Leading Through Uncertainty: Protecting Purpose, People, and Mission.

Organizations are navigating a period of extraordinary change. Nonprofits are facing funding uncertainty, businesses are trying to determine how AI fits into their operations, and leaders are making decisions today that could have significant legal and organizational consequences tomorrow.

For Maritza “Shay” Nelson, founder of MSN Law Office and longtime General Counsel for ALC, the answer isn’t to chase every new development. It’s to understand the risks, make thoughtful decisions, and stay connected to the purpose that brought you to the work in the first place.

In this episode of the ALC ChangeMakers, host Jennifer Sconyers talks with Shay about her own leadership journey and what she’s seeing among the small businesses and nonprofits she serves.

How did Shay build a legal practice around mission-driven organizations?

Shay knew from childhood that she wanted to become a lawyer. She originally envisioned herself as a trial attorney working in criminal defense and civil rights. Experiences during law school changed that vision, and she eventually entered corporate litigation.

But corporate law came with its own challenges. Shay found herself frustrated with office politics, constantly having to prove she belonged, and working within a system that didn’t align with the kind of impact she wanted to make.

A conversation with her father helped change her perspective.

“Baby girl, you got a law degree. You can do bad all by yourself.”

That advice helped Shay realize she could build something different.

She saw a gap in the legal marketplace. Small businesses and nonprofits needed sophisticated legal guidance, but many couldn’t afford the rates charged by large firms. Shay could take what she’d learned in corporate litigation and use it to help founders and mission-driven leaders protect the work they cared about.

That became the foundation of MSN Law Office.

What challenges are nonprofits facing right now?

One of Shay’s biggest concerns is the instability she’s seeing across the nonprofit sector.

Funding cuts can quickly create a ripple effect. When an organization loses a major grant, contract, or sponsor, it may have to eliminate programs and staff. Even if funding eventually returns, rebuilding those programs, teams, relationships, and community trust can take significant time.

That’s why revenue diversification is so important.

Organizations that depend heavily on one major source of funding can become extremely vulnerable when circumstances change. Diversification may not eliminate uncertainty, but it can make an organization more resilient when a major funding source disappears.

Jennifer also emphasized why this matters beyond the organizations themselves. Nonprofits often provide services and support that other sectors can’t. When those organizations struggle, the effects are felt throughout the communities they serve.

How should organizations approach AI?

AI presents a different kind of challenge. Shay isn’t suggesting organizations avoid it. Instead, she wants leaders to stop and determine how it should and shouldn’t be used.

That starts with organizational policies.

Employees may already be experimenting with free AI tools without considering what happens to the information they enter. Confidential, proprietary, employee, or client information shouldn’t simply be copied into an AI platform without understanding how that data may be stored or used.

Shay recommends organizations establish clear boundaries around acceptable AI use and carefully review the terms associated with the tools they choose.

Human oversight is equally important.

As Jennifer noted during the conversation, AI can be thought of as a very smart intern. It can assist with the work, but you still need to review what it produces.

That becomes especially critical when decisions involve employment or legal matters. AI can provide information and help with research, but leaders shouldn’t outsource consequential decisions to it.

“Thinking, pausing to think a couple steps ahead is part of what I’m supposed to be here helping people do.”

When is it time to call an attorney?

Research can be useful. Trying to Google or AI your way through a complicated legal question can be much riskier.

The law is filled with gray areas, and small differences in circumstances can completely change the answer.

Online resources can provide a basic framework, but they often can’t account for the nuances that matter to a particular organization.

Shay also continues to see confusion surrounding employees and independent contractors. Simply calling someone an independent contractor, or having them work part time, doesn’t necessarily make them one. Misclassification can create problems that would have been easier to address correctly from the beginning.

The same principle applies to contracts, intellectual property, employment practices, AI policies, and other areas of organizational risk. Getting guidance earlier can help leaders avoid spending considerably more time and money fixing a problem later.

How can leaders make better decisions during uncertainty?

For Jennifer and Shay, good decision-making comes back to purpose.

Jennifer described ALC’s approach as prioritizing the mission, living your values, and centering people. Those principles can serve as a North Star when leaders are forced to make difficult choices.

Shay has seen the value of that approach firsthand. Organizations may still encounter conflict, legal challenges, or unexpected circumstances, but decisions grounded in a clearly defined mission and purpose are easier to explain and defend.

That becomes particularly important when nonprofits are under financial pressure. Chasing a new funding opportunity might solve an immediate problem, but leaders also need to ask whether it moves the organization away from its mission or creates unintended consequences for its people, programs, and community.

What should leaders remember as they move forward?

Shay’s closing advice is simple but important: don’t lose sight of why you started.

“Stick to what it is you’re passionate about. Like, don’t ever lose sight of that.”

New technologies, funding pressures, legal considerations, and changing economic conditions will continue to create challenges. Leaders still have to adapt, make hard decisions, and do the work.

But adaptation doesn’t have to mean abandoning the organization’s purpose.

For founders, nonprofit executives, and other mission-driven leaders, the goal is to build enough structure around the work to protect what matters most. That means seeking good counsel, understanding emerging risks, diversifying where possible, putting thoughtful policies in place, and considering how today’s decisions will affect tomorrow’s mission.

As Jennifer and Shay discuss, organizational leadership will always involve uncertainty. The strongest path forward is to keep the mission clear, center people in the decisions, and make choices that allow the work and its impact to continue.

About Abundance Leadership Consulting

The ALC ChangeMakers Podcast is brought to you by Abundance Leadership Consulting (ALC), a certified MBE/WBE consulting firm helping nonprofits, foundations, associations, and mission-driven organizations navigate change with confidence.

At ALC, we specialize in strategic planning, leadership development, organizational change management, board governance, facilitation, and nonprofit mergers, acquisitions, and mission continuity planning. Through our proprietary F.A.B.R.I.C.™ Framework - Fairness, Accountability, Belonging, Relationships, Inclusion, and Collaboration - we help organizations strengthen culture, build sustainable systems, and achieve long-term impact.

Exploring a Nonprofit Merger, Partnership, or Sustainability Strategy?

The nonprofit sector is facing unprecedented challenges, from funding uncertainty and leadership transitions to increased operational demands and shifting community needs. Sometimes the most strategic path forward is deeper collaboration, shared services, a formal partnership, or a merger.

ALC helps organizations assess opportunities, manage stakeholder engagement, navigate complex transitions, and protect mission impact throughout the process. Our approach centers people, culture, and community alongside financial and operational considerations.

Learn more about our nonprofit mergers and acquisitions services at:

https://nonprofit-ma.com/ 

Connect with Us

If today's conversation sparked new ideas for your organization, we'd love to hear from you.

• Visit: Abundance Leadership Consulting
• Learn about nonprofit mergers and mission continuity: https://nonprofit-ma.com/
• Connect with Jennifer Sconyers on LinkedIn
• Subscribe to the ALC ChangeMakers Podcast for conversations with leaders creating lasting change in their organizations and communities.

Because sustainable organizations create sustainable impact.