Two people studying graphs and charts with a tablet

Philanthropic and Social Impact Investors

We balance art and science to produce the highest level of client impact.

NPL has a multi-disciplinary team of very senior professionals from the nonprofit, business and government sectors, some of whom have been working together since 1995.

Our team is diverse in thought and perspectives with expertise in organizational design, business strategy, board development, financial analysis, marketing & branding, digital content development, and capital & major gift fundraising. We look at the entire organization in order to design platforms for our clients to attract transformational donors and repeatable income.

We’ve served hundreds of nonprofit clients in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Africa and elsewhere in consulting roles, and we touch many more organizations through The NPL Learning Center©--an in-person and virtual boot camp for board members and CEO’s in large initiatives and/or change management processes and for all nonprofit leaders via master classes.

Principals of NPL Impact Agency manage every client, assembling the exact right supporting team from our cadre to fully customize NPL’s time-tested proprietary tools and best practices.

Our Process

Clients engage us for all or some of the steps outlined below, depending on their circumstances.

Our team helps funders determine the best organizational grantees to deliver a high social impact return in alignment with their values and vision.

“Due to my confidence in Laurie and Jim Kirkegaard’s personal skills, experience, and favorable outcomes, I have introduced them to people in my personal network of global leaders so confidently because they met the most important value, the Integrity Test. Never Have I been disappointed.”

John R. Drexel, IV
Philanthropist and Business Leader
Order Saint John

“I have been so impressed by how Laurie, Jim and their team creatively approach their clients' opportunities. They are innovative, out of the box thinkers and have flawless execution. What a great asset they are to this work!”

Alicia Philipp
President, Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta 1977- 2020 (43 years)

Our Expertise

Discovery

During the discovery process, NPL meets with the leadership team-- whether family members in a small foundation, trustees of a large private foundation or senior executives of a corporation involved in activating community affairs and/or corporate social responsibility platforms to:
• determine the team’s collective values;
• review the issues they most want to impact in the social sector and why;
• identify brands and content they wish to align with their goals and how that will inspire their own network of family members, trustees and/or stakeholders in their corporate ecosystem; and
• determine the level of investment they plan to make-- and over what period of time.
Visioning

Our team then uses design thinking to ideate with the core team to create a vision of their future state resulting from further engagement in the social sector considering the above factors.
Partner Selection

Informed by the above, we design criteria for optimal nonprofit partners to actualize the funder’s values and vision, and to yield the highest social impact return. We then research and identify the best organizational candidates and conduct interviews with their trustees and executive management teams. Often times we assist in structuring partnerships with several nonprofit organizations and the funder.
Partner Agreements and Performance Goals

Once organizational partners are selected, we help structure partner agreements and performance metrics to measure the effectiveness of the collective team. NPL draws from skills of our core team in this process, and we also engage associates who have worked for either corporations or foundations dispersing funds and grants. Often times, we design beta tests for the partnership with a roll out plan following a proof of concept.