Exploring new models for shared leadership, community participation and organizational development.

Creative Evolutions brought Momentum 2026 to a close on September 8 with a national online webinar reflecting on a summer of conversations about how nonprofit organizations can rethink governance.

Throughout the summer, the program brought together administrators, practitioners, students and other community members through gatherings in Oklahoma, the Bahamas, Seattle, Minneapolis and Tampa Bay. What began with 17 possible governance models grew into a collection of 35 models and approaches, along with a series of variables that organizations can adapt to their own circumstances.

The central idea was simple: we have more choices than we think we do!

Throughout the series, participants questioned many of the assumptions surrounding conventional boards, including who should serve, how people are selected and held accountable, how responsibilities are divided, how authority is shared, and whether boards need to function primarily around fundraising and financial oversight.

The discussions also pushed governance beyond organizational structures. Trust, relationships, community participation, shared purpose, leadership development and the distribution of power all became part of the conversation.

One of the most useful aspects of Momentum was its emphasis on experimentation. Rather than presenting a single model as the answer, Creative Evolutions curated a collection of possibilities that organizations can examine, adapt and combine. The models can be used by existing organizations considering change, as well as by people developing new organizations and wanting to think about their structure from the beginning.

The work will continue this fall with the publication of the Momentum sourcebook, which will expand on the models, approaches and examples developed through the project.

For us, Momentum was an incredibly useful learning experience. It gave us new ways to think about governance, organizational development, leadership and succession, and encouraged us to question structures that are often accepted simply because they are familiar.

A sincere thank you to Creative Evolutions, Calida Jones, Douglas Clayton and everyone involved in making Momentum 2026 happen. The work created space for difficult questions, new possibilities and conversations that we expect will continue well beyond this year’s learning.

We learned a lot, and we are looking forward to putting many of those ideas into practice.