Experienced advisory for serious work.

RSP works with leaders and organizations facing governance challenges, strategic decisions, leadership transitions, and the moments when sound judgment matters most.

Core Advisory Practices

Board Governance and Effectiveness

Boards carry significant responsibility. When governance is unclear, relationships are strained, or the board is not functioning as it should, the entire organization feels it. RSP works with boards to understand their responsibilities, strengthen governance practices, clarify roles, improve board and executive relationships, and govern with greater confidence.

The goal is a board that understands its role, governs with confidence, and works productively with executive leadership.

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Possible engagements

Board governance training

Board assessments

Roles and responsibilities

Board and executive leadership relationships

Board retreats

Committee structure

Bylaws and governance practices

Meeting effectiveness

Parliamentary procedure guidance

Board culture and development

Executive evaluation processes

Who this serves: Boards of directors, board chairs, executive directors, and nonprofit organizations.

Executive Advisory

Executive leadership is often isolating. The decisions are significant, the relationships are complex, and there are few places to think out loud without consequence. RSP provides a confidential place to think through significant decisions with someone who understands executive leadership from experience. The advisory relationship is grounded in decades of actual nonprofit leadership and governance, not a coaching framework.

Perspective, judgment, and practical direction for leaders working through complex and high-stakes situations.

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Possible engagements

Executive decision sessions

Monthly executive advisory

Leadership transition advisory

Board chair and executive partnership consultation

Short-term strategic advisory engagements

Longer confidential advisory relationships

Who this serves: Executive directors, CEOs, board chairs, and senior nonprofit leaders.

Strategy and Organizational Direction

Organizations reach moments when the current path is no longer sufficient. Growth, transition, conflict, or change requires honest assessment and clear direction. RSP supports organizations with strategic planning, organizational assessment, program direction, mission alignment, and decisions about where to focus and what to do next.

A clear direction, aligned priorities, and a practical path forward.

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Possible engagements

Strategic planning

Organizational assessment

Organizational restructuring

Program development

Mission and priority alignment

Change management

Operational direction

Nonprofit formation and organizational foundations

Who this serves: Nonprofit organizations, associations, civic organizations, and leadership teams.

Facilitation and Team Renewal

Some conversations require a skilled facilitator. RSP facilitates board retreats, leadership retreats, planning sessions, difficult conversations, organizational discussions, conflict resolution, team realignment, and leadership development. Sessions are practical, candid, and designed for the specific group and moment.

Productive sessions that move the group forward with shared understanding and clear commitments.

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Possible engagements

Board retreats

Leadership retreats

Planning sessions

Difficult conversations

Conflict resolution

Team realignment

Leadership development

Who this serves: Leadership teams, boards, and organizations facing transition, conflict, or the need for renewed focus.

Signature Experience

RSP Refuel

Team Renewal and Alignment

RSP Refuel is an intentional half-day or full-day experience for teams that have been running hard, become disconnected, or need space for honest conversation and renewed focus. The experience combines reflection, facilitated discussion, connection, team development, and clear commitments about priorities going forward.

Reconnecting to mission

Clarifying expectations

Addressing issues affecting team energy

Strengthening communication

Restoring connection

Identifying practical commitments for the work ahead

Specialized Advisory

Funding Strategy and Grant Readiness

The money has moved, and most organizations are still asking for it the way they did five years ago. Federal streams have narrowed, competition for foundation funding has intensified, and reviewers now expect evidence, evaluation design, and measurable outcomes that many organizations cannot yet produce. RSP works with boards and executives to build a funding base that can survive the shift. This is not proposal writing for hire. The work is making the organization into one that gets funded, and building the internal capacity to keep it that way.

An organization that understands its funding position, has a realistic diversification strategy, and is building the capacity to sustain it.

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Possible engagements

Grant readiness assessment

Revenue diversification planning

Funder portfolio review

Case for support development

Grant strategy and calendar

Coaching for development staff and executives

Board education on fundraising responsibility

Who this serves: Executive directors, development staff, and boards facing a funding gap or preparing to grow.

Executive Transition and Succession

Fewer than one in three nonprofit boards has a written succession plan, and executive departures are running at record levels. When a long-tenured leader leaves without one, the organization loses decades of relationships, knowledge, and funder confidence in a single quarter. RSP has spent more than three decades in the executive seat, accountable to a governing board. That means both sides of this conversation are familiar ground: the board that has never done this before, and the leader who cannot yet picture leaving.

A board and organization that are prepared for leadership change, not surprised by it.

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Possible engagements

Executive succession planning

Emergency succession protocols

Board preparation for an executive search

Onboarding and first-year support for a new executive

Advisory support for a departing or founding leader

Knowledge and relationship transfer planning

Who this serves: Boards facing a leadership change, and founding or long-tenured executives planning their own departure.

Speaking and Facilitation

Dr. Thompson-Jackson speaks and facilitates conversations on nonprofit governance, executive leadership, organizational change, leadership development, and the realities of leading organizations focused on mission and impact. Sessions are practical, thoughtful, candid, and designed for the specific audience.

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Ready to talk about what your organization needs? The initial conversation is complimentary.

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