Peer Forums
You're not the only one carrying this.
The answers are in the room. In a peer forum, leaders build the kind of trust that lets them name what's hard, work on it together, and find solutions none of them would reach alone. Each leader grows, and so does the agency they bring it back to. It's an investment in the people who carry the work.
Our peer forums
Nonprofit Leaders Forum →Agency Capacity Builder →Start a forum in your community →Reports from the forums →
Totals to date, updated 2026
Step by Step
How it starts
A community invests in its leaders.
A township mental health board, funder or network sponsors a cohort for the agencies it supports.
Leaders meet as a cohort.
A small group of leaders works through real challenges together, with facilitation and coaching built in.
Capacity grows, in leaders and agencies.
Each leader grows in confidence and skill, then brings tools, relationships and ideas back to their agency and community, and the whole network gets stronger.
Two Programs, One Approach
Our peer forums
Both forums bring leaders from funded agencies together as a cohort, with facilitation and coaching built around the challenges they share. They differ in who takes part and how focused the work is.
Nonprofit Leaders Forum
A year-long cohort · eight half-day forums · coaching built in
A year-long peer cohort for mid-level leaders: the managers, directors and supervisors who carry much of an agency's day-to-day leadership.
- Who takes part: up to 12 partners from agencies funded by a township mental health board.
- How it runs: eight half-day forums in person across the year.
- Where: each forum is hosted by a different partner agency, so the group sees one another's work up close.
- In each forum: professional development on a leadership topic; a partner consultation, where one partner brings a real challenge and the group works through it together; an agency spotlight; and a check-in on the goals each partner is working toward.
- Coaching: one-on-one coaching is built in, helping each partner turn what comes up in the forums into specific goals.
66 leaders across eight cohorts and three township networks so far.
Agency Capacity Builder
About six months · monthly sessions · one shared challenge
A focused cohort for agency networks ready to take on one shared challenge together.
- How it begins: with a needs assessment of the funded agencies, so the cohort's focus comes from what agencies say they need most.
- Who takes part: executive and mid-level leaders, up to two from each agency.
- How it runs: monthly sessions over about six months, built around one challenge. The first two cohorts focus on workforce retention and on measuring impact.
Start a forum in your community
Fund or host a forum for the leaders you support. We'll shape it around your network's goals.
Each forum is hosted by a different partner agency, so the group sees one another's work up close.
Impact Reports
What the forums have produced
10+ cohorts across four township networks. Here's where each one stands, with its most recent report.
Bloomingdale Township
Nonprofit Leaders Forum
Where the forums began, and where most agencies come back year after year. 26+ leaders served.
9.1 / 10how likely partners in the 2025 cohort are to recommend the forum
Hanover Township
Nonprofit Leaders Forum
Partners share resources at every forum, and one shared landlord list helped two people find housing. Renewed every year since 2024, with 20+ leaders served.
3.3 → 4.3peer learning, rated out of 5 before and after the 2025-2026 cohort
Schaumburg Township
Nonprofit Leaders Forum
Partners describe a group safe enough to be honest, with coaching that turns each forum into specific goals. Running since 2025, with 20+ leaders served.
80%of partners in the first cohort rated the built-in coaching very valuable
Milton Township
Agency Capacity Builder
Built from a needs assessment. Each agency sends an executive and a mid-level leader, and every session opens with what they have tried since the last one. Two cohorts since 2026, one on workforce retention and one on measuring impact.
34+ leadersfrom 18 agencies, working side by side
In Their Words
Why leaders and funders value the forums
"I really appreciated how comfortable the space felt to share and engage in meaningful reflection with my peers. I gained so much from just the first session…"
Beverly K., Assistant Manager, Housing, WINGS Program
Nonprofit Leaders Forum, Schaumburg Township, 2026
"One of the mandates of the Illinois Community Mental Health Act (405) is to build a comprehensive network of services within our community. I really see this forum as a building block of that comprehensive network."
Amanda Teachout, Mental Health Board Manager, Hanover Township
Nonprofit Leaders Forum, Hanover Township, 2025
Four leaders have come back for a second program under a different funder, choosing the work again.
Real Challenges
What leaders work on
The challenges come from the leaders themselves, and they reach well past leadership skills.
Leading people
- Leadership transitions
- Imposter syndrome
- Difficult conversations
- Progressive discipline
- Building trust on a team
Running the agency
- Hiring and keeping staff
- Stay interviews
- Clear roles and job descriptions
- Funding and contract pressure
- Measuring what matters
Working as a network
- Partnering across agencies
- Sharing resources and referrals
- Knowing what services exist
- Seeing each other's work
Bring a peer forum to your community
Tell us what you're working on. We'll follow up with a next step that fits: coaching, a peer forum, or a partnership.
From the Field
What is coming out of the forums, coaching and community work.