Mantra Strategy

Summer has a way of inviting reflection. Before calendars fill up and the annual leave dance begins, it's a good time to take a moment and ask whether your strategy, leadership and funding approach are still serving where you want to go next.

That is the question that runs through the latest edition of The Monthly Mantra, our newsletter sharing news, insights and impact from across the team.

A look at what's inside this month:
🔹 The launch of Su***de Or Survive's new strategic plan, Courageous Conversations, shaped by staff, board, funders and people with lived and living experience of su***de
🔹 Reflections from our Foundation Ireland event with civil rights strategist Eric Ward, on hope, resilience and courageous leadership
🔹 The Marie Keating Foundation's 100K in 30 Days, and how to get involved this June
🔹 A special June rate on our Thriving Team package for leadership teams
🔹 What we're reading, listening to and watching, including Priya Parker's The Art of Gathering

If strategy, culture, fundraising or leadership is on your mind for 2026, there's plenty here to spark a conversation.

Read this month's edition and subscribe so the next one lands straight in your inbox

Monthly Mantra 👉 mantrastrategy.ie/themonthlymantramay2026
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If you're responsible for your organisation's funding strategy, at least one of these will land.

1. Are you applying to the same funders you were three years ago?
Loyalty to a funding relationship makes sense. But if your funder list hasn't changed in years, you may be missing opportunities, or overexposed to funders whose priorities have quietly shifted away from yours.

2. Has your case for support kept pace with your impact?
Your organisation has grown, learned and evolved. Your funding narrative should reflect that. If you're still leading with the same story you were telling three years ago, it may no longer be doing the work it needs to.

3. Do you know what your funding mix will look like in two years?
Most organisations can tell you where their funding comes from today. Far fewer have a clear picture of what that mix needs to look like to stay sustainable. That gap is where vulnerability lives.

4. Are your biggest funders also your biggest risk?
Concentration risk is one of the most common and most overlooked challenges in the sector. If one funder walking away would fundamentally change what you can deliver, that's worth addressing now.

5. When did you last map new funding opportunities?
The funding landscape shifts constantly. New trusts, new corporate priorities, new government streams. If your team hasn't done a landscape review recently, there is a good chance you are leaving opportunities on the table.

If any of these gave you pause, we would love to talk. Get in touch via the link in the comments.

100 kilometres. 30 days. June starts Monday.

The Marie Keating Foundation's 100K in 30 Days challenge is open for sign-ups, and there's still time to get involved.

Walk it, run it, cycle it, roll it. However you move, every kilometre raises vital funds for cancer prevention, awareness and support services across Ireland.

We worked with the The Marie Keating Foundation on their strategy last year, and it's wonderful to see initiatives like this bring communities together around something that genuinely matters.

Sign up here: https://fundraise.mariekeating.ie/event/100kmin30days/

For us, "impact" is the reason behind all of the work we do.

We work with organisations that want to make a meaningful difference, including charities, foundations, social enterprises, health bodies, community organisations and purposeful businesses.

These are organisations where strategy, leadership and culture are not abstract ideas. They shape decisions, services, teams and outcomes for real people.

Since 2020, we have brought together senior expertise across strategy, leadership, culture and growth to help organisations move forward with clarity, confidence and purpose.

If you are leading an organisation that wants to do more, we would love to talk to you.
mantrastrategy.ie

We asked Anna five questions. Purpose. Inclusion. Internal messaging. Culture as a strategic lever.

Anna is our Associate Consultant in People, Culture & Engagement, and the conversations she has with leaders every day informed every slide.

Swipe through if any of these are live challenges in your organisation right now.