Carrie Fox is the founder and CEO of Mission Partners, a woman-owned strategic communications firm and Certified B Corporation that guides high-potential nonprofits, foundations, and socially responsible corporations in realizing their greatest social impact. Since launching her first firm in 2004, she has guided hundreds of organizations around the world to lead with purpose, fueling organizations and their missions forward in new and more impactful ways. She is host of the Mission Forward podcast on TruStory FM.
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Thirty days into a new CEO role, COVID arrived — and Tonia Wellons responded by building a ten-year plan. This week, Carrie Fox reflects on why that counterintuitive decision is still the right lesson for every leader navigating a world that keeps demanding reaction.
When the pandemic hit, Tonia Wellons had been CEO of the Greater Washington Community Foundation for thirty days — and instead of retreating to short-term thinking, she and her board committed to a ten-year plan. In this conversation with Carrie Fox, she explains why a fixed point on the horizon is most valuable precisely when everything else is in motion.
Carrie reflects on the findings that stuck with her from the 2026 Insights on Purpose™ report — including the tension between how hard leaders say it is and how much impact they still believe is possible. A new companion format this season, designed to help you hold onto what matters most from each conversation.
Leaders across nonprofits and foundations say the environment is getting tougher—yet most still believe they can increase impact over the next five years. In this episode, Carrie Fox, Stacy Palmer, and Brian Fox unpack that contradiction, and what it means for resilience, funding volatility, strategic planning, and the very real question of whether the sector can keep up with rising demand.
The work of holding communities together hasn’t changed—but this moment is asking more. In Season 12 of Mission Forward, Carrie Fox takes you behind the new research and into the decisions leaders are making to keep their missions moving.
Leaders want to bring more compassion into the culture of work, yet many wrestle with how to do it in a way that feels both authentic and respectful.
Dr. DeRionne Pollard joins Carrie to talk about transition, intention, and the experiences that shaped her path into national leadership. Her story offers a clear, moving look at how community, memory, and purpose shape the work we choose to do.
When the ground shifted under Baltimore’s nonprofit sector, the France-Merrick Foundation didn’t wait for clarity—they acted, launching a rapid-response fund that reimagines what philanthropy can do in a crisis.
Twenty-one years ago, when I started my first communications firm, a mentor offered a warning I’ll never forget: “Starting a firm focused on nonprofits is bound to fail. There won’t be enough work to sustain you.” … Twenty-one years later, and we’re still here.
What if design isn’t what we see, but how we see? Designer Anne Kerns and host Carrie Fox uncover the quiet ways design teaches us to notice, to connect, and to build meaning that lasts.