Meet Michelle: Experienced Change Advocate
Hello, I’m Michelle Kweder. I’m an experienced change advocate who has been working in and with mission-based organizations for more than 25 years. After all these years, I still don’t consider myself an expert. I’m a learner—and a true generalist who happens to have a PhD and MBA.
With decades of practice in leadership, management and organizing, lots of practical experience in resource development and communications, and a proven commitment to social justice, I help people diagnose problems and operationalize solutions in organizations and society.
Some of My Defining Values
If you’ve worked with me or come to know me, here are some of the things you might hear me repeat.
Learning exceeds expertise. Knowledge is always changing.
Unlearning is harder, and more important, than learning.
Everything was once a first practice before it was a so-called “best practice.”
It’s the organizations and systems that are broken, not the people.
We are all first responders. It’s how we show up on the scene.
Rest is a verb.
“I have great belief in the fact that whenever there is chaos, it creates wonderful thinking. I consider chaos a gift.”
~Septima Poinsette Clark
Bea’s Story
Bea was my grandmother, a teen factory worker, a convent drop-out, and a strong woman who could take Golabki out of the oven without potholders. She was perhaps the first abolitionist I knew.
When her husband, my grandfather, chased her around the neighborhood with a shotgun, the police weren’t an option but hiding out under her neighbor Ann’s kitchen floor was.
During high school I moved in with my Grandma Bea. During college summers, I returned to take care of her while working two jobs. Her hope for me was that I would become a secretary with my own desk and chair. I have a desk and chair.
Me, Bea, and Ann often sat out on the porch drinking tea and talking. That porch inspired this helpline – a place where you could show up, unjudged.
As a young activist, I dreamed of starting an organization named Bea’s Not-for-Profit where you could just show up and someone would sit with you, listen, and help you work through whatever (unpaid bills, an outstanding warrant, an unsafe living environment, not being able to read your kid’s report card).
In the last 30+ years I’ve done some of that in the communities where I’ve lived. I’ve had experiences that I am forever grateful for and many that I wish I’d never had but that I’ve learned so much from.
Doing the Work for 25 Years
Activist and Organizer
I’ve spent decades as a volunteer, consultant, staff, and board member for organizations that are fighting for liberation and social change. The following is a short, non-exhaustive list of organizations I’ve been involved with and continue to admire.
Professional
My professional experience is vast and can mainly be organized into four key areas.
Strategic Decision Making: Create organizational plans that reflect day-to-day realities or help people make mission-minded decisions in the moment. I thrive on both setting up people and organizations for success and taking concrete actions to get there.
Fundraising Lead: Led teams to raise millions of dollars through grants (public and private), events, social media, major donor asks, and annual appeals. As the main narrative author, I’ve facilitated processes that include community voice in contentious processes and making sure budgets are equitable. I’ve served as a city fundraiser and Director of Development for several organizations. I’m an active member of Community Centric Fundraising (CCF) Maine.
Communications Strategist: Read, write, and research with an intersectional lens along the continuum of narrative change. I’m not a “sensitivity reader” across all issue areas but I can help organizations avoid disasters and get more feedback – even with deadlines.
Business Advisor: Early in my career I volunteered, consulted, and was on staff for an organization that formed income generating co-ops with BIPOC immigrant, refugee, and US women who had survived family violence. I was also on staff at a women’s business center, taught in a business school, and have advised entrepreneurs, co-ops, and a B-corp founder on everything from content creation to community relations to go-to-market strategy.
Professional Speaker: I have spoken and facilitated workshops locally, nationally, and internationally on a range of topics including intersectionality theory, bystander awareness, the role of comedic newsmakers in the US, and activist communication tactics.
Formal Education
In my pursuit of knowledge, I’ve accumulated a few degrees.
BA (Hamilton College; English & Women’s Studies)
MBA (Simmons University)
PhD (University of Massachusetts, Boston; Organizations & Social Change)
And I’m always learning. I’ve done significant professional development in social return on investment (SROI), positive deviance theory, succession planning in nonprofits, and non-carceral mental health responses.
“Having a hands-on thought partner to untangle a task or strategy and meet a deadline, can be exactly what you need in many points of your career. Michelle is that partner. She was instrumental in supporting me through the process of creating a campaign budget and strategy that resulted in a realistic forecast of expenses and fundraising needs. She is hands-on, strategic, and focused.”
~ Cristina Aguilera