Great fundraising doesn't happen in isolation — it happens because someone is leading, delegating, and building a team that can execute. This session gives fundraising professionals a practical toolkit for managing up, down, and sideways without losing sight of what matters most.

Drawing on The Spark Mill's values-based leadership framework alongside tools from Management in a Changing World, Sarah will walk through how to clarify roles and expectations, delegate effectively (without micromanaging or disappearing), prioritize competing demands, and give feedback that actually helps people grow — all through the lens of a fundraising shop, where relationships are the product and burnout is the risk.

Attendees will leave with concrete tools they can use the next day: a model for clearer delegation, a way to sort urgent from important, and language for having direct conversations about performance and growth.

Guest Speaker

Sarah Milston is the founder and senior consultant of The Spark Mill, a Richmond, Virginia-based strategic planning and change management firm she launched in 2009. With over 25 years in nonprofits and 15 years of experience working alongside nonprofits, government agencies, and community-based organizations as a consultant, Sarah specializes in helping leaders navigate complexity and turn vision into action.

She is known for her ability to synthesize data, relationships, and strategy into clear, actionable pathways forward — and for building the kind of trust with clients that makes hard conversations possible.

Sarah holds an MPA and has worked with more than 500 organizations across Virginia and the Mid-Atlantic region. An active speaker and trainer, she focuses on strategic planning, nonprofit sustainability, organizational change, and values-based leadership. She believes change is a necessary and exciting part of life and works hard to raise two kids with the hope that they will be good and kind humans.