Build trust, in an age where polish is free.
Hi, {{FirstName}}.
I help nonprofits build community and earn trust in a world where authenticity is easy to fake, and most "personalization" feels like a merge field instead of real hospitality.
I write, speak, and consult to make nonprofits, and the world, a better place to belong.
— Todd
Connection is hard to trust.
Nonprofits are navigating a genuinely new landscape, one unprecedented moment giving way to another. Now it's easy to manufacture warmth at scale, and real authenticity and belonging have never been harder to earn.
When anyone can sound sincere, how do the people who fund your work know someone is actually home?
Build a welcoming, and trusted, nonprofit.
Using the framework from my book, The Welcoming Nonprofit, I write, speak, and consult with organizations to build a home that not only welcomes everyone, but is alive, hospitable, and trusted — the kind of nonprofit people don't just give to, but belong to.
See speaking & workshops →Ways to work together.
The Four Spaces — Sidewalk, Front Porch, Living Room, Kitchen Table — are the belonging framework from my book The Welcoming Nonprofit. Here's where they show up in the work.
Talks that trade the funnel for a welcome mat.
I speak at conferences, AFP chapters, board meetings, and staff retreats — reframing how your team turns strangers into partners, one space at a time.
Invite me to speak → WorkshopsBring the Four Spaces into the room with your team.
A keynote reframes the thinking; a workshop changes what your team does on Monday — applying the framework to your actual supporters.
Explore workshops → ConsultingA Four Spaces audit for your nonprofit.
Most organizations pour energy into one or two spaces and wonder why connection stalls. I'll help you evaluate all four spaces and design a new way for donor relationships and community that actually create belonging.
Start a conversation → WritingBooks, essays, and letters from the front porch.
The Welcoming Nonprofit, occasional essays, and a new book underway on staying credibly human in the age of AI.
Explore writing →Not sure which one fits? Let's talk it through.
Get in touch →
Belonging isn't a pipeline.
It's a house.
The Sidewalk
StrangersThe space of first impressions. It's where clarity, not complexity, earns a second look. Your job here is to say just enough that someone can decide whether to keep the conversation going.
The Front Porch
AcquaintancesThe in-between space. Not quite inside the house and not entirely outside. It's where curiosity turns into connection and people decide whether to invest in the relationship.
The Living Room
FriendsWhere deeper belonging takes shape. Conversations move below the surface, trust takes root, and people begin to see themselves as part of the story you're telling.
The Kitchen Table
PartnersThe most intimate space. Papers strewn about, real decisions being made. Where your closest partners don't just support the mission. They help shape it.
“We don't get to decide if someone belongs. They do.”
Todd Hiestand
I help nonprofits earn trust in a world where anyone can sound sincere.
Todd has spent over two decades building communities and helping nonprofits do the same. He co-founded and led a community-based nonprofit for 14 years and has worked alongside hundreds of nonprofit teams to help them communicate their mission with greater clarity and conviction.
He is the author of The Welcoming Nonprofit and the creator of the Four Spaces of Nonprofit Engagement. He lives in the Portland, Oregon area with his wife Melanie, four sons, and a lively collection of goats, ducks, chickens, dogs, and other creatures.
Letters from the porch.
Occasional essays on clarity, belonging, and where AI belongs in your organization — and where it doesn't.
You can leave whenever you like; that's kinda the whole point. ;-)