Testimonials
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.
I frequently refer RRF grantees to Amy when they are looking for someone to help build organizational capacity, plan for the future, or maximize opportunities for growth. She has a great way of connecting with nonprofit leaders and helping them navigate realistic paths through complex situations. Amy’s unique mix of skills, perspective, and creative thinking has helped many nonprofits move forward.
I’ve engaged Amy with two very different organizations — one at the board level, and one working with staff. Her great experience gives her deep perspective on the challenges facing non-profit organizations today. She’s a fantastic listener, perceptive about people and exceptionally diplomatic – she knows how to frame difficult conversations in a positive way. She’s candid but tactful, and gets right to the heart of the issue while still creating space for a process where everyone feels heard. I trust her and value her good counsel.
Amy Wishnick is an amazing resource. Her strategic planning, leadership training and board development services are superb. Amy has a keen understanding of the realities faced by today’s non-profits and brings her facilitation skills to the table in a way that brings the big picture together with the important details and nuances of her client organizations. Amy was critical in the success of my transitioning to a new city leading a new organization. I would highly recommend Amy as an expert in leadership transitions and the aforementioned areas.
Talk about finding the right person at the right time! Our organization is a worldwide membership organization that is turning 100 this year. We had not really done any review of our organizational structure and governance, and with a change in management the new team agreed we needed to do this, and we luckily found Amy Wishnick. Amy’s qualifications are impeccable, and her experience was valuable as we went through a very rigorous review and overhaul. What was most impressive to me was that Amy took the time to understand our organization, with all its quirks. She wasn’t pushing into a pre-packaged idea of what a non-profit should look like, but instead helped us learn and grow into what we needed to become. What could have been a divisive and difficult process, as we overhauled the governance and hired our first Executive Director, instead was a celebration of what our organization can become, and what we mean to our members. Amy’s wisdom and gentle coaching inspired confidence in our volunteer leadership to think big and act decisively. We were so thrilled with the process and the outcome that we extended Amy’s contract so that she could help us develop our very first Strategic Plan. We recommend Amy Wishnick most highly with no reservations.
Amy served as an Executive Coach for the Chinese American Service League’s Founder/President and the Executive Director as they transitioned into retirement after 35 years of service. Amy also served as the Transition Committee’s Resource Manager and Consultant as the organization transitioned into new leadership. The guidance and counsel that Amy provided the Committee was invaluable. Amy carefully and intuitively advised the Committee on process, challenges and obstacles as the Committee struggled through a Search Firm solicitation, a CEO search and the onboarding of a new CEO for the organization. Amy’s responsiveness to questions, thoughtfulness to issues and resourcefulness to a challenging search was impressive. Meanwhile, she guided the outgoing leadership with sensitivity and care. Amy is a gem and a consummate professional. Her ability to listen, strategize and guide in a natural and seamless manner provides success without drama, egos or conflict. As the Chair of the Transition Committee, former Chair of the Board and a leading voice in a complex community, I am honored and grateful to have had Amy Wishnick as a guiding hand in the succession of the Chinese American Service League in Chicago.
Amy Wishnick was outstanding. She provided our organization with vital guidance during a board development process and helped us all navigate a leadership transition. Her clear information, framed as best practices in the field, helped build consensus around change. She was also a wonderful mentor and sounding board to me personally, giving me advice and reassuring me throughout the project. I would work with Amy again without hesitation, and would recommend her to any group seeking a consultant to help with board projects and other large strategy or policy implementation programs.
Amy expertly facilitated our Strategic Planning session, not only providing a helpful structure for discussing our organization’s goals and objectives but also asking the right questions to get to the heart of the issues we wanted to address. Amy prepared us well for the session, encouraging us to brainstorm key issues on our own beforehand so that we could hit the ground running when we met. during our meeting Amy guided us towards clearly defining our strengths and opportunities as well as identifying our biggest challenges. With direction from Amy, our group was able to not only analyze our present situation but also successfully define our goals and objectives to ensure our success and sustainability as an organization.
On behalf of the Executive Board, I want to express our appreciation for the excellent job you did on the comprehensive assessment of our synagogue management and operations. We could never have undertaken such a project internally. Your expertise and objective, “outsider” status inspired trust, gave you access to information and insights that might not have been shared with our own professionals or lay leaders, and lent necessary credibility to the resulting report. Finally, I want you to know that as the congregation’s main point person on this project, I felt a true partnership in our working relationship. Your ability to listen and process information helped us identify the core matters, and your open-mindedness and willingness to engage in back and forth dialogue helped us work through tough issues and ensured that the project was tailored to address our unique needs.
On behalf of the Executive Board, I want to express our appreciation for the excellent job you did on the comprehensive assessment of our synagogue management and operations. We could never have undertaken such a project internally. Your expertise and objective, “outsider” status inspired trust, gave you access to information and insights that might not have been shared with our own professionals or lay leaders, and lent necessary credibility to the resulting report. Finally, I want you to know that as the congregation’s main point person on this project, I felt a true partnership in our working relationship. Your ability to listen and process information helped us identify the core matters, and your open-mindedness and willingness to engage in back and forth dialogue helped us work through tough issues and ensured that the project was tailored to address our unique needs.
Amy was hired by our board of directors to assist with hiring an executive director for the non-profit agency that we support. We (the board) had not been in a position to conduct an executive search, so we needed professional guidance on development of an end-to-end process. Amy diligently worked with the board to identify qualified candidates, conduct interviews and evaluate the candidates until we found the perfect fit. Her advice during the process was invaluable. She kept the board focused on the primary objective of the search – finding the right candidate for the organization, which we did. Amy was encouraging when we were discouraged and celebrated with us when we made our final decision.
Amy also worked with us to assess board development and to begin the process of growing the board. Amy facilitated board discussions to identify our current and future needs. Based on her invaluable assistance we have successfully identified several highly qualified candidates and have on-boarded new members.
I appreciate Amy’s professionalism, discretion, non-profit expertise and passion for the work that she does. She helped make an extremely stressful situation easier to work through. I enthusiastically recommend Amy Wishnick and Wishnick and Associates as a non-profit consultant.