Tria Designs

02/17/2026

Over the last few months, we've been writing about nonprofit strategic planning, exploring what works, what doesn't, and the gap that most plans leave between vision and ex*****on.

As we wrote, and thanks to some wonderful clients who were patient with our tinkering, the posts turned into a framework.

Today we're sharing "Setting Better Strategy," a free guide to the Ariadne Strategy Framework. It's 27 pages, built on 30 years of working with nonprofits, and it walks through the three layers of strategy that connect who you are to what you're actually doing.

We published it because we think more organizations need better planning frameworks, and because we're often working on strategic plans that have a lot of vision and a lot of tasks, but no real strategy connecting the two.

Most of all, we published it because the purpose-driven sector needs tools specifically designed for mission-driven work, not business frameworks retrofitted to philanthropy.

If your strategic plan has a vision statement and a list of quarterly goals but nothing connecting them, this might help you find the thread.

Link in the comments, and:

https://moreformany.com/ariadne-strategy-framework?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ariadne-launch&utm_content=ebook-announce

10/03/2025

"Print is Dead!" they say. Hardly...

08/20/2025

Reinvest up to 10% of your costs back into your magazine, catalog or direct mail with these USPS cost savings!
https://go.pardot.com/webmail/1095442/1794536361/e865f8dcefb3d26033d98a9ba6431c923d223d923d0e28b861d7a4d70c3032a5

05/30/2025

That was fun. Thanks FCA!

07/22/2024

“Brand Storytelling” - new cartoon and post https://marketoonist.com/2024/07/brand-storytelling-show.html

04/30/2024

Long live print!

Independent publishers like ‘Mountain Gazette’ and ‘The Surfer’s Journal’ are finding success with high-quality print, a tight-knit community, and less advertising.

11/29/2023

How do you thank your members? Contributors? Volunteers? Donors?

While this video was only 10-seconds, it made me feel like I was their most important customer:

03/21/2023

So many higher education organizations immediately hand off their graduates to the development office. If we are truly "life-long membership" institutions, it needs to be a more symbiotic relationship.

Properly launching students should be a nine-year process, not just four years.

02/11/2023

12/14/2022

"Magazines that make the biggest impact this year will have — and relentlessly execute on — a solid strategy. Those that do will see good results: more meaningful engagement, helpful feedback, more recognition, and more significant return on investment.

“Those that don’t will likely see cuts: fewer issues each year, fewer pages each issue, fewer people on the mailing list, and most worryingly: dwindling impact”

https://mailchi.mp/f43aa99497c5/roundups-14458993