August 22, 2023 | Thought Leadership
On Friday mornings, our team gathers for coffee in the office. We use this time to catch up about the week, share our weekend plans and debrief on client projects. We’re fortunate that a lot of organizations invite us to partner in their work. This year alone, we’ve...
August 17, 2023 | Corporate Impact
The way the private sector companies and social good organizations work together is changing. Next Stage frequently helps to develop partnerships between companies and nonprofits. As self-confessed ‘impact nerds,’ we count ourselves lucky to facilitate these...
August 17, 2023 | Communications
Did anyone have “Billion Dollar Barbie Blockbuster” on their summer 2023 bingo card? Can’t say I saw that coming. But perhaps I should have given the extraordinary marketing efforts that created a pink wave of consumerism and social media buzz in the months leading up...
August 7, 2023 | Values & Culture
What if rest is the productivity tool we’ve been missing? This summer, I read “Rest: Why you get more done when you work less” by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang. With this book (and several studies and news articles) I’ve been reflecting on where rest fits into my life....
August 1, 2023 | Talent
As Next Stage approaches our tenth anniversary, we have been excited to innovate and explore the ways social impact is changing. The challenges and systems that are communities are working to solve are more complex – and more intersectional – than ever. We...
July 25, 2023 | Community Voice
When the Next Stage team hosted Justin Taylor from Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont a few weeks ago, we were shocked to learn more about the ‘benefits cliff’ in North Carolina and other states. The term refers to the sudden loss of benefits...
July 20, 2023 | Corporate Impact
“Thank you for your courage in attending this session.” When presenting on the addendum to our Profit & Purpose report, I start by acknowledging the audience. At a time when corporate social responsibility is making headlines for the wrong reasons,...
July 18, 2023 | Community Voice
Written by: Brooke Lackey In my first week as Next Stage’s Community Voice Fellow, I was given my main task of the summer: to explore the Albemarle corridor, one of six Corridors of Opportunity in Charlotte. I was to get knee-deep in the demographics, history and...
July 11, 2023 | Thought Leadership
Anyone else remember the number one question you were asked at the dinner table or when picked up from school while growing up: “What did you learn today?” For me, that question was sometimes easy to answer, and other times it made me realize I might need to pay more...
June 27, 2023 | Communications
Written by: Janet Ervin Next Stages does a lot of strategic planning. This means we always have a front-row seat to the current trends that are affecting nonprofit and impact organizations in our community. While marketing has always been a piece of the puzzle, the...
June 20, 2023 | Emerging Organizations
Written by Josh Jacobson It is nearing the end of June, and you know what that means — the end of the fiscal year for many nonprofits. Leaders at organizations across the region are in the final weeks of securing funding to balance their budgets, completing...
June 14, 2023 | ESG
Written by: Josh Jacobson Why is collaboration so difficult? The longer we work to advance social good through Next Stage, the more we have come to understand that the biggest barrier to achieving success is a seeming inability of people to “play nice...
