06/23/2026
Designing for Contribution...
A conversation I had recently has been lingering in my mind.
We were discussing a challenge that many organizations face: how to encourage greater participation from board members, volunteers, partners, and supporters. It's a conversation I've had countless times over the years in nonprofits, businesses, community organizations, and startups. The details vary, but the underlying question is usually the same:
How do we get people more engaged?
As we talked, I realized something important. The issue wasn't a lack of interest. The people we were discussing already cared deeply about the mission. They wanted the organization to succeed. They wanted to contribute.
What they needed wasn't motivation.
They needed clarity.
I've often used the analogy that successful organizations require the right people in the right seats, in the same boat, rowing in the same direction. The phrase usually gets a laugh, but there's a lot of truth in it. Most organizational challenges aren't caused by a shortage of talented people. More often, they're caused by a lack of alignment. People aren't sure where the boat is headed. They don't understand how their strengths connect to the journey. Or they've climbed aboard without ever being given a seat that matches what they do best.
Lately, though, I've found myself thinking about the boat itself.
Living in Rhode Island, spending time on the water, and having once lived aboard a sailboat, boats have become one of the ways I make sense of the world. Before we worry about who's rowing, shouldn't we spend some time thinking about how the boat is designed?
Does everyone understand the destination? Are roles clearly defined? Do people know what is expected of them? Have we created opportunities for them to contribute in meaningful ways? Have we designed an environment where people can succeed?
Over the years, I've experienced this dynamic from nearly every angle imaginable.
I've been the business owner trying to attract customers and clients. I've served on boards while trying to determine where my skills could be most useful. I've been part of leadership teams working to strengthen board engagement, volunteer involvement, and organizational capacity. I've led nonprofits, built communities, developed partnerships, raised funds, recruited teams, and supported organizations through periods of growth and change.
In many of those roles, I was responsible for the entire continuum: attracting people to the mission, engaging them in meaningful ways, and ultimately converting that interest into action, commitment, investment, or advocacy.
One of the frameworks I've returned to again and again is surprisingly simple: attract, engage, convert.
I've used it to think about business development, fundraising, volunteer recruitment, board development, partnerships, events, and community building. Most organizations spend significant time focused on attraction and conversion. How do we attract new customers, donors, volunteers, board members, or supporters? Once we have their attention, how do we convert them into something more?
But the most important work often happens in the middle.
Engagement is where alignment occurs.
It's where people determine whether they belong. It's where trust is built. It's where strengths are discovered and aligned with organizational needs. It's where someone moves from being interested in a mission to feeling personally connected to it.
I've come to believe that many organizations don't have an engagement problem.
They have a design problem.
Not graphic design. Not website design.
Organizational design.
The intentional design of systems, relationships, expectations, communication, and opportunities that allow people to contribute their best work.
The leaders I've learned the most from over the years share a common trait. They spend less time asking, "How do I get people to do more?" and more time asking, "How do I create the conditions for people to succeed?"
That shift may seem subtle, but it changes everything.
It moves the conversation away from pressure and toward purpose. Away from filling seats and toward understanding strengths. Away from managing people and toward creating environments where people can thrive.
The strongest organizations I've encountered don't simply recruit talented people. They create pathways for contribution. They identify strengths, communicate priorities, build trust, and help people understand how their individual efforts connect to a larger goal.
They recognize that willingness and fit are not always the same thing. Someone can care deeply about a mission and still be sitting in the wrong seat. Likewise, someone may possess exactly the expertise an organization needs but never find a meaningful way to contribute because no pathway was intentionally created.
Like any good designer, they begin with purpose. Like any good gardener, they focus on conditions.
Growth cannot be forced.
You can pull on a plant all day long and it won't grow any faster.
What you can do is improve the conditions.
Better soil.
Better sunlight.
Better support structures.
Better alignment.
The growth follows.
Whether we're building businesses, nonprofits, boards, partnerships, or communities, I've become increasingly convinced that growth rarely happens because we ask people to do more.
Growth happens when we create greater clarity, stronger connections, and meaningful opportunities for contribution.
That's the work beneath the work.
And increasingly, I believe it's some of the most important work leaders do. 🌱
