About
Who I Help
Nonprofit leaders call me when important work needs attention and they need an experienced partner to move it forward. That may mean strengthening a funding model, aligning and engaging the board, or building the operational infrastructure the organization needs for what's next.
I've been there, and I bring practical tools to the work — from strategic planning software and board and staff dashboards to vetted outsourcing partners. When AI or custom software is part of the answer, my business partner Markus Fromherz leads that work.
Who I Am and Why I Do This
I spent 25 years leading community-based nonprofits in San Mateo County, growing both the number of people served and the funding behind the work. Those organizations combined individual and foundation giving, earned income, and government contracts to deliver essential community services. I made mistakes, learned from them, and developed a grounded understanding of what nonprofit leadership actually requires.
I became an advisor because I know the reality of the executive chair — the competing priorities, the weight of important decisions, and the expectation that you will keep the organization moving forward. My role is to bring perspective, ask the questions others may not, and help turn decisions into action. I do this work because nonprofits make communities better, and I want the leaders carrying that demanding work to have the support they need to sustain both their organizations and themselves.
Tracey Carrillo Fecher
LinkedIn →Philosophy
My Organizational Philosophy
When you work with an advisor, it matters what they believe about how nonprofits succeed. These are the principles I bring to every organization I work with.
Mission-Driven Strategy
Nonprofits thrive when their mission anchors every decision. A strategic plan should be more than a document — it should be an actionable roadmap that aligns board and staff, guides the use of resources, and turns priorities into measurable progress.
Board Effectiveness
A board is one of your greatest assets, but it functions best as a true strategic partner — built through intentional recruitment, meaningful engagement, and a strong partnership with the CEO.
Strategic Finance and Operations
Financial clarity and operational efficiency are the foundation of a sustainable organization. They allow leaders to make informed decisions, invest in the future, and focus organizational capacity on the mission. Increasingly, that includes using AI thoughtfully to reduce routine work and expand what the organization can accomplish.
Approach
My Leadership Approach
Organizational principles matter, but so does how an advisor works with people. I bring a leadership approach grounded in listening, candid communication, emotional intelligence, and respect for the people closest to the work.
Leadership Intelligence
Leadership is relational. Strong leaders understand their own responses, recognize what is happening around them, and communicate with clarity and empathy. Those skills build trust, strengthen teams, and make it easier to navigate difficult decisions and change.
I bring that awareness into every engagement — not as a separate exercise, but as part of how I listen, ask questions, communicate challenges, and help boards and staff move forward together.
How I Work With You
I don't arrive with a pre-packaged methodology or a consultant's agenda. I start by listening. Because I've sat in the CEO chair, I understand the difference between an ideal recommendation and one an organization can realistically carry out. Depending on what you need, I can work with you in two ways:
When You Need Hands-On Support
When an important project needs to move forward but the internal capacity isn't there, I take an active role in getting it done. That might mean leading a governance review, developing a strategic framework, or conducting an organizational assessment. I work alongside you and your team to produce a concrete result you can use.
When You Need a Thought Partner
When the goal is to strengthen your own or your team's capacity, I serve as a trusted thought partner — bringing perspective, asking challenging questions, and helping you work through the issue. You get the immediate outcome you need while building your ability to navigate what comes next.
Services
Where I Can Help
Because I've run the whole organization, not just one function, I can work across the issues a nonprofit leader needs to navigate. Here are some of the areas where I can work:
Strategic Planning
Strategic planning should give your board and staff a shared direction and a practical way to make decisions. I help translate your mission into focused priorities, measurable goals, and clear ownership — then implement the tools and review rhythm needed to keep the plan active as conditions change.
This can include:
- Strategic Plan Framework — clear focus areas, measurable goals, assigned champions, and a defined process for tracking progress
- Quarterly Progress Reviews — structured check-ins with key stakeholders to assess progress, address barriers, and adjust the plan when needed
- Board Reporting System — a concise reporting format that gives the board visibility into progress, upcoming decisions, and where its support is needed
Board Governance and Effectiveness
An engaged, effective board brings valuable perspective, expertise, and partnership to a nonprofit. I help leaders strengthen the composition, culture, structures, and clarity that allow a board to contribute at its best. The work is practical, with recommendations designed to improve governance without creating unnecessary process.
This can include:
- Board Composition and Recruitment Roadmap — identifies current and future skill gaps, clarifies recruitment priorities, and creates a sustainable pipeline of prospective members
- Board Culture and Engagement Assessment — evaluates meeting effectiveness, member participation, and the board–CEO relationship, with practical recommendations for building greater engagement and partnership
- Governance Document Review and Alignment — reviews bylaws, board agreements, and committee charters to ensure that roles, expectations, and decision-making responsibilities are clear and consistent
Strategic Finance and Operations
Financial and operational decisions shape how much capacity an organization has to deliver its mission. I help leaders understand where they stand, plan for what lies ahead, and strengthen the systems, staffing, and partnerships that support sustainable growth.
This can include:
- Financial Strategy and Forecasting — developing meaningful KPIs, evaluating revenue diversification, and creating a five-year financial forecast to support informed decisions about the organization's future
- AI Strategy and Readiness Workshop — identifies where AI could realistically support the work, grounded in the organization's mission, staff capacity, and existing technology (more below)
- Succession and Continuity Planning — prepares the organization for planned or unexpected leadership and key-staff transitions so that essential knowledge, relationships, and responsibilities don't depend on one person
- Outsourcing for Efficiency — identifies functions that could be handled more effectively by trusted outside partners, freeing staff capacity for the work only the internal team can do
AI & Software
Where AI Fits in Your Organization
For most nonprofits, the first useful AI is ordinary: drafting and editing, transcribing meetings, summarizing long documents, working through a pile of program material with an AI research tool.
The value is in knowing which of these actually help. Hours saved is the easiest thing to measure, but it is rarely the most important: the better question is where AI improves the work itself — more consistent answers, better-prepared follow-up, more people reached, and staff time returned to the work only they can do. Markus Fromherz leads this practice — he advises on where AI fits, what it costs to run, and how to adopt it responsibly, and builds what an organization decides to take on.
It is also worth being candid about the money. Adopting AI usually costs something before it saves anything — the tools themselves, the setup, and the staff time to learn them. Leadership and boards do better when they plan for that from the start than when they expect savings in the first year.
AI Strategy and Readiness
A workshop that maps AI opportunities to your mission, your staff, and the technology you already run, with the governance and change management groundwork to act on them.
Everyday AI in the Daily Work
Chatbots, transcription, summarization, and research tools — chosen for the work your team actually does, and introduced with the policies to use them safely and the ongoing practice, not a single training session, that makes them stick.
AI Advisors and Custom Software
When the work calls for building: conversational AI advisors that guide the people you serve through complex decisions, and the custom software and systems behind them.
The AI Strategy and Readiness Workshop
A structured, organization-specific workshop that helps leadership and staff identify the work AI can support. It is built around your organization's specific context: your mission, your staff capacity, your technology platform, and the day-to-day work where AI can free up time and expand what you can do for the people you serve.
By the end of the workshop, you'll have:
- A good overview of the opportunities AI presents
- An outline of a governance policy you can implement — and which you may even consider publishing a summary of, to build trust with the people you serve, your funders, and your board
- A worksheet for AI change management you can use
- A short list of promising early wins from the responsible use of AI in your organization
Not sure where you'd start?
Take the free AI Readiness Assessment. Ada, our AI advisor, asks about a dozen questions about how your organization works day to day — no AI knowledge needed — and sends you a report naming where AI could realistically help, what would need to be true first, and a worksheet you can bring to the workshop. About ten minutes.
Start the assessment →
Markus Fromherz
LinkedIn →Contact
Let's talk.
If you have important work that needs to move forward, let's talk. Tell me what your organization is navigating and what you want to accomplish, and we can explore where I might be most useful.