Board dynamics
Navigating a board dynamic that's more complicated than it looks from the outside.
Strategic Leadership Partnership
You're the person everyone else brings their hardest questions to. Your board looks to you for the read on things. Your staff looks to you to stay level when a grant falls through or a program hits a wall. Most days, you can do that. Some days, there's no one whose job it is to ask how you're doing, and even if there were, they haven't sat where you're sitting, so you'd have to explain it all before they could actually help.
A Steady Partner When You're the One Everyone Turns To
A Partner Who's Sat Where You're Sitting
I'm Margot Holmes, founder of Blue Heron Nonprofit Consulting, and Strategic Leadership Partnership is built for that seat. It's regular time with an experienced partner: someone who has run programs, led staff, and sat where you're sitting, so you have somewhere to think out loud before you decide. And the longer we work together, the more I learn about your organization and how you lead, and the more I can offer beyond the question in front of us. I'm based in Vermont and work with nonprofit leaders across Vermont, New Hampshire, and the Upper Valley, with select engagements nationwide.
The search term
If You're Searching for Nonprofit Executive Coaching
Most people who land on this page typed some version of "nonprofit executive coaching" into a search bar.
Executive coaching usually means a program: set modules, a curriculum, sometimes a certification behind the person running it. Strategic Leadership Partnership works differently. It's regular, one-on-one time with someone who has held the executive director seat, matched to your board, your budget, and the week you're having. There's no workbook to complete and no program to finish. Each conversation starts with whatever is in front of you.
This is not coaching in theory. It is operational and strategic clarity in practice.
Common moments
What I Help With
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Fundraising decisions
Fundraising strategy that could use a fresh set of eyes.
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Strategic planning
The plan that's stalled or feels disconnected from day-to-day work.
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Priorities
Clarify priorities when everything feels urgent.
Placeholder: a client quote from Kelly arrives here.
Pricing
Strategic Leadership Partnership is $150 per session. Each session is one hour live, with async follow-up between calls included. Sessions run weekly or biweekly, and we choose that rhythm together up front.
I don't put an end date on this engagement. It's open-ended by design.
Engagements are one-on-one, with regular sessions for as long as it's valuable.
Common Questions
How often would we meet, and what happens between sessions?
Sessions are weekly or biweekly, whichever fits your organization, at $150 per session. Each is one hour live, plus async follow-up as things come up between calls, included in the session rate. Between sessions, there's one designated channel to reach me when something can't wait.
How long does this last?
If you're weighing how long to commit to, I recommend planning for at least three months to get traction. If you have something specific in front of you right now, we can also start with a single month.
Will you get involved with my board?
Strategic Leadership Partnership is one-on-one time with you, and what we discuss stays between us. Board dynamics come up in almost every partnership, and I'll help you think through how to handle them. When a board needs direct, facilitated work like training or planning, that becomes part of a broader engagement, usually Organizational Design, and I'll say so if I think that's the better fit.
Next steps
Ready to Talk?
I work with a small number of organizations at a time, because a partnership like this only works if I have room to think alongside you. If you're the person everyone else turns to and you want an experienced partner of your own, let's talk.