's going on and we'll help you find the right starting point. Progress doesn't always look the way you expect, but it still gets your organization to its goal.

What if I can't afford it?

Let's talk, there may be options. Tell us what you're weighing and we'll be straightforward about what's possible.

Not sure where to start?

We respond within one business day.

Let's talk