Growing Leaders, Growing Community, Growing Impact
I believe there is no challenge we cannot overcome when we work together. That is the ethos of the LBC Action family. It is also a truth I have come back to many times during a challenging year, when uncertainty across the nonprofit space has taken a significant economic and emotional toll on organizations and leaders alike. What I have seen – and what gives me hope – is the incredible resilience that has allowed our partners, leaders, and their organizations to grow, even in the face of such adversity. That resilience springs from the spirit of collaboration and community that binds us and reminds us every day that we are not alone – we have different missions, but we all know that any work worth doing on behalf of others is best done with others.
As we get ready to take time for the holidays, I wanted to share my reflections on the growth, resilience, and collaboration I have seen in the leaders I am proud to call my partners and friends. I hope you’ll read to the end for a piece of exciting breaking news!
This year of growth began with a day of learning about the need for Equal Justice at the Legacy Museum and National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. I am grateful to the Equal Justice Initiative and to the Aspen Forum for Community Solutions for this powerful experience that highlighted the power of love.
Another moment I’ll never forget took place in April at the Aspen Institute Opportunity Youth Forum Spring Convening, where we were immersed together for two impactful days of discussing ways to promote intergenerational approaches to achieving impact. It was a reminder for me how important community is and how much we can achieve when we work together. In one great example of teamwork, two Senior Program Managers for Aspen Forum for Community Solutions (AFCS), Juan Martinez (Fresh Tracks) and Ari Jones (Justice and Equity, Opportunity Youth Forum) brought together a tribal community of practice with a justice community of practice for a night of community building in Los Angeles.
Over the last couple of years, LBC Action has had the honor to facilitate a thriving partnership between Blue Star Families and Wilderness Inquiry. Through the joint Military Families Outdoors program, thousands of military families are benefitting from transformational outdoor experiences. This summer, LBC Action, Blue Star Families, and Wilderness Inquiry explored the Mississippi River during a break from an impactful planning retreat, facilitated by Harris Solomon.
Another example of partnership in 2025 happened in September, when multiple LBC Action partners convened at the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center in Seattle’s Discovery Park for the Washington Open Pathways Project, a platform led by Fresh Tracks and the Aspen Forum for Community Solutions that seeks to catalyze deeper collaboration, with a goal of elevating the outdoors as a tool for community wellbeing.
As the year drew to a close, we took the time for a special celebration when LBC Action, Native Americans in Philanthropy, and our partners, including Camp Fire and the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators, gathered to cheer on the Seattle Kraken on Indigenous Peoples Night at Climate Pledge Arena. For all of us, it was an opportunity to be together as a community for an evening of camaraderie, revelry, and kinship. Thank you, Seattle Kraken, for helping us celebrate and for your work to honor Indigenous Peoples.
In a fitting cap to a year of growth and collaboration, LBC Action partner Native Americans in Philanthropy (NAP) received some extraordinary news just last week, when MacKenzie Scott and Yield Giving announced a multimillion-dollar gift for NAP as part of their 2025 giving, representing the largest single gift in NAP’s history).
I believe this grant is a testament both to the deeply impactful work Native Americans in Philanthropy is doing to strengthen Native communities through philanthropic investments and to their commitment to collaboration, a commitment I have had the honor of seeing firsthand for many years. Service to community through partnership is at the heart of the NAP mission, and one of the many reasons I admire the organization and my friend and impactful leader NAP CEO Erik Stegman so much.
Not long before the gift was announced, I had the pleasure of facilitating a November leadership planning retreat with Native Americans in Philanthropy, including Erik and Chief of Staff Rose David.
As we worked together to build out outcomes, roles, and responsibilities, what made us all find our groove was taking moments to enjoy the natural beauty around us and to enjoy each other and nature and to celebrate time together. We saw a sunset together that will stay with us for a long time and will give us energy for the challenges that are sure to come.
Relationships are the heart of everything we do. At LBC Action our goal is bringing leaders together to solve big social problems. When the day is done, we celebrate wins as a team and make time for family, laughter, and adventure. The time with Rose and Erik was so special as they are two incredible people and define the values of the LBC Action community.
In that spirit, I want to thank all the leaders and organizations in the LBC Action family for working together to drive progress in the face of so many challenges. I look forward to continued partnership, impact, friendship, and revelry in 2026.
