essays – Nonprofits

Fighting Zombie Initiatives

Let’s talk about nonprofit zombie initiatives.

You know the ones.

🧟 The pilot program that was “temporary” but somehow has a line item, a committee, and a standing meeting.

🧟 The legacy event that “looks great externally” but hasn’t produced measurable impact since the Bush administration. The first one.

🧟 The strategic priority that was critical two executive directors ago.

They’re not alive. They’re not dead. They just. . .roam your org chart eating capacity.

Zombie initiatives survive on:

• Sunk cost fallacy
• Board nostalgia
• Fear of optics
• And that one passionate internal champion who will absolutely send a long email if you touch it

Meanwhile, your actual high-impact work is fighting for budget and staff time.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: zombie initiatives don’t just sit there.

👉 They consume oxygen.

👉 They crowd out real priorities.

👉 They make your strategy look ambitious and your team feel exhausted.

Let’s be honest.

No one inside your nonprofit wants to kill the zombie initiatives.

The board member loves it. The founder started it. The development team put it in three grant proposals. And there’s at least one staff person who will take its cancellation personally.

Enter: the consultant. (or Zombie Warrior, if you prefer)

We are professionally un-attached.

So we get to ask the rude questions (without judgement):

❓ If you were starting today, would you fund this?

❓ What measurable impact has this actually produced?

❓ Who would notice if this quietly disappeared?

❓ What higher-priority work is this starving?

And then we say the quiet part out loud:

“This isn’t strategic. It’s sentimental.”

Consultants help kill zombie initiatives by:

• Separating impact from nostalgia
• Putting numbers next to feelings
• Making tradeoffs explicit
• Giving leadership political cover to sunset things

Because sometimes what leaders really need isn’t advice.

It’s permission.

We’re the neutral third party who can say, “This made sense once. It doesn’t anymore.”

And suddenly it’s not betrayal. It’s strategy.

And sometimes what you’re paying a consultant for isn’t brilliance.

It’s an axe.

That’s the real value. Not adding more ideas.

Just clearing the undead so the living work can breathe.

🤔 Do you have any zombie initiatives hanging around? I’ll bet you do. 🙋‍♀️