IN PRACTICE
Systems change when people do…
A look at how participatory, equity-centered work plays out in the field and the outcomes it produces when the people closest to the problem are trusted to help solve it.
Case Study: From Five Disparate Programs to a Staff-Led Nonprofit Cooperative
Four founders had built five distinct, well-loved programs at a previous organization — until that organization discontinued all of them. Determined to keep the work alive, they set out to launch an independent nonprofit, but were starting from nearly nothing: $20,000 in seed funding, an outreach network limited to personal contacts, no digital infrastructure, and no appetite for fundraising. The founders were gifted educators with no cohesive organizational identity connecting their programs, and no business or compliance infrastructure to operate as a nonprofit at all.
Case Study: Turning Around a Struggling Direct-Sales Franchise
Two years into operation, this direct-sales franchise had built early momentum - then spent the following year in decline. Sales volume was falling steadily, turnover was high, and the sales force was demoralized. The franchise owner brought in outside help to rebuild the recruitment pipeline, but the deeper issues ran through training, management structure, and how the organization treated the people doing the work.