About
I Know What Happens Behind the Mission
Twenty-plus years running nonprofit programs and the operations behind them. Grants, budgets, buildings, people, and the occasional copier.
The Mission Happens When Your Program Staff Touch Lives. Everything Else in the Organization Should Help Make That Possible.
Operations isn’t about making prettier spreadsheets, writing more policies, or creating another approval process. It’s about clearing out the nonsense that keeps good people from doing good work.
I know that because I’ve been on both sides of it.
I’ve directed social-service programs and managed multimillion-dollar program portfolios. I’ve written grants and reports, built programs, run contracts and budgets, supervised teams, worked with boards, and sat through enough meetings about outcomes, compliance, and funding to know exactly what program leaders are up against.
I’ve helped turn statewide initiatives into coordinated action, bringing community organizations together around a shared goal. That work involved the things that make ambitious initiatives succeed: bringing partners together, organizing the moving pieces, developing a public message, and making sure the plan actually happens.
I also bring experience in grassroots advocacy, public awareness campaigns, and coordinating policy initiatives, because sometimes solving an organizational problem means working beyond the organization’s walls.
Over the years, some interesting things have landed on my desk.
I helped open a family shelter in 30 days, during the pandemic, and under budget.
I’ve also helped organizations work through deficits, government audits, funder allegations, reorganizations, and wage audits, while helping protect programs that were in danger of closing.
Along the way, I’ve worked through accreditations, disaster responses, and compliance issues, and secured millions of dollars in grants and private foundation funding to support programs and operations.
I’ve also been the Operations guy: facilities, fleet, HR, finance, technology, compliance, grants, policies, accreditation, vendors, budgets, buildings, and whatever category we eventually decide the copier belongs in.
And I’ve run the business side of mission work: social enterprise and retail operations, their workflows, and the coordination between programs and business functions that keeps both moving.
I’ve also taken an idea from proposal to launch. I prepared and won a grant competition for program innovation, then used it to launch a construction social enterprise that renovated affordable housing and trained low-income workers. If you have an idea that needs funding and a real plan behind it, I can help you build both.
And yes, I’ve dealt with Karen in Development deciding shortly before an event that the room would work much better turned 90 degrees. They might have been right. We’re not discussing that here.
That’s nonprofit work, large and small. Funding gets tighter, staffing gets thinner, and Operations knows one thing for certain: Karen in Development still has donors coming at six.
What All of That Taught Me
Most organizational problems don’t respect the boxes on the org chart.
A struggling program might look like a funding problem… until you discover it’s a staffing problem… which turns out to be a process problem… which leads to a technology problem… which exposes a budgeting problem.
And somewhere along the way somebody suggests applying for another grant.
But First, Let’s Figure Out What is Actually Broken.
That’s the work I enjoy: walking into the mess, asking questions across departments, looking at the numbers, talking to the people actually doing the work, and figuring out where the problem really starts.
Sometimes the organization needs a strategic plan. Or a better process, funding, new technology, or clearer accountability. Other times two departments just need to sit in the same room and discover they’ve been solving the same problem separately for three years.
And sometimes my recommendation is: You don’t need a consultant for this. Fix these three things.
That counts too.
The Newest Tool in an Older Toolbox
These days I also build with modern software, automation, and AI. That matters because smaller nonprofits now have options that weren’t practical a few years ago. In practice: assessing the platform you already pay for, connecting the tools you already own, building a focused solution around the work, or teaching your team to use AI responsibly in-house.
But technology doesn’t define the work. It’s the newest tool in a toolbox built over twenty-plus years of programs, operations, grants, leadership, crisis response, and figuring out what needs to happen next.
The Problem Comes First. The Tool Earns Its Place.
Why Truth Scout
I didn’t start Truth Scout because nonprofits need more consultants. I started it because I’ve watched good organizations struggle with fixable problems.
After years working inside nonprofit organizations, I’ve seen what happens when the tools and expertise an organization needs are priced beyond its reach. Smaller organizations deserve practical help, too. That’s part of why Truth Scout exists.
Good people get buried in broken processes. Programs lose time because the infrastructure behind them doesn’t work. Leaders get so close to a problem that it’s hard to see where it actually started.
Boards see one piece. Finance sees another. Programs see another. Operations sees something else. Most importantly, Karen in Development wants everyone to know that donors arrive at six. And, that’s okay.
Sometimes you need someone who understands enough of all of it to put the pieces together.
Not a 78-page report explaining that your organization needs to “leverage cross-functional synergies.”
We look at what is actually happening. We figure out what matters. We decide what to do next. Then we get to work.
Because the mission is hard enough. The organization behind it shouldn’t make it harder.
Let’s Talk About What’s Going On
Truth Scout Consulting is a Springfield, Missouri-based consultancy serving nonprofits nationwide, remotely and on-site by arrangement.
Truth Scout Consulting 3550 N Glenstone Ave, Ste C, PMB 1030, Springfield, MO 65803