The Board’s Role in Strategic Partnerships, Restructures, and Mergers

In 2026’s complex landscape, nonprofit boards are working with staff leaders to meet extraordinary challenges — but they don’t have to go it alone. How can boards provide strategic guidance to best position their organizations in an ever-changing environment? This interactive session will help orient board members to the landscape of partnership opportunities available to nonprofits. Potential for expanding mission, streamlining expenses, and serving the community better together abound.  

This webinar will dive into the essential ingredients for meaningful, sustained collaboration: trust, shared goals, time, values alignment, strategic thinking, imagination, and intentional decision-making. Participants will gain practical tools to assess readiness, identify the right opportunities, and determine when the conditions are truly right. 

Through real-world case studies and step-by-step guidance, you will see how organizations have successfully used partnerships to strengthen operations, build capacity, and deliver on their missions more effectively. This session is designed for board members ready to explore partnerships and collaboration not just as a buzzword, but as a strategic imperative. 

Please click here to register. 

This session is part of a series. You can find more information on the entire series or other sessions by clicking here. 

About the Facilitator  

Lara Jakubowski, Partner and Head of Growth  

La Piana Consulting  

Lara Jakubowski (she/her) is a veteran leader in the social sector, with roots in community development finance and nonprofit capacity building. Her career has been inspired by the people and organizations committed to addressing income inequality. She focuses her client work on solutions that are evidence-based, practical, and sustainable. Lara meets clients where they are and leverages her experiences as a nonprofit Executive Director, lender to affordable housing developers, convener of nonprofits in shared spaces and shared services, Board Member, and technical assistance provider to build client impact. She has previously worked with the Greater New Orleans Foundation to support strategic partnership, organizational restructuring, and mergers projects in southeast Louisiana and see them to completion.