The Strategic Steward — May 2026
The Strategic Steward
EDITION 002 : May 2026
Shared stories are important for nonprofit boards. They align with the way the human mind works. Facts, abstractions, or instructions are easily forgotten. However, we remember experiences, emotions, and meanings.
This month, interviews with:
Carolyn Farquhar, Chair of Cheetah Conservation Fund Canada
Amina Mohamed, Founder and Executive Director of Cameras for Girls
Good to Great and the Social Sectors: Why Business Thinking is Not the Answer, Jim Collins
Think Like a Freak, Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt
VIDEO: Perfecting Your Pitch (an interview with Lucy Cullen, Entrepreneur and Nonprofit Founder)
ARTICLE: The Network Effect
Once Upon a time…
…in a board room far, far away
NOTE: A version of this article was published under the banner “The Strategic Steward” with Future of Good (futureofgood.ca) in May, 2026. A link to that version is here.
Board trainers, educators, and strategic consultants all suggest that effective stewardship for non-profits is about boards working together to ensure good governance, effective internal controls, and the management of donated assets in accordance with fiduciary standards.
It’s all important work. Vital, in fact, to expanding the impact nonprofits have in the communities they serve.
That is the definition of stewardship: responsibly caring for something entrusted to you. But stewardship is not simply compliance; it’s a call to deploy resources in a way that honours donors’ intentions, serves present needs, and protects future capacity.
But as data analysis becomes more prevalent, board meetings are getting overwhelmed with numbers. Investment returns. Tax figures. Hits on social media sites.
Why stories matter
Years ago, my group was responsible for brand management and advertising at a large Canadian financial services company. One of the first exercises we ran with the executive leadership team was to give everyone an index card and a pencil, asking them to silently write down the corporate mission and how they would describe that to an outsider.
Think of it as a very slow, very quiet elevator pitch.
No surprises. For the most part, management aligned with the firm’s overall mission. However, they were completely disconnected when it came time to explain that mission to others.
Many organizations end up this way if they don’t spend enough time building, sharing, and creating new stories internally.
Stories are important. They align with the way the human mind works. Facts, abstractions, or instructions are easily forgotten. However, we remember experiences, emotions, and meanings.
Stories provide the foundation for connection and memory. If management had a series of shared stories to draw on, the results might have been different.
Most will never remember the opening lines to this year’s annual report, but decades later, you’d probably remember reading “Call me Ishmael”, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”, or “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”
Good stories are memorable. Great stories are unforgettable.
Stewardship as institutional memory
Every donated dollar is an untold story, because someone made the active decision to support one specific organization: yours. For those who give, donations are powerful expressions of personal values.
But as board binders get heavier and dashboards become flashier, meetings get filled with metrics instead of meaning. Integers over inspiration.
Somewhere along the way, the “why” gets lost, and stewardship slips into administration.
Incorporating story collecting and storytelling into your process helps unify entire teams and provides institutional memory as people change and strategies evolve. Reports are a great tool for telling people what happened.
But it’s a story that would connect people to why it matters at all.
Boards often treat storytelling as an external function. It is! Donor communications, annual reports, and campaign videos are important.
But, from a governance and strategy perspective, the most important audience for stewardship stories is internal because it creates shared language about:
The impact the work has on communities,
How donor intent is respected,
Why certain risks are taken and others avoided,
How today’s decisions impact the mission.
When boards stop creating stories and start curating them, something important shifts. Board members become more than just responsible for assets and administration, they become custodians of the stories.
Stories as a strategic asset
A five‑year return figure tells you how the portfolio performed. An auditor’s report shows that you are operating with honesty and transparency. Yet, it’s a story that explains what good governance made possible.
In this sense, storytelling is a strategic asset. It guides decision-making, influences behaviour and ensures that stewardship survives transitions of leadership and membership.
If stewardship is the responsible care of what has been entrusted to a board, then stories are how that care is remembered, transmitted, and renewed.
Because long after the charts are recycled and the reports are forgotten, it is the story that remains:
Once upon a time, we told someone a story and built a connection.
They supported us with a donation.
We told them what their trust made possible.
We remember. They do too.
What’s your story?
“Grow for Change” is a project dedicated to support best practices from leaders in the nonprofit and charitable sector and providing awareness to organisations that are making a difference. Season Two features interviews with nonprofit and charitable leaders to find out what they do, why they do it, the impact they are making in our communities, and how people can support their work.
Cheetah Conservation Fund Canada
Season Two, Episode 3
Worldwide cheetah populations have been on the decline for the last century. According to National Geographic, approximately 100,000 cheetahs roamed Africa and Asia in 1900. Today, less than 10,000 exist in the wild. Expanding agriculture, cities and infrastructure have reduced the grasslands they need to survive.
Cheetah Conservation Fund is making a difference to save these animals. They have an holistic approach that recognizes that a healthy ecosystem that supports cheetahs is one that is shared by other animals, including humans. They have programs to reduce human-cheetah conflict, helping farmers protect their livelihoods. As well, with centres in countries across Africa, they are at the leading edge of the conservation movement.
Cheetah Conservation Fund Canada
Season Two, Episode 4
Worldwide cheetah populations have been on the decline for the last century. According to National Geographic, approximately 100,000 cheetahs roamed Africa and Asia in 1900. Today, less than 10,000 exist in the wild. Expanding agriculture, cities and infrastructure have reduced the grasslands they need to survive.
Cheetah Conservation Fund is making a difference to save these animals. They have an holistic approach that recognizes that a healthy ecosystem that supports cheetahs is one that is shared by other animals, including humans. They have programs to reduce human-cheetah conflict, helping farmers protect their livelihoods. As well, with centres in countries across Africa, they are at the leading edge of the conservation movement.
A short collection of curated articles, books, and news from around the web. Worth reading.
Good to Great and the Social Sectors
Collins, W. (2005). Good to Great and the Social Sectors: Why Business Thinking is Not the Answer. HarperCollins Publishers
This is a short monograph to accompany Collins’ best-seller Good to Great. It’s not a new book; it’s a response to questions raised by leaders in the social sector. Here, Collins expands upon the idea that success often comes when a focus is on moving a good organisation, with intention, towards becoming a great one.
Levitt, S., Dubner, S.. (2015). Think Like a Freak: The Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain. HarperCollins Publishers
Think Like A Freak offers guidance on entirely new ways to solve problems. It’s a entertaining look at the power of looking at the world in different ways, trying different things, and not being afraid to fail.
A look back into the archives at things that remain relevant.
In this throwback to Season One of Grow for Change, Lucy Cullen talks about how she applied the lessons and skills she learned launching successful “for profit” businesses and working in the start-up ecosystem for over ten years to the nonprofit space. In addition to perfecting her pitch to grant makers and funders, she also shares how to nonprofit leaders can build their ability to build meaningful connections with those in their extended network.
Back in 2022, I wrote about the importance of having a strong network. Just like “Rick” from the television show Pawn Stars, you don’t always need to know everything. You need to know people who know everything. So it’s no surprise that your impact and reach is amplified when you surround yourself with great people.
Craig Swistun is Portfolio Manager with Lexicon Financial Group (www.lexiconfinancialgroup.com) at Raymond James Investment Counsel.
The opinions expressed are those of Craig Swistun and not necessarily those of Raymond James Investment Counsel which is a subsidiary of Raymond James Ltd. Statistics and factual data and other information presented are from sources believed to be reliable but their accuracy cannot be guaranteed. It is furnished on the basis and understanding that Raymond James is to be under no liability whatsoever in respect thereof. It is for information purposes only and is not to be construed as an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of securities. Raymond James advisors are not tax advisors and we recommend that clients seek independent advice from a professional advisor on tax-related matters.
There is no relationship between Raymond James Investment Counsel and either Little Warriors or A Dollar a Day Foundation . Participation is at the viewers discretion. Images were created using Adobe Firefly.
