Mission Forward with Carrie Fox

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Mission Forward with Carrie Fox Hosted by social impact expert and B Corp leader Carrie Fox, the Mission Forward podcast explores what it really takes to move a mission forward in today’s society. With her signature blend of heart and head, Carrie sits down with some of the world’s most-admired purpose driven leaders to dig into issues you’re experiencing right now: from how to navigate difficult issues, how to lead through uncertainty and how to tackle tough conversations with courage and care. With guests ranging from Pulitzer Prize winning journalists, purpose-driven CEOs, storytelling and fundraising experts, and people in the driver’s seat of social change, this show will inspire and activate you as a mission-moving leader, too. * About the Host (https://www.missionforward.us/about-carrie) * Listen to Past Episodes (https://www.missionforward.us/episodes)

  1. Insights on Purpose with Stacy Palmer and Brian Fox

    6D AGO

    Insights on Purpose with Stacy Palmer and Brian Fox

    What if the defining feature of nonprofit leadership right now isn’t burnout or bravery, but a kind of double vision—an ability to stare straight at worsening conditions and still believe, perhaps stubbornly, that impact can grow? As we launch season twelve of Mission Forward, Carrie Fox sits down with Stacy Palmer (CEO of the Chronicle of Philanthropy) and Brian Fox (Chief Strategy Officer of Mission Partners) to unpack the 2026 Insights on Purpose™ Report, built from interviews and a national survey of nonprofit and foundation leaders.  The numbers land with a thud: nearly everyone says the environment is harder than it was a year ago, and yet large majorities still think their organizations can increase impact over the next five years. This is not optimism in the syrupy greeting-card sense. It’s optimism as a job requirement—paired with a private ledger of worries about cash on hand, staff departures, restructuring, and the creeping sense that “resilience” is something we describe more easily than we actually feel. So this week, we look at what nonprofit and foundation leaders are really carrying right now—what they’ll say out loud, what they’ll admit in private, and why the gap between those two versions matters. This is the story of confidence and strain living in the same institutional body. About “resilience” as something everyone invokes, but fewer people can define in a way that survives contact with payroll, boards, and the calendar. About why planning feels harder when the ground won’t stop shifting—and why the answer probably isn’t a bigger plan, but a different relationship to planning altogether. If you’re leading an organization, funding one, serving on a board, or simply trying to understand why so many leaders sound calm while feeling anything but, this episode gives you a lens—and a few powerful questions worth keeping close. The report, in their telling, isn’t a stack of charts. It’s a set of voices—unfiltered—trying to say what’s happening before the sector pays for it in closures, mergers, and communities left without the organizations they rely on. Our great thanks to the Chronicle of Philanthropy for their partnership in bringing this report to life. We hope you’ll take the time to read and share it broadly.  (00:00) - Welcome to Mission Forward (02:30) - The Importance of the Report (03:41) - Doing the Research (13:51) - Risks Ahead in the Demand Experience (18:39) - Foundation Optimism (21:04) - Strategic Planning (23:54) - The AI Divide (27:42) - Looking Ahead

    34 min
  2. Season 12: A Season of Change

    JAN 15

    Season 12: A Season of Change

    Nonprofits and foundations have always done the quiet, essential work of holding communities together. Season 12 starts with the premise that the work hasn’t changed—but the conditions have. The pace is faster, the decisions are knottier, and “resilience” is being redefined in real time. This season, Mission Forward goes behind Mission Partners’ new research report to surface what leaders are seeing on the ground and how they’re responding: navigating financial strain while demand rises, filling emerging gaps, and leaning harder on collaboration, community, and responsible uses of AI to scale impact without losing the plot. It’s less a tour of what’s shifting than a close listen to the choices leaders are making inside the shift—so you can carry what’s useful back to your own mission. (00:00) - Welcome to Mission Forward

    2 min
  3. Super Human • Finding the Words

    12/18/2025

    Super Human • Finding the Words

    Leaders want to bring more compassion into the culture of work, yet many wrestle with how to do it in a way that feels both authentic and respectful. The answer lies in the simple act of looking out for one another. This short-form episode is part of the Finding The Words column, a series published every Wednesday that delivers a dose of communication insights directly to your inbox. If you like what you read, we hope you’ll subscribe to ensure you receive this each week. (00:00) - Welcome to Mission Forward (02:23) - Super Human _____This episode is supported by The Johnson Foundation at Wingspread. At their Frank Lloyd Wright–designed campus, Wingspread brings leaders and communities together to turn dialogue into action. Learn more at johnsonfdn.org or wingspread.com. This episode is also brought to you by Positively Partners. When HR starts to slow down your mission, it’s time for a better solution. Positively HR is the fully outsourced HR partner that understands nonprofits—and acts like part of your team. Learn more at PositivelyPartners.org.

    9 min
  4. A Good Hard Listen • Finding The Words

    12/04/2025

    A Good Hard Listen • Finding The Words

    The volume of one-way communication is ramping up everywhere we turn—our feeds, inboxes, meetings, and media. All that noise leads to an increased feeling of distraction but rarely an increased sense of connection or understanding. All that noise affects our ability to listen to one another, too. This short-form episode is part of the Finding The Words column, a series published every Wednesday that delivers a dose of communication insights directly to your inbox. If you like what you read, we hope you’ll subscribe to ensure you receive this each week. (00:00) - Welcome to Mission Forward _____This episode is supported by The Johnson Foundation at Wingspread. At their Frank Lloyd Wright–designed campus, Wingspread brings leaders and communities together to turn dialogue into action. Learn more at johnsonfdn.org or wingspread.com. This episode is also brought to you by Positively Partners. When HR starts to slow down your mission, it’s time for a better solution. Positively HR is the fully outsourced HR partner that understands nonprofits—and acts like part of your team. Learn more at PositivelyPartners.org.

    8 min
  5. How to Lead Through Change with Intention with Dr. DeRionne Pollard

    11/20/2025

    How to Lead Through Change with Intention with Dr. DeRionne Pollard

    When Dr. DeRionne Pollard talks about leadership, she doesn’t begin with titles or institutions. She begins with memory: a two-year-old child clapping cymbals in a community college classroom, a six-year-old sitting outside a glass-paneled door while her aunt trained to open an in-home childcare center, a young girl learning generosity from neighbors who showed love through casseroles and practicality through labeled Tupperware. These early stories might be sentimental details—but even more important: they form the foundation of a life devoted to service, community, and purpose. This week, Carrie welcomes Dr. Pollard at a moment of meaningful transition. After leading Nevada State University through a period of growth and change, she has stepped into a national role as President of the American Association of Community Colleges. The shift has asked her to reflect on the shape of her career, the communities that raised her, and what it means to lead with intention in a system that touches every corner of the country. Dr. Pollard shares how she prepared herself for the move—literally mapping out her goodbyes and thoughtful introductions on a whiteboard—and why leaving a campus was both a professional milestone and a personal test. She speaks openly about legacy, shaped in part by the loss of her mother at a young age, and how that experience continues to guide her toward work that feels both meaningful and deeply human. As she steps into this new chapter, her perspective on community colleges offers both clarity and optimism. She describes these institutions as engines of opportunity: responsive, resilient, and built to serve learners across every age, background, and ambition. Her vision for their future isn’t theoretical—it’s grounded in lived experience and in the communities that shaped her. Closing out the season, Carrie reflects on the generosity woven through this conversation. The entire arc of “hellos, goodbyes, and the space between” comes into sharper focus through Dr. Pollard’s story—one that reminds us that intention, humility, and connection can shape the work long before strategy ever appears on a page. (00:00) - Welcome to Mission Forward _____This episode is supported by The Johnson Foundation at Wingspread. At their Frank Lloyd Wright–designed campus, Wingspread brings leaders and communities together to turn dialogue into action. Learn more at johnsonfdn.org or wingspread.com. This episode is also brought to you by Positively Partners. When HR starts to slow down your mission, it’s time for a better solution. Positively HR is the fully outsourced HR partner that understands nonprofits—and acts like part of your team. Learn more at PositivelyPartners.org.

    30 min
  6. How to Live Your Values When Pressures Rise with Amy Gross

    11/13/2025

    How to Live Your Values When Pressures Rise with Amy Gross

    Some stories begin with a single alarm bell. This one begins with dozens of small ones—nonprofit leaders quietly signaling the same thing at the same time: the ground under them was shifting, and shifting fast. Because the France-Merrick Foundation funds discrete, one-time capital projects across Baltimore, they hear from an unusually wide cross-section of organizations. And in early 2025, all those cross-currents pointed in the same direction: instability, delays, burnout, and a crisis arriving faster than anyone had planned for. France-Merrick chose to act. In this conversation, Amy Gross walks Carrie through how her foundation made the rare choice to increase its payout and launch the Meet the Moment Fund, dedicating 40% of their annual giving to rapid-response support. The board shifted from quarterly to monthly meetings. The application process was streamlined to a single stage. And the goal was simple: respond before inaction made the moment worse. Along the way, Amy offers a window into the larger questions philanthropy is wrestling with this year—how nonprofits survive when government contracts become unpredictable, why earned revenue has gone from “nice to have” to essential, and what it means for funders to collaborate when the sector is feeling squeezed from all sides. Her own hope rises and falls with the day’s news, she admits, yet intention and community remain steady guides. This episode makes a perfect connection to this season’s theme of hellos, goodbyes, and the space between. Amy’s answers—focused on connection, recognition, and leaving behind an impact that outlives her—echo the very principles her foundation brought to its decision: see people clearly, respond with purpose, and do the most good you can with the moment you’re given. (00:00) - Welcome to Mission Forward (04:45) - The Meet the Moment Fund (10:35) - Meeting the Moment Collectively in Baltimore (14:56) - The Volatility of Now (18:46) - Meeting the Moment _____This episode is supported by The Johnson Foundation at Wingspread. At their Frank Lloyd Wright–designed campus, Wingspread brings leaders and communities together to turn dialogue into action. Learn more at johnsonfdn.org or wingspread.com. This episode is also brought to you by Positively Partners. When HR starts to slow down your mission, it’s time for a better solution. Positively HR is the fully outsourced HR partner that understands nonprofits—and acts like part of your team. Learn more at PositivelyPartners.org.

    31 min
  7. Purpose Under Pressure • Finding The Words

    11/06/2025

    Purpose Under Pressure • Finding The Words

    Twenty-one years ago, when I started my first communications firm, a mentor offered a warning I’ll never forget: “Starting a firm focused on nonprofits is bound to fail. There won’t be enough work to sustain you.” Twenty-one years later, and we’re still here. This short-form episode is part of the Finding The Words column, a series published every Wednesday that delivers a dose of communication insights directly to your inbox. If you like what you read, we hope you’ll subscribe to ensure you receive this each week. (00:00) - Welcome to Mission Forward _____This episode is supported by The Johnson Foundation at Wingspread. At their Frank Lloyd Wright–designed campus, Wingspread brings leaders and communities together to turn dialogue into action. Learn more at johnsonfdn.org or wingspread.com. This episode is also brought to you by Positively Partners. When HR starts to slow down your mission, it’s time for a better solution. Positively HR is the fully outsourced HR partner that understands nonprofits—and acts like part of your team. Learn more at PositivelyPartners.org.

    7 min
  8. How to Build Community by Design with Anne Kerns

    10/30/2025

    How to Build Community by Design with Anne Kerns

    It starts with a handful of seeds. When Mission Partners’ design director Anne Kerns shows up at a civic rally with paper packets filled with flowers, herbs, and vegetables, she’s there to share. To spark a conversation. To see what happens when you hand a stranger something living. That image—Anne with her seeds—is at the heart of this week’s conversation. Because design, as she tells Carrie Fox, isn’t only what you make; it’s what you grow. It’s an act of attention, of cultivating curiosity in yourself and in others. From the geometry of a Frank Lloyd Wright logo at Wingspread to the exacting hues of red that pulse with both passion and danger, Anne reveals the hidden life inside design decisions most of us overlook. Every line has intention. Every color has memory. Every choice says something about who we are and what we value. Together, Carrie and Anne trace the invisible thread between creativity and community: how a refreshed logo can honor history without erasing it, how accessibility transforms good design into inclusive communication, how technology—from PageMaker 1.0 to AI—tests our understanding of what it means to create with soul. In the end, Anne circles back to red—the color she’s loved since childhood, the color that announces her presence to the world. For her, design isn’t a product; it’s a legacy of connection. The mark we leave behind isn’t ink or pixels—it’s how we made others feel seen. (00:00) - Welcome to Mission Forward _____This episode is supported by The Johnson Foundation at Wingspread. At their Frank Lloyd Wright–designed campus, Wingspread brings leaders and communities together to turn dialogue into action. Learn more at johnsonfdn.org or wingspread.com. This episode is also brought to you by Positively Partners. When HR starts to slow down your mission, it’s time for a better solution. Positively HR is the fully outsourced HR partner that understands nonprofits—and acts like part of your team. Learn more at PositivelyPartners.org.

    41 min
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About

Mission Forward with Carrie Fox Hosted by social impact expert and B Corp leader Carrie Fox, the Mission Forward podcast explores what it really takes to move a mission forward in today’s society. With her signature blend of heart and head, Carrie sits down with some of the world’s most-admired purpose driven leaders to dig into issues you’re experiencing right now: from how to navigate difficult issues, how to lead through uncertainty and how to tackle tough conversations with courage and care. With guests ranging from Pulitzer Prize winning journalists, purpose-driven CEOs, storytelling and fundraising experts, and people in the driver’s seat of social change, this show will inspire and activate you as a mission-moving leader, too. * About the Host (https://www.missionforward.us/about-carrie) * Listen to Past Episodes (https://www.missionforward.us/episodes)

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