ED/CEO Nonprofit Support Network 2026

ED/CEO Nonprofit Support Network

A lifeline for nonprofit leaders

The ED/CEO Nonprofit Network is a year-long, 10-session peer community designed to support the leaders who carry some of the heaviest loads in our sector. This network isn’t a workshop series and it’s not about adding more content to already overloaded calendars. It’s a space intentionally built for connection, clarity, courage, and the kind of honesty that actually moves leaders forward.

Grounded in the real pressures nonprofit executives face every day—financial uncertainty, staff trust, governance complexity, burnout risk, and the emotional weight of leading through systems that aren’t always ready to change—the ED/CEO Network creates a container where leaders don’t have to pretend they have it all together. Here, you can ask better questions, find peers who understand the road you’re on, and access the collective wisdom that only comes from lived experience.

Purpose

The 2026 ED/CEO Network is designed to:

• Strengthen leadership confidence and resilience through peer coaching, storytelling, and shared learning.

• Reduce isolation by cultivating a trusted community where leaders can speak openly about their challenges.

• Build sector-wide capacity as participants share strategies, tools, and real-world solutions that others can apply.

• Provide clarity and support on high-pressure issues like sustainability, board relationships, staff well-being, financial literacy, and change management.

• Create a networked cohort of leaders who can reach out to each other between sessions for advice, perspective, or good old-fashioned “tell me I’m not the only one dealing with this.”

This is a participant-shaped series. Leaders name what they need; Pillar curates the support.

Why It Matters

Survey results and session dialogue made something unmistakably clear:
Nonprofit executives are carrying enormous pressure, and most feel like they’re carrying it alone.

Leaders named:

• financial uncertainty and sustainability stress

• limited board engagement and difficulty recruiting

• the fear of sinking the ship

• balancing organizational culture shifts

• burnout and emotional load

• lack of financial literacy supports

• the challenge of changing systems that resist change

• succession concerns and key staff transitions

And yet, when these same leaders got into a room together, something shifted. They nodded, they exhaled, they said “me too,” and they realized—this network is not a luxury. It’s infrastructure.

This series matters because:

• Leadership is lonely. The network makes it less so.

• The challenges are real. The network helps leaders sort what’s urgent, what’s important, and what’s possible.

• The wisdom is in the room. Participants bring decades of lived experience across the sector.

• Leaders need space to step back. Not to check out—but to zoom out and recalibrate.

• Community is strategy. When leaders feel supported, organizations function better, teams feel steadier, and the sector becomes more resilient.

This network doesn’t fix the systemic issues—but it ensures no one is facing them alone.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE - EVENTS RUN 10:15 - 11:45 AM

January  28, 10:15- 11:45 am

February 25, 10-11:30 am 

April 1, 10:15- 11:45 am

April 29,10:15- 11:45 am

May 5,10:15- 11:45 am 

June 24,10:15- 11:45 am

September 23, 10:15- 11:45 am

October 28, 10:15- 11:45 am

November 17, 10:15- 11:45 am

Format & Experience

Sessions blend:

• Peer coaching circles where participants bring real challenges

• Storytelling and lived experience sharing from those who have been through the fire

• Small-group problem-solving labs

• Expert Q&A panels on topics shaped by participants

• Brave space conversations grounded in Pillar’s community agreements

• Reflection and clarity-building exercises

The series is cumulative—trust builds, relationships deepen, and the group becomes a true support network over time.