Advisory
I have spent twelve years in the chair you sit in, leading a foundation, its programs, and a team through the same pressures you face. I work with nonprofit leaders on the hard parts of running the organization: the strategy, the board, the people, and the calls that keep you up at night. You are hiring somebody who has made these decisions herself, in the seat, and lived with the results.
Advisory & strategy
Leading a nonprofit can be lonely at the top. Sometimes what you need is not a deck. It is someone who has held the chair to think a hard call through with you: the strategy question, the personnel knot, the thing the board keeps circling. I take this on with a small number of leaders at a time, as a scoped engagement or a light monthly retainer.
Board & leadership facilitation
Some conversations need an outside partner who has actually run the organization. I facilitate board and leadership retreats, run strategy sessions, and guide teams working through a real decision. Twelve years leading a foundation and its programs means I have made most of these calls myself. I bring that to your room, ask the questions your team is avoiding, and leave you with decisions and next steps, not a deck.
Developing your leaders
Your rising and newly promoted leaders are your future and your retention risk at the same time. I work with them as a group, or one-to-one as coaching your organization sponsors, using the strengths and coaching work I am certified in. The goal is real capability and real confidence, not an exercise they forget by Friday.
The one-to-one version lives on the Coaching page so it is described in one place rather than two.
A peer, not a vendorI have run the organization. We talk as two people who have sat in the same seat, which means I can say the unwelcome thing without dressing it up.
Decisions, not decksYou leave our work with clarity and next steps you have already agreed on.
Flexible on scope, clear on the workWe shape the engagement to your budget and your moment. Every fee is in writing before we start.
I am Tara Fitzpatrick-Navarro. I lead a Mid-Atlantic foundation, I write for the Forbes Nonprofit Council, and I completed the Korn Ferry Leadership Architect program. The rest of the credentials are on the About page. My side work runs on my own time and tools, and I do not take engagements with my employer's funders, grantees, vendors, or partners.
Contact
Tell me what is on your plate. If I am not the right person for it, I will say so and point you somewhere better. I read and answer these myself.
Start with a short note