NAN exists because nonprofit leaders deserve the same quality of support they give everyone else. For more than 35 years — first as the Impact Foundry, now as the Nonprofit Action Network — we've worked alongside leaders across Northern California.
What we've learned in that time is straightforward: the organizations our communities depend on are only as strong as the people leading them. And those people are too often doing it alone. NAN is built to change that.
- What We Understand
We know that nonprofit leadership is not like other leadership.
You are managing up to a board, down to a team, and sideways to funders, often with limited resources, high stakes, and a community counting on you to get it right. You are making decisions that affect people’s lives, sometimes without anyone in your organization who can truly weigh in.
You are skilled at your work. That’s not the problem. The problem is that the job was never designed to be carried alone, and most of the support that exists for nonprofit leaders wasn’t designed with your actual reality in mind.
NAN was.
- Our Mission
We support the nonprofit leaders who support everyone else.
NAN connects nonprofit leaders across Northern California with peers who understand their work, because the best support comes from people who’ve done the work themselves. We provide peer spaces, decision support, and practical tools that help leaders navigate their most difficult challenges, make better decisions, and lead without running out of capacity.
- Our Vision
A nonprofit community where no one is doing this work alone.
We’re working toward a Northern California where:
- Nonprofit leaders have genuine peer support from people who understand the work because they’re doing it too.
- Leaders at every level — executive directors, program directors, senior staff, founders — have somewhere to turn when difficult decisions arrive.
- Organizations rooted in communities of color, immigrant communities, and rural communities have the resources and support to lead effectively.
- Funders and nonprofit leaders work in honest, mutual partnership.
- Leadership is sustainable. Not because the work got easier, but because nobody is carrying it alone.
How We're Built
Our values aren’t aspirational.
They’re operational.
Peer-led
expertise
NAN is built on the experience of nonprofit leaders, not outside experts. The support we offer comes from people who understand the work because they're doing it too.
Trust as
structure
Confidentiality isn't just a value. It's built into how we operate. NAN is explicit about what leaves the room and how learning is captured and shared.
Useful
impact
We measure success by whether leaders can lead better, not by attendance, inspiration, or visibility.
Stability
first
No one can do bold work from a place of quiet crisis. Investing in the people running nonprofits is how we protect the communities they serve.
The Board
Gordon Fowler
Founder and CEO, 3fold Communications
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After 15 years of national, success-filled marketing and advertising experience in high-level positions in the private and public sector, Gordon Fowler launched 3fold Communications in 2004. 3fold Communications has become an award winning, multi-million dollar agency and a leader in socially conscious marketing. In addition to providing for-profit companies strategic and integrated marketing and social media services, 3fold Communications specializes in working with nonprofits to increase their capacity, strategically position them to attract new funding, build their influence, and strengthen their overall impact.
Kristi Rolak-Poyner
Sales Director, One Workplace
John Wood
Owner, McGee & Thielen Insurance Brokers
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McGee & Thielen Insurance Brokers, Inc. has been providing comprehensive insurance services to its clients since 1920, and is among the larger locally owned insurance brokerages in Northern California. John is from Sacramento: graduated from Christian Brothers High School, got his finance degree at CSU Sacramento, and has been at McGee & Thielen for 28 years. He just ended his term as president of the McClatchy Music Boosters, and has been active in the Rotary Club of Sacramento since 2003.
Chris Delfino
Partner, Delfino Madden O'Malley Coyle & Koehler, LLP
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Chris Delfino has developed a successful practice serving as general and corporate counsel to numerous businesses and nonprofit/tax-exempt organizations.
He advises these organization’s boards of directors and officers on corporate governance, fiduciary duties and conflict of interest matters. He also is lead counsel on a wide variety of transactional matters including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, corporate finance and complex commercial agreements. Chris brings business-oriented approaches and solutions to the legal and transactional matters facing his clients. He works hard to understand his clients’ business, goals, strategy and vision. In doing so, Chris has become a trusted advisor and a critical resource for his clients’ management teams.
Chris started his legal career in Washington, D.C. in the General Counsel’s office of the U.S. Department of Commerce working with and assisting the former communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe in their transition from a centrally planned to a market-based economy. This experience taught Chris the value and significance of long-term planning and strategy coupled with the importance of executing the immediate elements of the plan in order to achieve the long-term strategy. In addition, after the experiences negotiating with both the communist country governments and the US Government, there is very little that surprises Chris when it comes to negotiating deals for clients.
Lori Rianda
SVP, Greater Sacramento Market Executive, Bank of America
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As Senior Vice President of Enterprise Business & Community Engagement for Bank of America in Sacramento, Stockton and Modesto, Lori Rianda is responsible for the Corporate Social Responsibility strategy and team that drives brand favorability and revenue growth in the Sacramento region.
Lori joined Bank of America in 2010. In her role, she works with market leadership teams – including executives from Consumer, Small Business Banking, Home Loans, Commercial Banking, Merrill Lynch Wealth Management and US Trust and her national business partners to deliver the bank’s brand across the capital region. She is responsible for strategic local delivery of the bank’s corporate social responsibility commitment, community relations, charitable giving, sponsorship activities, media relations, local government relations and employment engagement.
Before joining Bank of America, Lori was the Director of Institutional Advancement at Folsom Lake College and Executive Director of the college’s foundation. Lori also previously served as the Executive Director of the Arts & Business Council and Vice President of Community Development at the Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce. She began her career in corporate marketing and has served in leadership roles in both the corporate and nonprofit sectors. Lori serves on the board of directors for WEAVE (Women Escaping a Violent Environment) and The Impact Foundry, and has served on the Governance Council of Give Local Now and the Advisory Board of Koinonia Family Services. She also is an executive sponsor for Sacramento LEAD for Women. Lori received her BA from DePaul University in Marketing Communications.
Bill Simi
Managing Partner, CPA Corporation
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William Simi has spent the last 25 years assisting businesses and other organizations develop greater success and profitability. In providing business advisory services, Bill believes that great service begins with good listening – “At CPA Corporation we begin every engagement with a conversation and our first priority is to listen to our client’s concerns and issues”. This discovery process through which we identify the problems and challenges that are unique to the client’s situation is what enables us to craft a solution that truly meets the client’s needs and accomplishes what is most important to them.”
As a Certified Public Accountant he has provided a wide range of accounting, tax, audit and consulting services to a diverse client base including businesses, nonprofit organizations and governmental agencies. His extensive experience includes expertise in all areas of accounting, audit, financial reporting , taxation of business entities and exempt organizations, the design and evaluation of internal controls and business processes and strategic performance management for both commercial and nonprofit organizations. Bill has served on the boards of various charitable and professional associations and is currently the treasurer of the Impact Foundry (formerly the Nonprofit Resource Center) an organization dedicated to helping nonprofit organizations and businesses work together to become successful social entrepreneurs.
Michelle Odell
Kaiser Permanente
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Michelle Odell is the Director of Public Affairs for Kaiser Permanente in South Sacramento, where she oversees all aspects of Public Affairs including community relations, government relations; community health and community benefit planning; and internal and external communications, including media relations.
Helen Yee
Community Mem
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Positivity-Achiever-Relator-Activator-Arranger
Ms. Helen Yee, a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach with YDN Strengths Development Network with over 25 years of nonprofit board and organizational experience brings expertise on team building, event coordination, training, facilitation and fund and board development to her tenure of service. Ms. Yee’s focus is to bring the strengths-based approach to the workplace, including boards to optimize team engagement and promote lasting changes in their workplace culture. She is also in a select group certified to lead the CliftonStrengths Discovery Course.
Ms. Yee brings Strengths to life through her extensive professional experience . She has been actively involved in several major fundraising campaigns and her biggest leadership achievement occurred when she chaired “Libraries for Our Future” which was responsible for the passage of a library ballot measure resulting in millions of dollars of funding for Sacramento City Libraries. Currently she serves on several boards including Sutter Medical Center Foundation, California Museum, and Impact Foundry. Ms. Yee has also been a speaker at major conferences including District Dental Society’s Mid-Winter Convention and the What If Conference for California non-profits. Currently she facilitates workshops regularly for Impact Foundry and the California Capital Business Center on various Strengths topics.
Prior to work with nonprofits, Ms. Yee was a serial entrepreneur opening stores in a major Sacramento mall and a pharmaceutical sales representative, receiving a top national award for professional sales success.
Ms. Yee’s broad array of experience and commitment to bringing out the best in people has fueled her Strengths development and provides many real experiences her clients can relate to and use to enhance their personal and professional journey.
Jenni Murphy
Associate Dean, College of Continuing Education, Sacramento State
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From farm to food service, and finally to career fulfillment, Jenni Murphy’s path to success did not follow a straight line. She was the first in her family to earn a college degree, and used her education and restaurant experience to climb the corporate ladder. Her talents in hospitality led her to become a corporate trainer, opening restaurants and entertainment centers across the nation and overseas.
During a career transition, she applied for a program manager position at CCE and fell in love with it. Over 13 years later, with several leadership positions and a doctorate from Sac State under her belt, Murphy is now associate dean and serves as a living, breathing CCE success story. She is passionate about the role of continuing education for our regional workforce, as well as across the nation.
Murphy graduated from Arizona State University magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in communications. She received her Master of Business Administration summa cum laude from University of Phoenix, and then earned her doctorate in educational leadership from Sacramento State. Her research focuses on the intersection of education, workforce and economic development.
Debra Oto-Kent
Health Education Council
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Debbie is the founder and Executive Director of Health Education Council. Her two primary areas of expertise are cross-sector coalition building and reducing health disparities in diverse low-income communities.