Santa wasn't in the strategic plan
Every mission organization has a default setting: stay in your lane, write the report, run it all from headquarters. Savannah Riverkeeper asked: Says who? Its strategic plan spread staff across three hubs, gave away its data and pulled together a coalition of more than 50 groups. When a chemical plant asked for a bigger air permit, roughly 80 people called into the hearing. And last Christmas, Santa moved into the warehouse.
Manifesto for the Impact Sector
This past year, Due East teamed up with visionary nonprofit leaders, funders, board chairs, agency heads, and folks on the front lines of social and environmental change as they try to make our world a better place.
Somewhere amidst the overwhelm, apathy, anger, fatigue and fear that AI will end the world in the next decade, we forgot what we're surviving for.
So here it is: the things we think and rarely say out loud.
A Plan Built to Weather the Storm
A Conversation with Kate Fritz, CEO of Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay
Strategic Planning Is Still a Human Sport
Every other month, another article declares that AI will automate strategy. The argument usually goes: machines can process more data, spot more patterns, and run more scenarios than any leadership team ever could. So why bother engaging your team in planning?
On Demand: The Why of Strategic Planning
Strategic planning for uncertain times. Learn how to align your team, adapt to change, and move forward.
Now on demand: Mergers & Acquisitions for Nonprofits
The nonprofits that navigate mergers well started the conversation before they had to.
The answers were already in the room.
On a Tuesday evening in April, a teenager named Jamari stood up in a room full of agency directors, nonprofit leaders, and community partners and said what a lot of adults in that room already knew but hadn't said out loud: teens in Lexington Park need more places to go. More mentors. More chances to lead — not just be led.
What Happens to Civic Life When Public Media Disappears?
A natural instinct right now is to look away. But looking away has a cost — and this report is about the people refusing to do it.
Due East Partners co-authored the Reimagining New Jersey Public Media report, a blueprint for what civic life looks like when local news disappears — and what it takes to rebuild it.
Building collaborations that drive lasting change
Join us for a free, one-hour webinar on Collective Impact: what it is, what it looks like in practice, and how communities are using it to drive real, lasting change. May 27, 2026.
Due East Values
Due East was founded on a set of shared values that our team aspires to live every day, in everything we do. If we had a “secret sauce” or formula for making the world a better place, this would be it.