Meet Matt Visser

Matt Visser, Senior Design Partner
Matt Visser, Senior Design Partner

Hi, I'm Matt!

I'm Matt Visser, a Senior Design Partner at Design Group International. My passion is empowering nonprofit leaders to flourish and build flourishing teams and organizations.

I bring a wealth of experience to the table, having previously helped college students find their purpose and now focusing on guiding nonprofit leaders toward personal and organizational transformation.

As a process consultant, I walk alongside leaders to navigate challenges, discover creative solutions, and achieve their goals through a transformational process. I believe in building trust and collaboration to cultivate a lasting impact. I aim to see leaders and their organizations flourish, moving beyond simply surviving to truly thrive.

Let's start a conversation to discover how I can support you and your organization.

Matt's Expertise & Certifications

  EPCACC- ICF Coaching Logo

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  • Clarifying Your Purpose through Strategic Visioning
  • Building Sustainability Through Transformational Philanthropy
  • Deepening Your Relationships through Stakeholder Engagement and Evaluation
  • Strengthening Your Leadership through Executive Coaching

Ways I Serve Clients

I empower Leaders, Teams, and Organizations of all kinds to flourish and design their path toward transformation. This includes Nonprofit Leaders in community impact organizations, K12, colleges and universities, and faith communities,  Business Leaders who desire growth, and Boards and Leadership Teams seeking to strengthen their collaboration and effectiveness.

Strategic Visioning and Planning

Clarifying Your Purpose as a Leader and Organization

A Process Approach to Strategic Planning and Visioning

As a leader, you face the immense challenge of managing the many demands of running an organization with limited time and resources. This reality makes it difficult to work on a long-term vision. I can help you and your organization gain renewed clarity of purpose through strategic visioning for the future. The process requires leaders to engage their constituents in new ways and be open to surprises and opportunities. In the end, leaders gain confidence in the direction and purpose of their work and what is required to move forward together.

Transformational strategic planning includes: 

  • Creating Clear Vision for the Future
  • Assessing your Current Reality
  • Designing a Pathway Forward
  • Build an Iterative Visioning Process
Nonprofit Fundraising and Philanthropy

Building Financial Sustainability and Deepening Donor Relationships

A Process Approach to Nonprofit Fundraising and Development

Raising money can be challenging and stressful for leaders and organizations. With seemingly scarce resources and endless need, it feels daunting to build sustainable funding streams to fuel your mission. I can help you build an authentic fundraising movement that deepens donor relationships and capitalizes on the unique strengths of your organization. The process isn’t always easy and requires a willingness for you to face your fears about fundraising. In the end, you will gain a clearer vision for how authentic development efforts can transform your organization and generate the sustained resources to further your mission. For nonprofit organizations, fundraising and development are the lifeblood of ensuring the sustainability of the mission for the future.

A process approach to walking alongside organizations includes:

  • Designing transformative Annual Fund plans
  • Feasibility Studies to measure donor readiness
  • Launching Comprehensive Campaigns
  • Deepening Donor Relationships
Program Evaluation and Stakeholder Engagement

Deepening Relationships through Listening and Community Discovery

A Process Approach to Engaging Stakeholders and Discovery

Finding time as a leader today is challenging and often seems to be near impossible. When your time is scarce, the idea of slowing down and listening is stressful. I can help you pause in order to intentionally listen to your stakeholders through a process of discovery. The Discovery process will change your perspective, realign your time and resources, and deepen your relationships with your staff, board, supporters, and community. Listening requires an openness to learning alongside your stakeholders yet produces amazing insights and clarity that can propel your mission toward a vibrant future. The stakeholders of your organization, customers, donors, families, staff, board, or community leaders, are essential partners in advancing your mission.

Stakeholder Engagement and Discovery includes:

  • Comprehensive discovery process to assess organizational culture
  • Focus Group and Individual Engagement to gain perspectives
  • Qualitative and Quantitative Research for intentional learning
Leadership Coaching

Strengthening the Capacity of Leaders and their Organizations

A process approach to Leadership Coaching and Transitions

Leaders today face immense challenges, decisions around prioritizing scarce resources and navigating the loneliness and isolation of leadership. My greatest joy is walking alongside leaders through providing a ministry of presence, engaging in deep listening, asking powerful questions, and helping build an action and accountability process.

My personal definition of coaching:

“Coaching is an active partnership walking alongside a client to move them from where they are to where they want to be in a trusted relationship that maximizes their potential, growth, and momentum.”

Types of Coaching I offer:

  • Leadership and Executive Coaching - Helping you Navigate Organizational Leadership, I work with C-Suite leaders to help them navigate their greatest challenges, the loneliness and isolation of leadership, and joy of serving inside an organizational system, and the tensions of decision-making.
  • Fundraising and Development Coaching - Helping Fundraising Professionals navigate shifting economic realities, design and implement impactful campaigns, deepen donor relationships at all levels, and lead with a good blend of humility and hopefulness.
  • Transition Coaching - Helping leaders start and end well in a new environment, supporting the onboarding of new leaders within an organizational system, deepening listening and learning skills to unleash curiosity, and clarifying goals in the midst of transition.

Get in Touch with Matt

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What Clients Say About Matt

Matt has been incredible to work with! Matt's process consulting engages organizations and teams in a way that is more holistic and comprehensive than traditional "product consulting" for strategic planning. He elicits feedback from the organization and its constituents, creating a truly comprehensive plan that serves as a living document, rather than collecting dust. I highly recommend Matt for your consulting needs!

Matt clearly understands what motivates people and how to design a strategic planning process which unearths the challenges and the opportunities facing an organization. We are better off because we worked with Matt and are implementing a clear plan to accomplish our goals.

Lauren Van Keulen Daniel Harris
Lauren VanKeulen, Chief Executive Officer @ AYA Youth Collective
Daniel Harris, Director of Operations @ Words of Hope

Resources & Learning Communities

Vibrant Futures
Vibrant Futures

A collection of reflections and resources from Matt Visser.

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The (POP) Fundraising Lab

The (POP) Fundraising Lab is a year-long listening, helping, and learning community for nonprofit leaders and fundraisers.