There is a particular crisis that strikes long-standing organizations. It arrives not in moments of failure, but in moments of success.
The Institute for Dismantling Racism (IDR) had earned something most nonprofits spend years fighting for: deep, authentic trust across an entire ecosystem. For over two decades, IDR had convened faith leaders, community organizers, institutional partners, and residents around racial justice. Their anti-racism trainings moved individuals toward action. Their coalitions brought together people who rarely sat in the same room. The work was real. The impact was tangible.
And yet.
As IDR looked toward 2025 and beyond, something felt unsettled. The environment had shifted. Racial justice had moved from the margins to mainstream discourse. New organizations had entered the space. The moment that had created IDR was different from the moment they now inhabited. And in that difference lay a question IDR could no longer avoid. What is our role in a landscape that has fundamentally changed? And how do we ensure we have the internal strength and clarity to be the integral part of this racial equity ecosystem that communities depend on?
This question, this crisis of clarity, is not a sign of weakness. It is a sign of maturity. And it requires more than incremental adjustments. It requires organizations to return to fundamentals.
Long-standing organizations operate from a particular kind of inertia. Not the inertia of stagnation, but the inertia of institutional memory. "We have always done it this way." "This worked in 2015." "This is who we are."
These statements are not always wrong. But they are insufficient. Because the organizations that thrive are not those that repeat the past, they are those that interrogate whether the past still fits the present.
When we began the Theory of Change process with IDR, we were not starting from scratch. We were starting from a place of deep credibility and hard-won relationships. But we were starting from a question: Does IDR fully understand what it uniquely contributes, and is that contribution still aligned with what this ecosystem actually needs?
This is what Theory of Change work does at its best. It does not erase institutional knowledge. It contextualizes it. It asks: What are we actually trying to change? Why are we the ones to do it? And in a world that looks different than it did five years ago, what must we rebuild, clarify, or fundamentally rethink?
For IDR, the process surfaced something critical: An organization cannot be an integral part of a racial equity ecosystem unless it is, first, a strong and sustainable organization in its own right. This is not a distraction from the mission. This is the mission. Because an organization that is fragmented, unclear about its direction, or unable to sustain itself cannot show up as a trusted partner. It cannot convene with authority. It cannot lead.
Theory of Change work is not about innovation. It is about clarity.
When we asked IDR to revisit and really interrogate its mission, vision, and values, the organization engaged in something increasingly rare in the nonprofit sector. It paused. It asked foundational questions. And it discovered that sometimes, the most powerful work is not building something new, but clarifying what you already know.
Mission: IDR guides personal transformation and courageous leadership, bringing communities together across race and faith to end racism and create a more just society in Winston-Salem and beyond.
Vision: A Winston-Salem where every person — no matter their race or background — can live with dignity, opportunity, and belonging, free from racism and injustice.
These are not buzzwords. They are a coherent theory of change. They say: We believe transformation begins in people. We believe people move institutions. We believe faith and race are connective tissues, not dividing lines. We believe our work here in Winston-Salem ripples outward. And we believe we are the organization positioned to hold this particular space.
This clarity matters in ways that go far beyond communication. It shapes strategy. It guides partnerships. It answers the hardest question any organization faces: What are we not doing, and why?
When IDR clarified its unique value proposition — trusted convening across sectors, spiritually grounded truth-telling, a model that connects personal transformation to systemic change — it was not creating something new. It was naming something that had always been true. And in naming it, the organization could now defend it. Could prioritize it. Could build around it.
Perhaps most importantly, IDR recognized something that many organizations miss: the environment has changed, and therefore the principles that guide the work must be revisited.
We are not in 2004, when IDR was founded. We are not even in 2020, when the nation convulsed around racial justice. We are in 2025, navigating a landscape where:
Racial equity has moved into mainstream institutional consciousness but often in shallow, performative ways that require IDR's truth-telling and moral clarity more than ever.
New organizations have entered the space, creating both opportunity for collaboration and a need for IDR to articulate its distinctive role with precision.
The challenges have not disappeared; they have deepened and evolved. Racial disparities persist across every vital condition for wellbeing from basic needs, housing, work, education, health, community belonging.
In this moment, IDR's role shifts. It is not enough to be trusted. IDR must be strategically positioned. Not enough to convene; IDR must convene with purpose. Not enough to do good work; IDR must clarify what outcomes the work is designed to achieve.
This is why Theory of Change is not a one-time exercise. It is a discipline. It is a commitment to asking: Given the world as it actually is, are our strategies still aligned with our mission? Are our partnerships still serving our vision? Do we have the capacity internally to be the organization our ecosystem needs?
If you are leading a legacy organization — one with deep roots, authentic relationships, and real impact — you may feel pressure to keep growing, keep expanding, keep proving your relevance through scale and speed.
Resist this.
The most powerful thing you can do right now is to return to fundamentals. To ask hard questions about mission, vision, and values. To examine whether your strategy still fits your theory of change. To identify the threats and opportunities in a world that looks different than it did five years ago. And to commit to building the internal capacity and organizational strength that allows you to be the partner, convener, and leader your ecosystem actually needs.
This is not a distraction from impact. This is how you sustain it.
IDR had 20 years of trust and institutional knowledge. What the Theory of Change process gave IDR was something more: a clear-eyed assessment of what the organization is uniquely positioned to do, and the internal commitment to build the capacity to do it with excellence.
An organization that is strong, sustainable, and clear about its role does not just produce better programs. It shifts the entire ecosystem around it.
That is the work worth doing.
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