Our Mission

We provide nonprofit organizations with professional Insight, Leadership, and Action during times of transition. Our name defines our business.

Our Focus  

NPT LLC is dedicated to converting the uncertainty caused by nonprofit organizational transition into opportunities to forge better organizations and more promising futures.

We provide funders, Boards of Directors, and nonprofit leaders with temporary leadership resources and supplemental intellectual capital. Since our founding in 2003, we’ve assisted numerous nonprofit organizations exceed their expectations. As a learning community, we’re dedicated to sharing our knowledge and to contributing to the dialogue about what constitutes effective organizational change and how best to achieve it.

Our Values

We believe that nonprofit organizations perform an essential role for society, one that grows in importance daily as societal needs go unmet and government resources shrink.  Although nonprofits measure success by social impact, rather than profits, we still believe that non profits should be sustainable and should be operated with sound business practices in mind. Our success yardstick will always be matching client actions to their mission and best practices for nonprofit organizations.

Fair Treatment

We believe in team work and fair treatment for both our clients and our consultants. We also believe that non-profit employees deserve fair pay and fair treatment, and this is best achieved by informed leaders asking hard questions and making difficult decisions.

Our Team

Non-Profit Transitions has three principals and a consortium of highly experienced independent professional consultants who work together regularly in nonprofit management, finance, human resources and development.   

Christian Dame - NPT’s President  & Founder 

Chris has been managing change for government, business, and non-profit organizations for over 35 years. He has direct experience managing large-scale private and government projects involving planning and design, finance, construction, politics, and community relations. He’s served as CEO and Board member of for-profits, and volunteer, Board member, and Chair of several non-profits. He’s been the Interim Executive Director for several organizations including a homeless veteran’s shelter and a Hispanic social service agency. He’s consulted to funders about nonprofit turnarounds and to foundations about ways to promote non-profit excellence. As NPT President he’s consulted to numerous non-profits on start-ups, governance, executive coaching, turnarounds, succession planning and implementation, and a host of other transition challenges.  Chris has a Masters in City Planning from Harvard University, has completed the Third Sector New England Interim Executive Directors training program, and is a certified professional mediator.

Learn  More About Chris Dame

Read About a Turnaround Involving Chris Dame

N. Paul Ton That – Principal and Merger Specialist 

N. Paul is NPT’s specialist on nonprofit mergers and co-director of Interim Executive Director (IED) work. He has led effective transitions for non-profits facing a wide variety of circumstances. His clients included a community development corporation (CDC), a national network of practitioners, and the state chapter of a national disease advocacy/service association. He brings to his IED assignments proven skills in finance, program development & operation, board governance, and human resources. Programmatically, he is versed in the areas of housing, human services, community development, immigrant issues, elder services, and rural advocacy. Paul successfully refinanced the second HUD 202 elder housing in the Commonwealth and created a home health services agency.  He is currently a Board member of the Building Materials Resource Center (BMRC), past President of the Board of VietAID, past member of the Mayor’s Task Force on Elections (Boston), and a certified Boatwright. He earned a Masters degree from Gordon-Conwell, a Bachelor of Science in Economic-Finance from Bentley College and has done graduate work in Project Management. Paul has recently completed designing and implementing a 12 month merger of the leading two national brain tumor societies. He’s eager to share what he’s learned with others.    

Lynne Alexis Molnar – Principal and Coordinator of IED Services  

NPT is glad to welcome Lynne who recently joined NPT after four years directing the design and development of a regional clearinghouse for nonprofit interim executive directors and consultants. Lynne has been advising organizations since 1993 on strategic planning, board and organizational development and interim staffing. She has personally served over 20 non-profit organizations, half of which involved leadership transitions and serving as Interim Executive Director. Previous to consulting, Lynne had a twenty year history with non-profits, serving as executive director, comptroller, program director and development director.  Among her many satisfied clients are: Girls Inc. of Worcester; SCM Transportation Inc.; Topf Center for Dance Education; and Teen Voices/Women’s Express. Lynne has a Masters in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy from Harvard, and a Masters in Business Administration from Boston University. She is a trained mediator, and has also served for 12 years as one of the four elected City of Cambridge Election Commissioners. She is recognized as an authority on IED work, speaking at national conferences and training sessions. 

Associates

NPT has a stable of hand-picked, highly experienced consultants available for interim situations or specialized consulting. Since they are NPT Associates, they have agreed NOT TO BE CANDIDATES for permanent hire. Many are senior professionals, at the peak of their careers, eager to assist organizations and to pass on to the next generation of nonprofit leaders the knowledge accumulated by years of service. They take special pleasure in using their experience to help others avoid the mistakes and pitfalls they've encountered along the way.

Meet Some of Our Associates

Success Factors  

There are four characteristics that distinguish nonprofits that transition successfully: Insight, Integrity, Leadership and Action. We have adopted these as guiding precepts for all our consulting assignments.

First it takes Insight to understand the challenges of transition. NPT can help your organization evaluate problems and point out opportunities as you prepare for change because we’ve facilitated many transitions. There may be leadership or structural issues that are blocking you from achieving your objectives. NPT can help you uncover those issues and craft a thoughtful response. Or, if your organization discovers that partnering with others may create a more effective organization, we have direct experience and know what it takes to create lasting non profit mergers. In every transition we’ll help you understand non profit best practices and the standards of excellence that should guide you. 

Next is Integrity.  Leaders and Boards need to be honest with each other, with their funders and stakeholders, and with staff about the need for change, and the type of leadership and action that’s required to meet the challenge. It’s never enough to update the old strategic plan or dust off the last job description. NPT can provide an objective inside view of operating reality to educate leaders, codify the challenge, and empower the response. 

It also takes Leadership to transition successfully. NPT can provide professional interim leaders to guide your organization during a leadership transition. Our presence facilitates the work of the executive search consultant. We also provide professional coaching for senior executives and Boards to help them respond effectively to tough organizational issues during times of change and turmoil.

Finally, it takes effective Action. Transition requires movement, and movement requires direction. NPT can not only develop an Action Plan to address critical change needs, but more importantly it can assist the CEO and Board during the critical implementation period. We will measure progress objectively, provide advice, and adapt the plan to ensure that Actions produce Effective Outcomes.   

Veterans – the Value Added 

Non-Profit Transitions LLC (NPT) is a consortium of senior professional consultants. We have years of firsthand knowledge about managing change. Our consultants are eager to share their years of experience and their wisdom with a new generation of non profit leaders and Boards.

Call us today for a free consultation.