We recently connected with Shane Nelson and have shared our conversation below.

Shane, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

Reify Solutions has a core mission of enhancing organizations’ abilities to serve diverse communities through data, design, and collaboration. We root our work in human-centered practices and avoid hoarding knowledge over our partners. The way we do our work emphasizes community impact and collective healing. We believe this work will keep a network of potential projects around us and ensure we grow as a company.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Taylor Cobb and I co-founded Reify Solutions in 2019 after realizing that working on only one non-profit would not achieve the community healing we wanted to see in Philadelphia. As we moved into virtual environments, we realized that more communities could benefit from our unique blend of program design, research synthesis, and joyful collaboration. Now, Reify serves clients across the Northeast and West Coast of the United States.

I am a fundraiser by training and an activist at my core. I leverage advanced understandings of education to enhance nonprofit leaders’ ability to see the value of their work and demonstrate it to funders. I now advise Reify Solutions and ensure alignment between our firm’s daily work and the larger strategy to improve as many communities as possible.

I am an educator by training and a facilitator of joy at my core. I use my techniques in program design to help leaders bring their vision to life. Partners rely on me to sit with them in their visions and bring out the core actions to maintain growth and momentum. I manage Reify Solutions’ fundraising and workforce development divisions.

Taylor and I are proud of our ability to grow Reify, pursue doctoral degrees, and find the space to maintain deep connections with our families, networks, and communities.

Reify Solutions serves clients through the following methods: fundraising strategy, program design support, mixed methods research, workshop facilitation, and capacity support (e.g., interim staffing).

Have you ever had to pivot?

Our biggest pivot as a firm was understanding the power of providing physical improvements to communities via virtual meetings and coordination. The leadership team and supporting associates had to wrap their minds around driving change while serving as the “back office” for organizations. We had to realize that leading through efficiency-boosting tactics would allow for simultaneous impact opportunities.

For example, our team supported the launch of an impact report for a pro-bono partner that served as a fundraising opportunity for another client. This event took place on the East Coast and had team members facilitating a community employment event on the West Coast.

Embracing flexibility and moving with a trust-based work philosophy made it happen!

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

One of the internal phrases we use to keep high morale and limit stress is, “We’re saving lives in the long term; this isn’t surgery.”

Grounding our team in the long-term impact of our work provides calm when we get close to a deadline or need to respond to a new challenge in developing a client deliverable with team members.

Rather than micro-managing remote team members, we rely on trust and compassionate accountability. We know that our team has competing priorities. Maximizing communication on the front end of projects and providing clear asks on their capacity have kept us from low morale.

Contact Info:

• Website: reifyphl.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/93576718/admin/feed/posts/ | https://www.linkedin.com/in/shanednelson/