When a nonprofit’s mission has been fulfilled, its model is no longer sustainable, or its work can be better served by another organization, a planned and intentional wind-down, reduction, or redirection is a sign of good governance, a commitment to a lasting legacy, and doing the least amount of harm to communities.
A guided approach to intentional closure, redirection, or significant reduction.
We provide the expertise, planning, and hands-on support needed either to find new pathways or to significantly reduce or close a nonprofit with dignity, transparency, and minimal disruption to the community you serve. We help you navigate the complex legal, financial, and emotional landscape of change, reduction, or dissolution, transforming a difficult decision into a powerful final act of stewardship.
Why is a strategic approach crucial? It’s about more than just changing or closing. If we cannot develop other options, and intentional approach allows you to:
- Protect Your Legacy: Ensure your mission continues through a program transfer or a well-documented history of impact.
- Prevent Disarray: Avoid leaving staff, clients, participants, and partners in sudden disarray.
- Provide Compassionate Care: Ensure that the needs and interests of all impacted parties including staff, partners, and community members, inform decision making.
- Fulfill Legal, Ethical, & Fiduciary Duties: Meticulously address legal requirements, financial obligations, and asset distribution.
- Steward Resources: Prevent the waste of limited resources on an unsustainable model and redirect them to high-impact work.
Meet the Team
Shayne Bell
Matt Magee
We are Shayne Bell and Matt Magee, change management professionals with more than three decades of combined experience in nonprofit, not-for-profit, and public service organizations, with expertise in facilitation, legal and financial compliance, program management, board governance, and conflict management. Shayne has more than 15 years of experience in local and international non-profit management, managing programs from design to closeout, and has a Master’s degree in conflict resolution and certificates in organizational development and change management. Matt has worked for 15 years in community and government organizations, including helping to craft and implement the intentional sunset of Mercy Corps Northwest. He specializes in stakeholder engagement as well as legal and regulatory compliance.
Land Recognition Statement: The central components of our work take place on land that was originally and still is inhabited by Indigenous people, including the Multnomah, Wasco, Cowlitz, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Bands of Chinook, Tualatin, Kalapuya, Molalla, and many other tribes along the Willamette and Columbia Rivers in the Pacific Northwest. We recognize that this land was never ceded by these tribes and acknowledge the dispossession of the land and the inherent rights that these tribes hold to the territory. We encourage you to educate yourself on whose land you reside and work on and to seek further understanding of further reparative actions.