Strategic fog
There is a plan on paper, but leaders still disagree about priorities, decisions, and what matters most.
Strategic Advising · Executive Coaching · Capacity Building
The capacity to lead with clarity and confidence.
ClearImpact Advisors partners with visionary nonprofit CEOs and founders during periods of significant change—helping them make better strategic decisions, strengthen leadership, and build organizations capable of lasting impact.
Organizations we have advised
The leadership challenge
The most important questions rarely have obvious answers.
High-performing leaders rarely lack commitment or talent. What they lack is a trusted strategic advisor who understands both the complexity of the work and the unique pressures of leading through organizational change.
Board activation
The board is not operating at its highest level, and the executive relationship needs to evolve as the organization grows.
Sustainability
Revenue goals are rising, but fundraising does not yet provide a clear path to financial sustainability.
Change management
New leadership, restructuring, growth, or shifting conditions require thoughtful, agile leadership.
Our impact
Our name reflects our promise: clarity about what matters, and a focus on the impact that follows.
We partner with leaders across philanthropy, nonprofits, and government to make consequential decisions and turn them into meaningful results.
The challenge
As EdResearch for Action, EdWorkingPapers, and EdInstruments grew, the Institute needed a roadmap to bring them together as the EdExchange—with financial sustainability, operational efficiency, and a structure that could scale.
The collaboration
Over five months we interviewed stakeholders, analyzed comparable organizations, modeled revenue options, and designed an operating structure that could support growth without losing the mission.
The impact
Leadership left with a market position, mission-aligned revenue paths, and a flexible financial model they can use across growth scenarios.
The challenge
PLTW already reaches hundreds of thousands of Indiana students in school. Nearly 340,000 families wanted afterschool or summer STEM options. The question: could the model travel into out-of-school time without losing rigor?
The collaboration
A three-phase feasibility study: statewide market analysis, educator and provider interviews, curriculum adaptability, financial and staffing models, and a practical pilot design.
The impact
PLTW gained a scalable framework for afterschool and summer programs, including delivery models, pricing, and measures that funders and families can trust.
The challenge
Hope Chicago’s programs were scaling. Leadership needed an evidence-informed policy agenda that could move Illinois higher education—not just serve the next cohort of scholars.
The collaboration
Landscape analysis, peer case studies, and facilitated leadership sessions produced a policy report and a public one-pager built for legislators, funders, and coalition partners.
The impact
Hope Chicago can now say where it leads, where it amplifies others, and where collaborative advocacy will matter most.
The challenge
As the portfolio grew from research to capacity building and evaluation, CORNERS needed a clearer business model, value proposition, and leadership structure.
The collaboration
Business-model workshops, stakeholder interviews, a redesigned matrix structure, updated roles, and implementation guidance for the transition.
The impact
Clearer reporting lines, less siloing, and a growth roadmap that keeps community-centered values intact while meeting demand.
The challenge
After $136 million and 811 grants, ILCHF needed more than a data dump. It needed to understand the true impact of two decades of work and chart 2026–2030.
The collaboration
A public-health landscape scan, analysis of 20 years of grants, 14 grantee interviews, and a survey covering 60 grants—paired with the human stories behind the numbers.
The impact
More than 1.3 million services reached children; 97% of funded services would not have existed at the same level without ILCHF. Those insights now shape the next strategic plan.
The challenge
Workforce needs, AI, and pathways beyond the four-year degree were shifting. Joyce needed a sharper view of what actually moves opportunity across the region.
The collaboration
A regional learning agenda covering Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio—credentials, healthcare growth, and the role of social capital—not just research for its own sake.
The impact
Program staff have data-backed guidance for the next chapter of grantmaking, including more targeted investments across the full postsecondary spectrum.
The challenge
Arts organizations needed support on a timeline that traditional panel cycles could not meet. AWF asked how to stay community-centered and become more responsive.
The collaboration
Ecosystem scan and collaborative design of a rapid-response model: rolling applications, clearer eligibility, governance that balances speed with collective judgment, and a launch plan.
The impact
The new model launched in 2025 with bimonthly decisions—support when organizations actually need it, and more room for relationship-based help.
Strategic advisory areas
A strategic partner for your most important decisions.
Our support sits at the intersection of strategy, leadership, governance, and organizational performance—designed around the questions that strengthen and sustain organizations.
Organizational strategy
Clarifying direction, evaluating strategic choices, and helping leaders make difficult tradeoffs about where to focus.
- Strategic planning
- Business model redesign
- Growth strategy
Financial sustainability
Strengthening revenue generation, donor engagement, and the long-term economics of the mission.
- Fundraising strategy
- Value proposition and positioning
- Funding diversification
Board governance
Helping boards strengthen their role, improve the partnership with the executive, and spend time on the decisions that matter.
- Board roles and structures
- Board retreats
- Executive–board alignment
Change management
Supporting executives and leadership teams through growth, transition, restructuring, or a shift in direction.
- Leadership transition
- Leadership team alignment
- Stakeholder engagement
Meet The Founder.
I’ve sat on both sides of the table.
Before I became an advisor, I spent years inside the institutions I now serve—as a funder making investment decisions and as a nonprofit leader responsible for turning strategy into results. That experience shapes how I work today. I understand what it takes to make the case for investment—and what it takes to deliver on the other side of it.
As Chief Strategy and Partnerships Officer at ConnectED, a national nonprofit, Jason held C-suite responsibility for strategy, growth, governance, and partnerships. At The Joyce Foundation he managed more than $60 million in philanthropic investments across education and workforce. He has served on numerous boards, including as board chair of New Moms and as a trustee of Chicago State University.
That combination—national C-suite operator, major grantmaker, and sitting board leader—is rare. It is why nonprofit executives and leadership teams ask him into the room for decisions they cannot delegate.
Jason held national leadership roles at the New England Board of Higher Education and Jobs for the Future. He brings an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, a master’s in education policy from Harvard University, and a bachelor’s degree from Boston College.
C-suite Chief Strategy and Partnerships Officer, ConnectED—a national nonprofit
$60M+ Philanthropic investments managed at The Joyce Foundation
Boards Chair, New Moms · Trustee, Chicago State University · other boards
Start a conversation
What decision is in front of you?
Share the leadership, strategy, governance, fundraising, or organizational question you are working through. We will tell you candidly how ClearImpact Advisors can help.
Or book a discovery call