The pressure of a new year only intensifies if you think you are supposed to do something new or better. It seems like the idea of a resolution is that it is imbued with hope and possibility but really, it can all feel a bit exhausting.

Please don’t misunderstand me, I am all about improvement and advancement, but if the pressure to do new and shiny things is more about external forces and less about what is truly motivating you and your organization to do better, then I would caution you to think again.

Especially right now.

For so many in our sector, 2025 was not like other years. Uncertainty, fear, and concern became regular parts of most nonprofit team experiences. What was once a sure thing, became a question. And questions like “how are you? or “what do you need?” were often met with a very loud silence that comes from feeling overwhelmed or overrun.

So as many enter the new year, it feels less with the excitement of possibility for what could be new and shiny and more with a hope that we have enough energy, ingenuity, and determination to just keep going on with our mission delivery. That all might sound fatalistic, but instead, I offer it as a balm that soothes our minds and allows us to focus.

Where you put your focus is the real question. That trusty VUCA mindset (volatility, uncertainty, and ambiguity) still reminds us that in these VUCA times, we can still lean into vision, understanding, clarity, and agility to allow us to focus on what matters the most.

Every business (for-profit and nonprofit alike) will tell you that planning in this time of great uncertainty in our country is incredibly difficult because the locus of control feels too far out of our hands. But again, VUCA teaching reminds us that when we focus on what we can understand, or where we can have clarity, then it helps us be agile and pivot as we need to without losing our focus.

In 2026, I encourage all of us to find that focus – to try not being as frenetic and uncertain as the larger world around us, instead to do what we do best. To find places that feel within our control. To assess if we have drifted to follow the money or drifted out of fear. To come together with our team and honestly assess what is in front of us. To tell all the truth or, as Jim Collins says, “confront the brutal facts” so that the focal points come more sharply into view.

In the end, you might choose to go back to what is core in your mission delivery and shed the rest, or you might focus on what is most important to the people and communities you serve (even if past funding will not come with you). Or you might focus on what is grounding for you and your team as you navigate the high level of uncertainty around us. Whichever space where you shine your light and home in, I hope it comes with a mantra of how you and your team can do the most good with what you have in front of you, rather than embracing the classic nonprofit expectation of doing more with less.

It is highly possible right now that with so much uncertainty, you might not know what to do to help you focus. Below are a few tools and strategies to get you moving.

Lean into your compliance checklists to look for ways to turn your attention inward on your own internal process.

With the additional scrutiny on nonprofits, this is a great time to focus on your systems.

There are many ways into this line of questions. Here are three options to get you started:

• One option is to use the 8 Steps in response to federal policy and funding shifts.
• Another is our new resource, the Annual Human Resources Compliance Checklist
• And a third is to focus on your compliance with federal and state regulations. We’ve prepared this checklist to help.

Focus on mission alignment instead of “mission-drift.”

Mission drift by definition is where the organization has subtly or substantially sought or received funding that has driven their decisions rather than letting their plans, goals, and mission drive the search and acceptance of funding. Chasing money is not new, but it often leads in the long run to the inability to financially sustain what has been built, as well as staffing upheaval, donor confusion, and broken promises to the community. Avoiding drift takes a team effort and a commitment by the board and staff to align decisions to clear planning and longer-term considerations of short-term decisions.

In the current environment, with leaders stressed about funding, mission drift can occur if they accept money where the rules have changed from the time the funding was granted or they fear having to close their doors without the funding. When this occurs, leaders may resort to “making it work,” even as mission and goals are compromised.

There are many ways into this line of questions. Below are a few options to get you started:

• Check our tool, Using the Mission-Money Matrix to Make Decisions, as a way to focus on ensuring the greatest return on your investment of time and resources for both revenue and mission.
• Another way in is to use the Foraker Nonprofit Sustainability Model and the questions we invite you to ask and answer in the book version or through our facilitation work with you as you look through each lens of the model. If you don’t have the book, you may order it by contacting our office.
• Another angle is to gather the team for honest conversations about your financial investors’ expectations and rules of engagement.
• Bringing the board and team together to do strategic or annual planning can also help with focus. Time and again, we find the groups with longer-term goals navigate their shorter-term challenges with more agility. Not sure how to start? Give us a call.
• Looking at mission and money alignment can also be done through solid financial analysis and scenario planning for 2026 and beyond based on your current budget, or current or projected funding. While some are hesitant to dive too deeply into the financial options or adjustments because it feels too daunting, we can help you either on the finance side or the funding side of the equation.
  • A deeper look at what is working, what is possible, and what is at risk can help you and your team focus your energy on the types of donors and earned income customers that will have the biggest influence on your short and long-term success. Risk Assessment is just one step. Good planning is the next. Reach out. We can help in many ways with any of the steps along the way.

Focus on alignment with core values in ideas, even if words change.

Not unlike mission alignment, values alignment speaks to what is core about your organizational cultural beliefs. One of the more unsettling aspects of all the governmental policy shifts has been the demands on nonprofits to abandon their core beliefs. For sure, this can be combined with the demand and even fear tactics to make words “wrong,” or to insinuate that words are illegal, but we know words can shift even as the meaning and beliefs behind them stay the same. Beyond the use of which words to use or not, each nonprofit leader faces a more fundamental question about whether the organization is abandoning its core beliefs in the name of receiving federal or state funding, or other factors. A recent study suggests that there is not one way to navigate forward but likely every nonprofit that receives federal funds and even those that don’t are having these conversations and some are making dramatic changes to the words they use. No matter where you land, the conversation matters. And the results will matter in how you clarify your focus moving forward.

There are a number of ways to dive into focusing on value alignment:

• If you have yet to identify your core values, try focusing on your founding story to get reconnected to the DNA of your organization.
• If you are interested in seeing how your core values are weaving (or not) throughout your culture and organizational structure, check out this list, and give some thought to how you can deepen your connections to what is core in all aspects of the organization.
• If you have not yet given your communication tools and plans a check-up, now is a good time to make sure they reflect what is core in your beliefs, even if your words must adapt to meet the moment. Be sure to look carefully at the words you use, the stories you tell, and the invitations you offer for all your stakeholders to participate.
• If the legal ramifications of grant agreements and compliance are causing your team to question your core values and the words you use, note that there are some resources to help, but they are limited. Some state Attorneys General are offering guidance on federal compliance and the words you use. Alaska is not. If you feel like your words are out of compliance with federal requirements, please contact your attorney or contact us for guidance as we may be able to connect you to some national resources that support nonprofits who need legal guidance.

Focus on your people.

Time and time again, when we have asked what groups need right now to reset and ground, they tell us it is time to be with their people. This is a great time to turn your focus to your team, including board, staff, volunteers, and individual donors. Lean in to listening and connecting as the goal. Lean into sharing stories and hearing connections and differences. We often have said, “the shortest distance between two people is a story.” So in these times when people feel divided and distant, why not use your time and resources to focus on bringing people together (virtually, emotionally, physically) in whatever way works best to center with each other and with the mission and community you are striving to create. Maybe nothing new is created – except connection. That seems worth it.

A few strategies to get you focused:

• Schedule it on the calendar, not just once but a few times in 2026 for different stakeholder groups (staff, volunteers, donors, board, etc.).
• Make time on board and staff agendas for connection. Fun, silly, or serious topics are all available to you.
• Craft some open-ended questions for round-the-room or small group sharing.
• Make time for “mission moments” at each meeting or a few meetings a year.

Focus on strengthening your network, both people and organizations.

To be sure, 2026 will ask us all to lean more into each other so we can share resources, ideas, energy, and support. It was never a good idea to try to deliver a mission alone as a single organization. The challenges we face are so much more complex than that. But if we are going to truly focus on our strengths, that means we equally need to rely on each other’s complementary offerings to best and most holistically serve our communities. 2026, I hope, is the year of new and renewed relationships, new and renewed connections, and an opportunity to form unlikely partnerships that bring us together to do what each does best to make something better than any one of us can offer our communities on our own.

A few next steps:

• While remembering not to take your current relationships for granted, map potential new partners by centering the idea or goal and brainstorming new people, businesses, nonprofits, tribes, and agencies that improve the idea. This is “go slow to go fast” work but the payoff is more focus, more energy, and greater return for all you serve.
• Pull out your current plans (fundraising, communication, annual operational plans, etc.) and look for ways to deepen relationships and form new ones through listening, communication, and sharing. Be willing to consider what you give to the relationship before asking for something in return.

As 2026 dawns on a horizon of uncertainty, let our collective commitment be to focus on what matters the most. There are lots of ways into this conversation, but they will all result in the same outcome – improved focus, more satisfying results, and deeper connections. Let’s do it together.

Laurie