Growth Strategy, Built to Work
Impact Ilk Brands aligns leadership, brand, revenue and systems so growth compounds over time.
I’m Emily.
I help mission-driven organizations and growth-stage companies turn strategy into sustained, compounding growth.
In executive roles at The Michael J. Fox Foundation and Partnership to End Addiction, I grew annual revenue year over year and led high-impact fundraising and public service initiatives with partners including Nike, The Lumineers, Michael J. Fox, Paramount, Meta, Google and Elizabeth Vargas.
Earlier in my career, I spent a decade at The New York Times, Thomson Reuters, Ziff Davis and Time Warner, developing deep expertise in audience growth, marketing infrastructure, content strategy and digital revenue models.
What’s an “ilk?”
A group of people who share similar characteristics and traits
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Why Organizations Struggle to See Themselves From the Outside
Organizations spend a lot of time trying to understand the people they serve or hope to reach. They invest in research, track engagement, conduct surveys and hire people with expertise in understanding customers, donors, constituents and other stakeholders. Yet knowing what people think and allowing that knowledge to influence organizational decisions are two different things.…
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What I Look for in a 990 as a Growth Consultant
When I start assessing a nonprofit’s capacity for growth, I’m looking for mismatches: places where the organization’s ambitions, resources and operating model may no longer line up. And one of the first things I look at is the last three 990s. A 990 can’t tell me whether an organization is well run or its strategy…
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Implementation Readiness: The Missing Phase of Strategic Planning
Strategic plans don’t usually fail because the ideas are bad. They fail because the organization isn’t prepared to execute them. I’ve spent decades working at the intersection of strategy, leadership, program, product, marketing, revenue and operations. Throughout my career, I’ve built and implemented strategic plans, rebuilt organizations after growth stalled, aligned siloed teams around new…
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Signs Complexity May Be Outgrowing the Operating Model
Organizations rarely become misaligned overnight. More often, complexity accumulates faster than the organization evolves to support it. New revenue streams are added. Teams expand. Stakeholders and partners increase. Systems layer on top of each other without integration. Decision-making grows more complicated. For a while, strong people compensate for the strain. The organization continues functioning, while…
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The Theory of Change Isn’t a Framework. It’s a Change Management System.
In the nonprofit sector, the Theory of Change is often treated as a requirement. It is something developed for a grant, included in a report or summarized on a website. When it is used this way, it tends to function as documentation rather than direction. That approach misses what the Theory of Change is. At…
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What Has to be True for Growth to Compound
Six conditions that turn activity into momentum and momentum into lasting growth Organizations often push for growth by investing in campaigns, new initiatives and new roles. There is movement, and sometimes there is real lift. But it does not carry forward in a meaningful way. So they try again. Over time, growth starts to feel…
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When Strategy Doesn’t Stick
Why Risk Peaks After Strategic Planning Many organizations invest significant time and energy into developing strategic plans. On paper, the vision is clear, the priorities are sound, and the ambition is real. And yet, six months later, something feels off. Progress is uneven. Teams are stretched. Revenue hasn’t kept pace. And the organization has less…
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When Growth Stalls, the Problem Is Often Structural
Growth often stalls not because organizations lack effort, but because the structure beneath that effort is misaligned. What many leaders perceive as a campaign or messaging challenge is often something deeper. Across organizations of different sizes and missions, I see the symptoms vary. But the pattern remains the same: brand, systems and revenue strategy are…
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How Lessons from the Sandwich Generation Can Help Non-Profits Raise Money: Part Two
A series on caregiving, fundraising and the future of nonprofit sustainability Read the first installment here. For me, living in the squish of the sandwich generation has revealed unexpected benefits. I’ve learned how it mirrors the tough realities of nonprofit leadership, especially for those leading fundraising. It’s helped me cultivate a belief in radical interdependence: the idea that missions…
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Three Steps for Building Long-Term Donor Trust & Mutual Value
Earlier this month, I posted the first article of a series exploring what the “squish” of the Sandwich Generation can teach us about leadership, fundraising and nonprofit sustainability. If you missed it, you can check it out here. In the piece, I draw a parallel between caring for family members and donor stewardship, arguing that sustainable fundraising…