Ultra Advising Year One Impact Statement

Written By Caroline Crumpacker

Ultra Advising celebrated its first anniversary in June. We have been in business for just over one year! And what a year it’s been — for us, for the organizations we work with, and for the entire nonprofit sector.

There is a great deal we could say about the year — about how many threats the sector has navigated, and is navigating, about executive orders and the sudden revocation of grants from stalwarts like the NEA, NEH, NIH and others, about the communities we work with and treasure being targeted, and about the flexibility and strength of nonprofits in the face of profound uncertainty — but first we will tell you a bit about what we, three women in the Hudson Valley, have done this year.

EVENTS 

  • Ultra launched with an open house & community party in June of 2024, attended by local nonprofit leaders and friends. Check it out HERE. 

  • We offered free counsel for arts groups at a meeting of the Saugerties Arts Commission, and through special initiatives in our offices.

  • We curated and moderated a panel at Opus 40 on Solidarity Practices for Nonprofits in a For-Profit World. Read about that HERE.

  • We offered workshops including Developing an Organizational Commitment to Land Justice with Heather Bruegl, Poetry as Coexistence with Cole Heinowitz, Non-Violent Leadership with Anees Hasnain, and more…

  • We curated a four-day retreat at the Swimming Hole Foundation in January, to brainstorm progressive reforms to our sector.

2025 CLIENTS

We love our clients! WHAT an incredible group. We worked with some thrilling organizations and here is what they had to say:

 
Working with Caroline and Ultra has been one of the best decisions we made as an organization. She is personable, hard-working, great with funders, and dedicated beyond belief. It’s like having another member of the family, not just a team member.  Not to mention, she paid for herself in the very first month by writing a hugely successful large grant on our behalf! 

— Peter Askim, founder & Artistic Director, The Next Festival of Emerging Artists

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Rebecca Wolff is not only a dear mentor, she is an emblem of grit, care, integrity, clarity, and true innovation. Do you need someone to help you stand up against pressures to conform to the one-size-fits-all corporate nonprofit model served to us by wolves in sheep’s clothing, while figuring out how the systems we rely on to survive in these near-impossible times? Wolff is your person for this, and she’ll tell you exactly how she sees it all. You might get some unexpected ideas along the way too, which happens when you are receptive to what might be possible outside of—let’s face it— stale “best practices” that indicate an urgent need for smart, progressive reforms across the entire field.

— Emily Wallis Hughes, Editorial Director & Fence Books Editor, Fence

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Caroline Crumpacher is a grant writing ninja! I had the privilege of working with her/ Ultra Advising last fall on a set of very complicated funding applications.  She scaled the sides of the proposals, assessed the terrain, asked my partner and I some incisive questions and sent us off to reduce our ideas to their essences. As we loaded our content we watched her trim our word counts in real time.  It was a joy to be edited and supported with so much creativity, speed, skill and a sense of fun.  Thank you Caroline!!!

— Jenny Romaine, Co-Director, Great Small Works Theater

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Caroline came in at a critical moment to help Nightboat Books develop a strategic plan and maximize our upcoming twentieth anniversary.  She was extremely knowledgeable and sensitive to our particular needs and current processes. I am incredibly grateful and hope to continue working with her as Nightboat changes and grows. 

— Kazim Ali, Founder & Board President, Nightboat Books


Following the resignation of our Executive Director, Caroline Crumpacker came into our organization as interim ED. The main focus was to steady the ship financially and prepare us to hire a new full time ED.  What has been achieved by Caroline and the Ultra Advising team in 12 short months has been remarkable.  Her ability to work with our board has been a standout factor in our turnaround. Caroline’s experience and knowledge of Non Profits has helped guide us in our future direction. And all done with respect, diplomacy, and humor. We welcome our new ED shortly. And thank Caroline and her team for the excellent work they have done getting us to this stage. 

— Martin Beevers, Board President, The Stone Trust 

PROJECTS  

  • We coordinated three day-long Board Retreats for the organizations we worked with.

  • Caroline acted as Interim Director for The Stone Trust in Vermont for 9 months and in that time helped to significantly improve the organization’s financial situation and streamline staff and board operations.

  • Our team garnered two first-time grants from the New York State Council on the Arts, a range of first-time grants from private foundations, and brand new major gifts from individual donors.

  • We organized four end-of-year solicitation appeals for our clients.

  • All in all, we raised more than $200,000 for our clients over 13 months of work.

  • We completed three Strategic Plans, one Transition Plan, and four Development & Marketing Plans.

  • We orchestrated or helped to orchestrate six comprehensive fundraising events for four organizations.

     (just for example) 

NEWS 

  • Zuhirah Khaldun-Diarra took on another amazing leadership role — as Vice President of Philanthropy Communications & Marketing at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. With this shift, she has become a Special Advisor at Ultra, guiding our work on communications but not working directly with clients.

  • Ultra Advising was featured in this article about nonprofit reform — HERE and also published HERE.

  • Ultra’s January retreat spawned a six-part piece in NonProfit Quarterly on Diasporic Media Today and an article on Labor Day Sales in Time Magazine!

  • Rebecca Wolff began work as a social worker at Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge, MA.

  • Zuhirah was on Mishmash/WGXC 90.7-FM, Wave Farm with Tamara Zahaykevich

  • Caroline taught a graduate professional development seminar on writing about one’s work at Bennington College and will be leading two similar classes for The Next Festival of Emerging Artists’ Alumni Network this Fall. Check the latter out HERE.

  • Zuhirah co-produced two African Music and Food Pop-Ups in Hudson, NY.

  • Rebecca is working with poet and labor organizer Rodrigo Toscano on a series of workshops for Fence Magazine.

  • Caroline was a panelist for the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, as was Elsbeth Pancrazi, who has helped out out with many things Ultra.

Overall, we’ve just been lovely people to work with, according to us…and our clients too.

LOOKING AHEAD

Hang in there, folks! This next year will be challenging, disregulated, and chaotic. We’re offering Monday Mulling — sign up for free one-on-one advice about navigating this time together, preparing year-end programs, fundraising, and more, HERE.

Together, we will get through this if we stay focused, plan for myriad scenarios, and, most importantly, stay in solidarity. Be ready to support each other. We’ll be with you all the way.

Stay in touch! And a few resources for surviving and thriving in profoundly uncertain times:

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Caroline Crumpacker
Next

Where We Are Now or, more precisely, Where Are We Now?