The Mission Desk
For nonprofit & social-impact leaders

Small budgets. Real work.

Practical training for people running nonprofits and social-impact organizations — where the mission is real, the money is tight, and there's nobody to hand the hard problem to. Classes and cohorts. No fluff. No coaching subscription. You leave with something you can use before the next board meeting.

Taught by Trellis Usher — founder of T.R. Ellis Group, author of WORK. REWRITTEN. and HR. REWRITTEN., and featured speaker at the Georgia Society of Association Executives.
4-week cohort · starts Oct 19
Cohort · Live · Small group

Leveraging AI to Build a Fundable and Sustainable Nonprofit

Four working weeks. AI is not the point — a nonprofit that can raise money, run itself, and be trusted with more is. AI is the multiplier that makes that possible without adding headcount you can't afford.
$297
Per person · Recording included
Enroll now

What you'll build

  • Week 1 — A clean fundability inventory: where the money is coming from, where it's leaking, and what a funder would actually see
  • Week 2 — Grant strategy sharpened by AI — how to find, qualify, and draft against opportunities in a fraction of the usual time
  • Week 3 — Operations and reporting: what to automate, what never to automate, and how to give funders confidence
  • Week 4 — The 12-month plan you take to the board — with AI as an operating capability, not a slide

Who it's for

  • Executive Directors, Development Directors, and founding staff at nonprofits with budgets from $250K to $5M
  • Consultants and coaches serving nonprofits who want a working method to bring to their clients
  • Small teams may enroll as a pair — one seat covers up to two attendees from the same organization
Dates: Oct 19 – Nov 16, 2026 · Mondays 1:00–2:30pm ET
Delivery: Live on Zoom · Sessions recorded
Prerequisites: Laptop or desktop · Paid ChatGPT or Claude account
Live class · 3 hours · Sept 21

$50K of Non-Traditional Grants to Keep Your Nonprofit Going

Federal and state funding is not the whole picture — and for many organizations it never was. This class walks through the grants most EDs don't know exist, and how to qualify for them without months of consultant time.
$89
Per person · Recording included
Register

What you'll leave with

  • A working list of non-traditional grantmakers active in Georgia and the Southeast — corporate, community, family, and affinity
  • How to read a funder's actual criteria versus their published one
  • A one-page organizational profile that gets you past first-round review
  • Two AI-assisted drafting workflows you can use the same week
  • A workbook and the session recording, sent within 24 hours

Who it's for

  • Executive Directors and Development staff at nonprofits under $2M in annual budget
  • Board members with fundraising responsibility
  • Consultants supporting one or more nonprofit clients on grant strategy
Date: Sunday, Sept 21, 2026 · 1:00–4:00pm ET
Delivery: Live on Zoom · Recording sent within 24h
Prerequisites: Laptop or desktop
Live class · 3 hours · Sept 28

Raise $10K With Your Signature Fundraising Event

Most nonprofit events lose money once staff time is counted honestly. A signature event does the opposite: it earns its keep, builds the donor list, and gives sponsors a reason to say yes next year. This class shows you how to design one.
$89
Per person · Recording included
Register

What you'll leave with

  • The signature-event model — why one repeating event outperforms three one-offs
  • Sponsorship tiers that sponsors actually buy, and the ask conversation
  • A working event budget template with the numbers most organizations get wrong
  • A twelve-week production timeline you can start with the first hour
  • Workbook and session recording sent within 24 hours

Who it's for

  • Development staff and volunteer event committees planning a fall or spring event
  • EDs of small nonprofits who wear the development hat themselves
  • Chapter leaders of associations running annual signature programming
Date: Sunday, Sept 28, 2026 · 1:00–4:00pm ET
Delivery: Live on Zoom · Recording sent within 24h
Prerequisites: Laptop or desktop
Chapter or team rates

If you'd like to enroll three or more people from the same organization, chapter, or coalition, email info@trellisusher.com for a group rate before you register individually. It's cheaper for you and lets us plan accordingly.

Beyond the classes

When you want a thought partner, not another course

A monthly retainer advisory for Executive Directors of small and mid-size nonprofits. Strategy, an AI capability worth having, and a workstream on monetizing your own expertise as a revenue channel the funders don't control. Three tiers, from $397 to $5,000/month.

See advisory tiers →

Why this exists

Most training built for nonprofits assumes an organization the size of United Way. The reality for the vast majority of nonprofits is a small staff doing multiple jobs, a board that expects results, and a budget that shrinks the moment a grant cycle closes. Every offering on this page is built for that reality — practical, sized for people who need to act, and priced so a small organization can send someone.

Built for small teams

You should be able to attend, take one thing back to your board, and see the impact of it before the next quarter.

AI as a lever, not a slogan

Nothing here is "AI-hype." AI shows up where it lets a two-person team do the work of a five-person team — and stops where judgment matters more than speed.

Georgia-first, not Georgia-only

Content is anchored in Georgia and the Southeast where useful. Frameworks and methods apply anywhere in the U.S.