One-Page 2026 Reality Check
- Ryan Mulligan
- 4 minutes ago
- 1 min read
A One-Page Reality Check for Nonprofits Thinking About 2026
Most nonprofit leaders don’t avoid hard work. They avoid a very specific kind of hard work: the difficult conversations about the inner workings of things.
The ones about leadership transitions. About burnout that’s being quietly absorbed. About programs we love but may no longer be able to sustain. About whether the future we talk about is truly funded or staffed to exist.
I built a one-page 2026 Reality Check as a simple way to surface those questions without turning them into a performance or a fight. It’s not a values exercise or a personality quiz. It’s a short, concrete self-evaluation grounded in evidence, not vibes.
It asks things like:
Do we actually have financial breathing room?
Are our strongest people still able to grow here?
Have we named real tradeoffs between impact and survival?
If one senior leader stepped away tomorrow, what would honestly break first?
The goal isn’t a high score.The goal is to tell the truth early—while there’s still room to move.
You can download the one-page tool here:
If it surfaces something you’re not sure how to hold or where to take next, I’m always open to a real conversation. You can reach me at ryan@friendlysidekick.com. No pitch—just thinking together about what’s actually true.
Because this work is too important to keep buffering the truth.