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Aspen Baker

helps leaders and organizations navigate growth, uncertainty, and change.

I’m Aspen Baker and I work with entrepreneurs and changemakers. My clients are talented mission-driven people creating positive change in a world that wasn’t designed to help them succeed. I support them through interim leadership, executive advising, and special projects:

  • Experienced Executive Leader. I have helmed organizations through:

    • Leadership transitions, from CEO change to supporting first-time CEOs, as the interim director or deputy
    • Major initiatives, from business model change to visionary transformation, by propelling change as the strategic lead
    • Complex organizational challenges, from financial scenario planning to staff transition, as a senior-level leader.

  • Trusted Thought Partner. I have counseled leaders on:

    • Thriving leadership practices, from clear planning and financial comprehension to planning a restorative sabbatical
    • Cultivating donor/funder relationships, including navigating conflict
    • Soup-to-nuts nonprofit leadership and management, from managing staff and consultants, to strategy and governance.

  • Hands-on Entrepreneurial Builder. I have supported and led projects such as:

    • Start-up creation, from practical help getting an idea off the ground to building an organization from scratch
    • Fundraising landscape assessment and strengths-based strategy recommendations
    • Network alignment around shared values and goals.

Working with Aspen is a highlight of my professional life. She is incredibly intentional, strategic and forward thinking. A leader that shows up to do the work that is needed, have the necessary conversations and develop a way forward.

Dr. Adriana Loson-Ceballos, Philanthropy Leader

Aspen has been in the trenches and understands all aspects of the work and the challenges of being a nonprofit leader. She brings her infectious enthusiasm, honesty, insight and humor to all of her work with leaders.

Kamala Tully, Executive Director, The Mesa Refuge

Changemaking leaders must build support and trust among the people and communities who share their values and goals while they grapple with complex social challenges, facing uncertainty, or even resistance. Not to mention, their everyday work of running an organization. 

It’s a lot!

We need people like you, who are willing to step into the challenges of what it really takes to make a lasting difference. And, you don’t have to do it alone.

I can help you focus on the things that can make a difference today and take the steps that can make a big difference tomorrow. 

As leaders, we get the unique opportunity to find our way through the ups and downs, and to build organizations, teams and cultural practices that utilize our individual and collective strengths for good. We get to have some fun along the way, too.  

Aspen was a thoughtful steward during a time of immense change. As interim CEO, she provided the clarity, oversight, and professionalism that we needed, while communicating and connecting with multiple stakeholders in a deeply relational manner that supported our organization’s transformation and growth.

Ciara Garcia, CEO, Social Venture Partners International

Aspen understands the unique experience of a founder, what it’s like to lead a deeply personal project and the daily grind of nonprofit management. She guided us through everything from an organizational name change to the growing pains of feast and famine budgets, moving us towards a more sustainable growth model.

Haley Pollack, Cofounder and Executive Director, Bright Spot Network

As a founder, I spent years moving a social change mission, navigating conflict, polarization and politicization — out front as a public spokesperson and behind the scenes as a day-to-day nonprofit manager and lead fundraiser.  

Along the way, I learned how to build support for the mission and my leadership so that I wasn’t alone: Together, with committed board members, movement allies, funder champions and expert consultants, along with staff, volunteers, and donors, we generated influence that has had long-lasting impact far beyond our single nonprofit. 

Now, I am a consultant focused on social impact and specializing in start-ups, transitions and growth, with expertise in strategy, planning, budgets, fundraising, operations and governance. I love to work with changemaking leaders so their organizations and missions can make a lasting difference.

Are you a mission-driven leader seeking help to rebuild, grow, start-up or turn-around your organization? If you’re looking for interim senior leadership, executive advising, or support for a special project, I’d love to meet you.