Mantra Strategy

Summer has a way of inviting reflection. Before calendars fill up and the annual leave dance begins, it's a good time to take a moment and ask whether your strategy, leadership and funding approach are still serving where you want to go next.

That is the question that runs through the latest edition of The Monthly Mantra, our newsletter sharing news, insights and impact from across the team.

A look at what's inside this month:
🔹 The launch of Su***de Or Survive's new strategic plan, Courageous Conversations, shaped by staff, board, funders and people with lived and living experience of su***de
🔹 Reflections from our Foundation Ireland event with civil rights strategist Eric Ward, on hope, resilience and courageous leadership
🔹 The Marie Keating Foundation's 100K in 30 Days, and how to get involved this June
🔹 A special June rate on our Thriving Team package for leadership teams
🔹 What we're reading, listening to and watching, including Priya Parker's The Art of Gathering

If strategy, culture, fundraising or leadership is on your mind for 2026, there's plenty here to spark a conversation.

Read this month's edition and subscribe so the next one lands straight in your inbox

Monthly Mantra 👉 mantrastrategy.ie/themonthlymantramay2026
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Last week, Mantra Strategy partnered with Community Foundation Ireland to welcome civil rights organiser Eric Ward to the Pillar Room in the The Rotunda Hospital, Dublin

The morning brought together community leaders for an important conversation about resilience, resistance and hope.

Lisa-Nicole Dunne and the Mantra team also facilitated the Pressures to Possibilities workshop alongside Róisín Coughlan, creating space for reflection, shared learning and practical discussion.

For those working in the social impact sector, resilience is strengthened through honest conversation, collective insight and connection to purpose.

Thank you to Community Foundation Ireland, to Eric Ward for his generosity and insight, and to every leader who joined us on the day.

If you're responsible for your organisation's funding strategy, at least one of these will land.

1. Are you applying to the same funders you were three years ago?
Loyalty to a funding relationship makes sense. But if your funder list hasn't changed in years, you may be missing opportunities, or overexposed to funders whose priorities have quietly shifted away from yours.

2. Has your case for support kept pace with your impact?
Your organisation has grown, learned and evolved. Your funding narrative should reflect that. If you're still leading with the same story you were telling three years ago, it may no longer be doing the work it needs to.

3. Do you know what your funding mix will look like in two years?
Most organisations can tell you where their funding comes from today. Far fewer have a clear picture of what that mix needs to look like to stay sustainable. That gap is where vulnerability lives.

4. Are your biggest funders also your biggest risk?
Concentration risk is one of the most common and most overlooked challenges in the sector. If one funder walking away would fundamentally change what you can deliver, that's worth addressing now.

5. When did you last map new funding opportunities?
The funding landscape shifts constantly. New trusts, new corporate priorities, new government streams. If your team hasn't done a landscape review recently, there is a good chance you are leaving opportunities on the table.

If any of these gave you pause, we would love to talk. Get in touch via the link in the comments.

100 kilometres. 30 days. June starts Monday.

The Marie Keating Foundation's 100K in 30 Days challenge is open for sign-ups, and there's still time to get involved.

Walk it, run it, cycle it, roll it. However you move, every kilometre raises vital funds for cancer prevention, awareness and support services across Ireland.

We worked with the The Marie Keating Foundation on their strategy last year, and it's wonderful to see initiatives like this bring communities together around something that genuinely matters.

Sign up here: https://fundraise.mariekeating.ie/event/100kmin30days/

Su***de or Survive's new five-year plan, Courageous Conversations for Su***de Prevention in Ireland 2026-2030, was built through months of engagement with staff, Board, volunteers, funders and people with direct experience of su***de. That groundedness shows in the document.

We had the privilege of working alongside CEO Catherine Brogan and the wider team throughout the co-creation process. It is careful, considered work, and this strategy reflects that.

Congratulations to the whole Su***de Or Survive community. We are proud to have been part of it.

Read the full strategy at su***deorsurvive.ie

If you are thinking about strategy development for your organisation, we would love to hear from you. Reach out at [email protected]

Pictired: Roisin Coughlan, Director Strategic Purpose Consulting, and SOS CEO Catherine Brogan at the recent Su***de or Survive Strategy Launch.

***dePrevention

For us, "impact" is the reason behind all of the work we do.

We work with organisations that want to make a meaningful difference, including charities, foundations, social enterprises, health bodies, community organisations and purposeful businesses.

These are organisations where strategy, leadership and culture are not abstract ideas. They shape decisions, services, teams and outcomes for real people.

Since 2020, we have brought together senior expertise across strategy, leadership, culture and growth to help organisations move forward with clarity, confidence and purpose.

If you are leading an organisation that wants to do more, we would love to talk to you.
mantrastrategy.ie

We asked Anna five questions. Purpose. Inclusion. Internal messaging. Culture as a strategic lever.

Anna is our Associate Consultant in People, Culture & Engagement, and the conversations she has with leaders every day informed every slide.

Swipe through if any of these are live challenges in your organisation right now.

If you're not on our newsletter list, this is your sign.

In our newsletter “The Monthly Mantra”, Lisa-Nicole shares what the Mantra team has been working on, what we're thinking about, and what's coming up including events, new resources and our recommended reads.

This month's edition covers our new website, a special Impact Culture Session at the end of May, Anna Spence on employee engagement, and a free belonging and retention tool you can download and use straight away.

It lands in your inbox once a month and we’d love to share it with you.

Sign up on our website: www.mantrastrategy.ie

Family looks different for everyone.

For the people One Family support, parenting alone, sharing parenting, navigating separation, that difference is something they live with every day.

This year's International Day of Families theme is Families, Inequalities and Child Wellbeing. It shines a light on how widening inequalities are shaping family life and influencing children's futures, and on the urgent need for stronger, more integrated support systems.

It's a theme that sits close to the heart of what One Family does.

We had the privilege of partnering with the One Family team in 2024 and into 2025, working alongside them to develop a People and Culture Strategy rooted in how their people actually experience work.

The process started with listening. A staff survey, a culture workshop, and honest conversations about what the team needed to feel supported, connected and able to do their best work.

What emerged was a six-pillar roadmap built around psychological safety, recognition, communication and purpose. Small shifts with the potential for lasting impact.

You can read the full case study via the link in the comments.