Building Nonprofit Leadership

Ingrid facilitates smooth leadership transitions for nonprofit organizations. Recognizing the pivotal nature of these moments in an agency’s journey, Ingrid’s expertise ensures that with her support, you’ll achieve a better outcome that’s less challenging for everyone involved.

Ingrid has built a consulting practice that focuses on strengthening nonprofit leadership, especially during transitions. She believes transitions are an opportunity for organizations, not a crisis, and that a little extra support goes a long way toward realizing those opportunities.

Ingrid offers executive search services that include a thorough assessment, in-depth candidate screening, detailed interviews, and comprehensive onboarding, delivering a holistic solution to the entire transition process. She leads her popular Successful Transitions cohort program, which has helped many organizations plan for the development of future leaders through comprehensive succession planning. She is also a regular interim executive director.

Over the last twenty-five years, Ingrid has served in a wide variety of roles in nonprofit organizations. This includes eleven years as the executive director of a food system nonprofit, where she built the fledgling organization to be a community institution. She has worked for multiple organizations, served as a board member and board chair, and had four interim executive director roles. Ingrid’s consulting work has served organizations in the areas of human services, domestic violence, advocacy, social services, the arts, immigrant rights, and many more.

Positionality statement: “I bring a commitment to social justice to my work. I am always looking for ways to learn more about other people in the world and understand things from their point of view. I understand that I have inherited a wealth of privilege, including being a woman who is cis-gender, white, middle-class, and able-bodied.  I look for ways to use my privilege to lift other people’s voices and experiences. I want to help organizations do their best work in the world.”

Check out all of my available services.

Contact me at ingrid@ingridkirst.com or (402) 730-2532 to talk about what you need.


“Ingrid’s knowledge and expertise are vast, but the most memorable part about her time as our Interim ED was her passion and dedication to nonprofits. We feel special to have contracted with her as long as we did and would highly recommend Ingrid Kirst Consulting. You will truly be learning from the best.”  – Ashley Frevert, Community Action of Nebraska Executive Director.


Additional Experience

I was Executive Director of Community Crops, a local community garden nonprofit, for over eleven years. During this time, I grew the organization from a small program to an independent nonprofit organization employing twelve people with an annual budget of $400,000. I developed strong organizational procedures to manage complex funding requirements from over 20 major funders per year and also maintained strong working relationships with dozens of local non-profits, businesses, churches, and community groups.

I have volunteered for many organizations in the community and am an experienced facilitator. In my free time, I enjoy vegetable gardening, cooking, and traveling.

Contact me at ingrid@ingridkirst.com or (402) 730-2532 for a free consultation to optimize your nonprofit anywhere in the US. Let’s see how I can help you.

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