For community and nonprofit leaders

End a program without ending a person

The funding moved, the need changed, and one program has outlived its purpose. Nobody wants to say it.

Start your first cycle

Works for a congregation, a cluster, a housing nonprofit, or a service organization.

07 Safe Space Resets

Every program gets one of four honest outcomes, and a written reason.

  • Persevere It is working. Say why, and keep going.
  • Adjust The idea holds. The delivery does not.
  • Pause Not now. Not never. Write down what would bring it back.
  • Pivot The need moved. Follow it, and say so out loud.

The decision belongs to the group and the reasoning stays with the organization.

Where this comes up

Everybody knows. Nobody says it.

A program nobody will end

It serves four people now, and the woman who built it is in the room.

The reasoning walks out

The new coordinator asks why you stopped the Saturday thing. Nobody remembers.

The ground moved

The grant did not renew, and the fall plan no longer matches the money.

What the practice does

Nobody has to be the villain

Four honest outcomes

The group reviews the program against what it was for, and writes down why.

The record stays

Every decision carries a written reason, so the next coordinator reads why.

Two or three futures

Track funding, policy and who shows up. What you do not resolve carries forward.

About one in three US nonprofit service providers hit a government funding disruption in the first half of 2025.

Urban Institute, How Government Funding Disruptions Affected Nonprofits in Early 2025, 2025 National Survey of Nonprofit Trends and Impacts.

If this is you, start here

More on the blog

Bring the hard conversation into a structure

Pick one program, invite the people who care about it, and run the nine steps together.

Start your first cycle
Part of CollectiveNexus

One tool in a growing suite

SharedForesight gives your community a Product Coach role and the tools that work needs. It is one of the CollectiveNexus tools, and your people carry across to the next one.

Learn more about the full suite
A nine step adaptive practice for organizations that have to decide together.
One of a handful of small tools I am building for teams and communities that want to run themselves better.
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