Guiding Constellations

The past few weeks have been especially disorienting for many in the nonprofit sector, especially for anyone who was counting on U.S. federal grant dollars to support their community work. It’s nearly impossible to understand everything going on at a national level because even our most reliable news sources are full of conflicting and rapidly changing stories.

What I can tell you anecdotally, just from organizations I work alongside and have direct contact with, is that funding is uncertain at best. Crucial community programs have been cut off from access to already committed funds. Others are watching grant priorities and eligibility criteria shift in real time in the middle of writing labor intensive grant applications.

Many nonprofits, particularly the ones making the biggest difference in local communities, do not have big enough margins to survive this level of disruption. As I noted HERE late last year, the whole sector was already on the edge of a precipice before the chaos of 2025. Layoffs and closures are already happening for some great organizations. It’s alarming, and not just for the nonprofit sector.

Because we are all connected, and our sectors (public, private, and nonprofit) work best when we serve our communities together, this funding loss will have ripple effects. The U.S. nonprofit sector is a big part of our shared economy, contributing about $1.4 trillion or 5.2% of GDP in 2023. That is a lot! And there's a good reason why. The work U.S. nonprofits carry out in their communities is enormous. They run children’s reading programs, feed hungry people, clean up polluted waterways, preserve farmland, transport people to medical appointments, provide job seekers with training and clothes for job interviews, and support our kids’ mental health. These are our arts and culture hubs, our animal shelters, our soup kitchens, and our community centers. They are neighborhood lifelines, joy bringers, hope cultivators, and community connectors regardless of whether those communities are urban or rural, red or blue.

Nonprofits frequently partner with local governments to carry out community priorities. And they partner with businesses too——whether it’s providing essential services to private sector employees or purchasing the materials, food, and other supplies their programs need, often from small local vendors. When this sector struggles, we all do (except, perhaps, the very wealthy). Certainly our children, neighbors, local businesses, cities, counties, states, even the land around us will feel the negative impacts.

I wouldn’t be writing this if I thought it was too late or if there was nothing we could do. In her 2002 book, turning to one another: simple conversations to restore hope to the future, the system’s theorist Margaret J. Wheatley writes that, “...no matter how beaten down we are—by poverty, by oppressive leadership, by tragedy—the human spirit is nearly impossible to destroy. We humans keep wanting to learn, to improve things, and to care about each other.”

I believe this continues to be true of the vast majority of us——that we want to learn, improve things, and care about each other. I also believe that, together, we have everything we need to tend to what matters most.

That doesn’t mean it will be easy. We have a lot to figure out and many challenges to navigate right now. We’ve been walking increasingly difficult and unfamiliar roads for a while, and it feels like we’ve arrived at a place where the ground is so broken and overgrown the roads have disappeared altogether.

It is hard to move forward when systems are collapsing around you and the ground under your feet keeps shifting. But let's say we still want to try. What can we do? I don’t fully know and would love to hear your ideas——either what you are coming up with or wisdom you are hearing from others.

One idea I have is that we need to be clear on what our guiding constellations are and join together with others who share them. Historically, when people have needed to sail a vast ocean or traverse a wilderness——in other words when we’ve crossed terrain that doesn’t have roads——we’ve relied on the stars. Stars might become temporarily obscured by clouds, but they’re consistently there, shining night after night. My core values, things I know to be true, and the things that matter most to me are my constellations. When bad news and political chaos make everything murky, it’s crucial we know how to find those constant lights.

Over time, as we learn to follow our constellations, they lead us where we need to go and help us find our way back to each other.

Last night, I went to a community potluck organized by a few friends and local nonprofits. When I showed up, I realized I was connected to several of the people there through different threads across projects, shared interests, and collaborations. I sat across from an elder who recognized me from some work I did with her organization over five years ago. As we caught up, she said, “Daisha, you’ll always be part of the work we did together. You’ll always be part of us.”

This sweet little anchoring moment reminded me of a vision I hold. I imagine all of us as small boats on an endless night ocean. Often, we are sailing or paddling in the dark and we feel alone. But every once in a while, our little boats find each other. We make a connection with someone else and realize we were never alone.

Something beautiful emerges when we sail these dark seas long enough. We start repeating connections. When we’re clear on our guiding constellations, when we know what matters most to us, and when we live into those things, we bump into the same people again and again. These are the people who share our guiding constellations. We end up in the same places every so often because we’re following the same lights.

A few years ago I took a sea kayaking class, and we learned a concept called rafting up. Rafting up is when you tie a bunch of little boats together. In kayaking, you can also raft up by tucking your oars into each other's deck lines. It creates an outrigger effect where your boats are more stable together than they are alone. This technique can keep a boat from capsizing when the water is rough and scary.

The water is rough and scary right now. So I’m staying clear on my constellations, seeking others who share them, and looking for ways to raft up.

When I founded Salmonberry Community Strategies, I chose three guiding constellations. I want this work to be rooted in LOVE, to cultivate TRUST, and to flourish in FREEDOM.

Being rooted in love reminds me to recognize my kinship with all living things, to live in solidarity, and to pursue justice. When there’s social pressure to conform, accept inequality, and exclude others, love reminds me to appreciate our differences, to keep practicing equity, and to remain inclusive. Cultivating trust reminds me to extend trust to others and to show up as someone who can be trusted by prioritizing honesty, clarity, and truth. Trust helps me think critically of the news and to stay humble by being honest about everything I don’t know. Flourishing through freedom reminds me to pursue creativity and wholeness. Freedom brings a spaciousness and joy to my work, which——as a virgo, big sister, mom, old soul, and enneagram 5——is hard to access but needed!

Together, these constellations keep guiding me to others who care for the earth and the wellbeing of all her people. The opportunities to raft up with these people are endless and inspiring. I’m doing a two-woman book club on Solidarity by Leah Hunt-Hendrix and Astra Taylor. I’m continuing to invest my energy and time in the nonprofit sector and working on developing a better network of aligned consultants in my area so that we can find support and work on bigger projects together. I’m working on developing a systems thinking workshop to share with my community. I’m deepening my connections to artists, farmers, immigrants, queer neighbors, and fellow entrepreneurs. Together, we’re sharing meals and stories, creating spaces of refuge and belonging, and tending to what matters most. These things are keeping me from capsizing as the storm rages.

Do you have similar guiding constellations? What are they? Who are your people? And how are you rafting up? I’d love to hear your thoughts or be someone you can raft up with as we navigate this storm. Please reach out anytime and take care of yourselves and each. Let’s stay in this together.