What We Believe
As your trusted advisor, partner, and resource, we embrace your mission, values, and goals so we can work together to ensure that your organization thrives. At Wishnick & Associates, we combine our beliefs, experience, and talent with yours to help you effectively and successfully achieve your mission.
Mission-driven organizations succeed when their priorities are clear
Increased internal capacity enhances an organization’s ability to achieve its mission
Knowing how to assess opportunities and make good decisions requires skill and vision
Working with a consultant provides a fresh viewpoint and someone who connects ideas in new and innovative ways
Progress and change are incremental
The process of discovering the answers to hard questions is as important as the answers themselves
Organizational and individual successes are linked – this bond is based on an understanding of how individual roles impact the entire organization
A consultant is your biggest fan, your honest critic, and your reality check
As Wishnick & Associates’ clients embrace equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging, so does Amy. Ever mindful of bias and structural racism, she is authentic and open with clients and in all engagements.
Amy brought so much value and guidance to our long range planning process. She was incredibly supportive and insightful in helping us build out our process, engaging with staff members and volunteer leaders for input, and ultimately led a leadership retreat that helped us develop the framework for our plan. Our long range planning process and the ultimate plan itself were made better by Amy’s involvement and expertise.
About Amy Wishnick, Principal
Amy is passionate about organizations. A perceptive listener, strategic thinker, and creative problem solver, she asks the right questions to help clients uncover valuable organizational and leadership development opportunities. Amy is a valued colleague with proven leadership ability with diverse clients in diverse settings.
She began her career at the National Endowment for the Humanities, managing grants to libraries and archives. She then ventured into the private sector, managing attorney recruiting for a Chicago-based international law firm. During her seven years in executive search, Amy consulted with clients ranging from small and family-owned businesses to publicly traded Fortune 500 corporations. Clients included law firms, trading firms, financial services companies, nonprofits, foundations, higher education institutions, family offices, and manufacturing companies.
Amy has served on and chaired numerous nonprofit boards and committees. Currently, she is a member of the board of directors and executive committee of KAM Isaiah Israel Congregation. Amy is also a co-chair of the congregation’s capital campaign, Mishpacha: Our Family. Our Future. She has also served as a trustee for the KAM Isaiah Israel Foundation, which oversees the synagogue’s endowment, and chaired transition committees. Amy had the unique opportunity to serve on the United States Defense Department Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS), a committee of civilian volunteers appointed to advise the Secretary of Defense. As an executive committee member, Amy trained new committee members to conduct visits to domestic military installations to gain a deeper understanding of career opportunities, forces utilization, and quality of life issues for active duty women. She also served as the primary author of two reports for the Secretary of Defense that highlighted findings and mae recommendations based on the executive committee’s overseas trips to military installations in Europe and Asia.
Amy is a board member and past president of the Association of Consultants to Nonprofits (ACN). She has served on the governance committee and co-authored the association’s publication, Nonprofit Leader’s Guide to Hiring and Engaging Consultants. Amy was a member of the Axelson Center for Nonprofit Management Advisory Board and previously taught strategic planning at Axelson’s annual BootCamp for New Nonprofit CEOs. She has served on the selection committee for the Alford-Axelson Awards for Managerial Excellence since 2010. She is also an advisor member of the Forefront (formerly Donors Forum).
About the Associates
When an engagement calls for it, Wishnick & Associates works with trusted colleagues to build a project team. Many are members of the Association of Consultants to Nonprofits and all are expert consultants who have distinguished themselves in their fields of expertise. They share Amy’s values and approach to client work. With this network of skilled consultants, Wishnick & Associates is able to meet clients’ needs and deliver a broad range of services, while still maintaining the fee structure of an independent consultant.