A social impact + nonprofit leadership program for leaders who are done waiting for permission
Become the strategic, confident leader you're capable of being—surrounded by a community of changemakers who get it
Tuesdays, February 3 through May 26, 2026
Register by January 23, 2026
You probably thought you'd feel more sure of yourself by now.
After all, you're not brand new anymore. You have ideas and insights, and nobody could say you’re not capable! A “good student” like you can always be counted on to do good work. (You’re in excellent company, you high-achiever, you!)
But you might have noticed you’re not exactly thriving, either. Maybe it's that low-grade imposter feeling that won't go away, so you hold back in meetings and second-guess your own decisions. Maybe you’re feeling vaguely (or quite clearly!) unsatisfied and frustrated at work, and you know something needs to change. Or maybe you’re just feeling foggy about where you’re going from here, or what "success" even looks like at this point.
Here’s the thing: this feeling makes sense, and it’s not that you just don’t measure up.
It’s that the challenges you're facing now are genuinely different. The skills that got you here—working hard, being thorough, researching and preparing like your life depends on it—still matter. But now, you need a more strategic approach.
By this point, you’ve run out of roadmap. There’s no syllabus for how to influence people with competing priorities, how to navigate organizational politics while still being yourself, or how to lead when you're not entirely sure what that should or would or could look like for you.
Basically… where’s the curriculum for this?!
Leadership doesn’t follow a set curriculum, but there is a way to confidently move forward.
(And it doesn’t require working harder or becoming someone else!)
You’re in the classic gap right now between being capable and feeling confident. Between having ideas and trusting yourself to act on them. Between knowing what probably needs to happen and actually making it happen.
When that gap closes, you get to lead strategically, sustainably, and with actual satisfaction.
It closes when you have frameworks for navigating complexity—so you can make decisions without perfect information.
When you have a community who actually gets it—so you're not figuring everything out alone.
When you practice taking action and gathering evidence—so you build trust in your own judgment through doing, not just thinking.
And when you have permission to lead from your actual strengths instead of exhausting yourself trying to fix what's "wrong" with you.
None of this is mysterious or innate. It's learnable. And that's what you can do inside the Impact Leaders Incubator.
Welcome to the Impact Leaders Incubator
A social impact + nonprofit leadership program for mission-driven professionals ready to lead from their strengths.
Inside the Incubator, you’ll develop the skills, confidence, and connections you need to lead boldly (and authentically!), surrounded by fellow changemakers who “get it.”
Throughout four months of workshops, skill sessions, and Community Circles, you:
Learn to make the road by walking.
You'll develop frameworks for taking action and gathering evidence instead of trying to think your way to certainty. After all, research is often the most seductive form of procrastination! Through coaching and intentional skill-building activities, you’ll discover that clarity comes from doing, not from more preparation.
Build the skills that actually matter in social impact contexts.
Influencing without authority. Making decisions with incomplete information. Building consensus across competing priorities. Communicating urgency to resistant audiences. These are the distinct, learnable skills that generic leadership training doesn't teach because it wasn't designed for triple-bottom-line work.
Develop your own leadership model.
Not some inherited version of what leadership "should" look like! One that's based on how you're naturally wired, the impact you want to create, and the kind of career that's actually sustainable for you.
Find your people.
You'll join a small, intentional cohort of 15-25 leaders working across corporate social responsibility, sustainability, nonprofits, social enterprises, and B Corps. Everyone gets it, which means we can skip straight to the real conversations and build deep relationships. (Plus, you'll be part of a broader community of 50+ Incubator alumni as well as my hundreds of clients worldwide!)
Discover what you're uncommonly good at—and do more of it.
Through strengths-based coaching, you'll figure out how to leverage your natural talents instead of exhausting yourself trying to be infinitely well-rounded. The most impactful leaders aren't the ones who've fixed all their weaknesses. They're the ones who've figured out how to own what they're naturally excellent at to amplify their impact.
The Incubator blends coaching, skill-building, and community that actually shifts how you lead.
All designed to help you stop second-guessing and start leading with confidence
COMMUNITY CIRCLES: Bi-weekly sessions exploring our leadership themes
Expand how you think about leadership through Purpose, Vision, Growth, Power, and Legacy. These energizing conversations help you see possibilities you hadn't considered, challenge assumptions you didn't know you had, and build a cumulative model of leadership for yourself. You'll walk away thinking differently—not just knowing more.
COFFEE CHATS: Monthly pairings with other cohort members
Each month, you're intentionally paired with someone else in the cohort for a real conversation. This is how we build genuine, lasting relationships with each other (no awkward networking required!).
WORKBOOK + RESOURCES: Printed workbook mailed to you, plus bonus access
You'll get a printed workbook with reflection prompts, frameworks from our sessions, and space to process what you're learning. (Plus, access to bonus workshops on imposter syndrome, LinkedIn, and managing overwhelm, and invitations to events throughout the year!)
COACHING: CliftonStrengths 34 assessment + 60-minute interpretation session
Discover what you're uncommonly good at—and build your entire leadership approach around it. In our 1:1 session, we'll unpack your natural talents and begin discussing how to leverage them. Shifting from trying to fix weaknesses to leading from your actual strengths means you can be more effective AND more energized.
SKILL SESSIONS: Expert-led workshops on crucial leadership skills
Build your toolkit for the challenges you're actually facing—making the business case for impact, navigating power dynamics, leading teams effectively, and making decisions with incomplete information. You'll get practical frameworks you can use immediately, designed specifically for social impact contexts where the usual corporate playbook doesn't apply.
PRIVATE CHANNEL: Online discussion space for ongoing support
The place for real-time questions, sharing resources, and those "okay but how would YOU handle this?" moments between sessions. Resources are my love language, so you can also expect plenty of articles, toolkits, and recordings.
Social impact and nonprofit professionals level up their leadership inside the Incubator
Here’s what past cohort members say about their experience
Everything that’s included in the Impact Leaders Incubator
The Impact Leaders Incubator
$2100 (standard rate) | $1775 (supported pricing)
Payment plans available, Register by Jan. 23, 2026
4 months of structured, strategic leadership development for mission-driven social impact professionals
CliftonStrengths 34 assessment + a personal interpretation session — rigorous analysis that helps you discover what you're uncommonly good at and build your leadership around it
Nine bi-weekly 90-minute sessions (Community Circles and Skill Sessions) — where you build the skills and confidence to lead effectively in social impact work
Monthly Coffee Chats — intentional conversations with fellow members that lead to genuine relationships (no awkward networking here!)
Private online community — for real-time support, resources, and those "wait, how would you handle this?" moments between sessions
Printed workbook and welcome box mailed to you — program materials, reflection prompts, and space to process what you're learning, delivered to your literal mailbox!
Full session recordings — so you can catch up on your schedule if life happens
Bonus resources — workshops on imposter syndrome, LinkedIn, managing overwhelm, plus ongoing event invitations
The Impact Leaders Incubator + Private Coaching
For even more support, consider enrolling in Level 2 for the Incubator + Private Coaching, which includes everything above, plus:
Four additional 1-hour coaching sessions (five total) — targeted support for specific challenges like transitions, difficult conversations, or career decisions
Personalized activities between sessions — customized to your strengths and obstacles
Monthly email check-ins — support when you need it, not just during scheduled calls
A thought partner who knows your whole story — someone who can connect the dots across everything you're navigating
$3300 (standard rate) | $2775 (supported pricing)
Payment plans available | Register by Jan. 23, 2026
The Impact Leaders Incubator + Accompaniment Coaching
If you’re navigating a particularly sticky situation and are looking for even more support, consider enrolling in Level 3 for the Incubator + Accompaniment Coaching, which includes everything in Level 1, plus:
Eight additional 1-hour coaching sessions (twice per month/nine total) — accompaniment coaching offers higher-frequency support for leaders navigating complex leadership challenges, such as absentee directors, organizational transitions, and other shifts
Personalized activities between sessions — customized to your strengths and obstacles
Monthly email check-ins — support when you need it, not just during scheduled calls
A thought partner who knows your whole story — someone who can connect the dots across everything you're navigating
$4500 (standard rate) | $3775 (supported pricing)
Payment plans available, Register by Jan. 23, 2026
If you’re the type who puts the detail in “detail-oriented”... this section is for you! Everything else you want to know about our themes, program schedule, and session topics
+WHAT ARE THE LEADERSHIP THEMES WE’LL COVER?
Our themes serve to jumpstart reflection (which in itself is a leadership practice!) and conversation in our Community Circles and Skill Sessions. There’s space to share reflections in our private online community and in the printed program workbook and reflection journal you’ll receive.
Our themes are cumulative—over the arc of our time together, we go from exploring the personal, to examining how we show up in our professional spaces, before getting clarity on the impact we want to make more broadly.
By the end of the program, you’ll have developed a personal leadership model informed by these themes to guide how you’ll show up in the next phase of your career.
PURPOSE
Who are you, and what are the contributions only you can make? What does your leadership look like?
VISION
What do you believe is possible? How do you want to make the world a better place? What support do you need to get there?
GROWTH
What does sustainable ambition mean? How do you want to grow, personally? How do we want the movement to grow and change?
POWER
What are the networks and structures that we can influence and which influence us? How can we navigate power to make an impact?
LEGACY
What do you want to be known for?
March 31, 2026 | Session 5: Influencing without Authority
Navigating and leveraging power for greater social impact. Influencing without authority.
April 14, 2026 | Session 6: Decision-Making
Crucial frameworks for making better decisions
April 8, 2026 | Session 7: Ambition and Resilience
Sustainable ambition and unsubscribing from growth in a direction you don’t want to follow.
May 12, 2026 | Session 8: Leading People when Everybody is Burned Out
Navigating burnout and resilience
May 26, 2026 | Session 9: Integration and Graduation Celebration
What’s the work you want to be known for? Synthesizing our work to create your personal leadership model
This schedule is subject to change based on speaker availability and other factors.
+WHAT’S THE SCHEDULE?
We meet every other week on Tuesdays from 12-1:30 PM EST (11 AM CST/9 AM PST/5 PM GMT/6 PM CET) on Zoom. All sessions have closed captioning and will be recorded if you’re not able to attend live (though we’ll miss you!).
Here’s a look at the Spring 2026 program:
February 3, 2026 | Session 1: Welcome and Exploring Purpose + Vision
Community building and the Four Dimensional Model of Social Impact Leadership.Your vision for a strategic, sustainable, and satisfying social impact career.
February, 17, 2026 | Session 2: Strengths-Based Social Impact Leadership
Doing more of what you’re good at instead of re-creating outdated models of leadership
March 3, 2026 | Session 3: Negotiation
Values-based negotiation for social impact leaders
March 17, 2026 | Session 4: Thought Leadership
The power of thought leadership to multiply impact
Mapping our Social Change Roles
with Deepa Iyer and Uyenthi Tran Myhre of the Building Movement Project
Innovative Project Leadership
with Megan Mozina, Founder, Cresta Solutions
The Science of Luck and Generosity
with Anna Dausman, Social Impact Facilitator and Founder, Goodlands Food Co.
Rest as a Radical Act
with Tes Cohen of Transformative Gatherings
Emerging Issues in Social Impact
with Rhian Rotz, Senior Director, Corporate Citizenship/ESG & Employee Engagement, WE Communications and ICF-certified Leadership Coach
+WHAT SKILL SESSIONS ARE INCLUDED?
Skill Sessions are laser-focused 90-minute skill-building workshops with social impact guest experts. These are also recorded and shared in our community portal in case you’re not able to attend live.
To give you a taste of what’s to come, past workshops from prior cohorts have included topics like:
Thinking in Public and Acting Like a Thought Leader
with Lee Price, Founder, Viewfinder Partners
Decision Making with Clarity
with Michelle Florendo, founder of Powered by Decisions
Making the Business Case for Impact
with Jessica Radparvar, founder of Reconsidered and the Change Hub
Emerging Tech and Trends in ESG
with Stefanie Falconi, Ph.D., Policy Entrepreneur, Speaker, and Emergent Tech Advisor
Meet your coach, program facilitator, and leader
I’m Caroline Ouwerkerk, a Gallup-certified CliftonStrengths coach, community-builder, and connector of dots (and people)
I've spent nearly two decades researching and facilitating leadership development—from launching an academic research center to teaching graduate-level social entrepreneurship to facilitating workshops for organizations across the US and Europe.
Through years of working with hundreds of social impact leaders, I developed the Four-Dimensional Model of Social Impact Leadership—a research-based framework for what actually makes leaders effective in triple-bottom-line contexts. It's built from the ground up for how social impact work operates, not corporate leadership with a mission twist.
And inside the Incubator, we put all of this into action together. I love helping you figure out what you’re uncommonly good at, trust your own judgment, and show up as an impactful leader with no martyrdom required.
Here's what I believe:
The problems our world is facing are calling on us to be people who take action (even when it’s imperfect or we’re uncertain!).
Effective social impact leadership takes particular skills and approaches that most of us were never taught.
And building a sustainable, fulfilling social impact career doesn’t mean you need to become someone else (or burn yourself out in the process). You can learn to leverage your strengths and experiment thoughtfully along the way.
The Impact Leaders Incubator is where we learn, connect, and catalyze leadership together.
I can’t wait to see you inside the program!
Curious if the Incubator is the right fit for you? Here’s what you can expect from the community
Inside the Incubator, you’ll join a small group of dynamic, motivated social impact professionals. Our shared commitment is to leave the world a little better than we found it, so cohort members represent the full spectrum of where social impact work shows up: corporate social responsibility, sustainability, philanthropy, nonprofits, B Corps, public service, and social enterprise.
To date, 50 leaders across the U.S., Europe, and Africa have been part of the Impact Leaders Incubator!
This may not be a good fit for you if:
• You only have capacity for a passive, “read-only” experience
• You’re looking specifically for job search support (if that’s the case, check out the Impact Career Sprint!).
• You’re looking for a fully one-on-one experience (Leadership Coaching would be a better fit for you!).
• You’re not able to attend most calls live—this is a time-bound, cohort-based experience, and you’ll get the most out of this program if you’re able to participate in the Community Circles and Skill Sessions live.
This program may be a great fit for you if:
• You’re ready to step up as a social impact leader
• You’re eager to learn from and grow within an intentional community
• You want practical tools and frameworks for your social impact role
• You thrive in settings where you can be an active participant
• You’re excited to explore new ideas and perspectives
• You’re looking to connect with a network of impact-driven professionals
More questions? I’ve got you. Count on me for practical details and honest answers, always
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
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This program is designed for professionals working in social impact broadly defined, whether or not your current job title reflects that.
You do not need to have a formal role in social impact, CSR, or sustainability to participate in the Impact Leaders Incubator. Some members are looking to make the transition to impact work or incorporate more social impact in their current work, in addition to other members who are currently in corporate social responsibility, sustainability, or philanthropy roles. We welcome everyone working in impact, including folks in the nonprofit and education sectors, those at B Corps, and social enterprises, and others with a strong curiosity and motivation to examining how we can leverage our careers for the greater good.
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If you’re unemployed or actively job searching, the Impact Career Sprint would likely be a better fit for you. Job search support isn’t a major focus inside the Incubator, and it can be difficult to make the most of the Incubator when you’re absorbed in a big transition. For questions about your particular situation, though, please feel free to get in touch and I can help you determine if the Incubator will be a good fit for you!
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Like any professional development opportunity, you’ll get out of this experience what you put into it, especially when it comes to connecting with the amazing people in this cohort and practicing the tools/frameworks we'll be discussing in your day-to-day life.
The program meets every other Tuesday from February 3, 2026 through May 26, 2026. All live sessions will take place on Tuesdays, from 12 to 1:30 PM, EST (11 AM CST/9 AM PST/5 PM GMT/6 PM CET). If you sign up for optional private coaching, you’ll schedule your 60-minute coaching sessions at a time that best fits your schedule.
Our member space is available 24/7 for you to share reflections, post resources, and connect with others.
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Our live sessions take place on Tuesdays, from 12 to 1:30 PM, EST (11 AM CST/9 AM PST/5 PM GMT/6 PM CET), and we encourage you to attend live so you can connect with the other members in our breakout discussions and tap into this incredible community. If you anticipate missing four or more sessions of the program, please consider joining a future cohort signing up for 1:1 leadership coaching instead.
If you do miss a call or two, though, you’ll find recordings of all of our Community Circle and Skill Sessions in our private member space for you to watch later and catch up.
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The Incubator is designed to be a supportive, respectful space where you can learn, reflect, and grow.
We operate with community agreements around confidentiality, mutual support, and inclusion. We're here to challenge each other's thinking and support each other's growth—which means showing up with curiosity, respect, and genuine care for one another.
What's shared in our calls and discussions is expected to stay within the group. This is especially important because some participants might be navigating transitions or challenges they're not ready to discuss publicly, and we want everyone to feel safe bringing their real questions and struggles. Your individual coaching sessions are also 100% confidential—what we discuss stays between us.
The goal is to create a space where you can show up authentically, ask the questions you've been holding, and explore possibilities without performing or pretending. That only works in an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect.
INVESTMENT
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Everyone benefits from coming together in community, and I’m committed to bringing together a vibrant community of social impact leaders.
I offer equity/supported pricing for community members currently working in the nonprofit sector, folks who have limited/no professional development funding, and people who are independent/self-employed. If this rate would enable you to participate, please select this option on your registration form – no questions asked.
There are also a limited number of work-study scholarship roles, available to anyone (regardless of need) who is interested in helping to support the program. Please email me if you’d like to learn more.
If cost is a barrier to your participation and you would need further support to participate, please see this document for more options or email me for extra support.
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Yes!
Many previous participants have used professional development funding to pay for all or part of the Impact Leaders Incubator. It’s definitely worth asking (and you can check out this great resource from Ama La Vida coaching on how to ask your employer for professional development funding).
Let me know if you need special paperwork or invoices (including splitting payments between two fiscal years) to make it happen.
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Of course! Check out this snazzy PDF overview of the 2026 program, complete with all of the details about what’s in store !
MORE QUESTIONS?
I love details too! Please email me to ask.
You can also set up a quick 1:1 chat to get all of your questions answered in real time.
Step into your next level of leadership with the skills, confidence, and community to thrive.
Join the Spring 2026 Impact Leaders Incubator to develop your career in just four months
