{"id":685,"date":"2026-03-15T11:42:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T10:42:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/?p=685"},"modified":"2026-03-15T12:15:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T11:15:46","slug":"your-ngo-needs-check-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/de\/your-ngo-needs-check-up\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWhen the ambulance is on fire\u2026\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"\"><em>If you feel ill, you go to the doctor. Your car has an annual check-up. But with organisations, we usually only do something when there&#8217;s a crisis or a big change already underway.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">And right now, there is no shortage of crises to deal with. Funding cuts, shrinking spaces, the issues keep getting bigger and more entangled. In that environment, it&#8217;s hard to pause and look inward. Most teams I know are just fighting one fire after another. The organisation&#8217;s own health \u2014 reflecting on how it&#8217;s led, how decisions get made, whether your strategy still holds \u2014 it all keeps getting pushed to later. No time. No resources. And where would you even start?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Meantime, the cost is real. Not always visible, but definitely real: a talented team on the verge of burnout, a fundraising approach that&#8217;s all over the place, a board that means well but doesn&#8217;t help you. All this is friction, and friction costs you energy, trust, and impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><strong>How do you know if this is you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"\">Are you building something, or just holding something together?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">What&#8217;s the thing everyone in your team knows but nobody says out loud?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">You hired smart people. Why are you still making all the decisions?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">Team meetings that look like graveyards?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">Good people are leaving. Do you know why?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">If several of these land: that&#8217;s not a sign your organisation is broken. It&#8217;s a sign you&#8217;ve been running hard, and your organisation needs tending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"\"><em>Most organisations I work with are not failing. They&#8217;re functioning, but they\u2019re spending more energy than they should, and getting less traction than they could.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><strong>The organisational check-up<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">I offer you a look at your organisation across three areas: your strategy, its structure and the culture. We do a short survey to collect perspectives across the organisation. 30-minute interviews help get real and rich insights. A desk analysis of your key documents will help understand how close your words are to reality. My synthesis report maps the gaps, tensions, and the leverage points that can help bring your organisation back to its best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"\">This is not a long process. Not a restructuring. This is acupuncture. Short, engaging, energising and with the potential of a lasting effect.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Also, this is not a sales funnel. Some recommendations will point to things I can support you with. Others will point elsewhere: to a training or workshops offered by peer networks or other consultants. The point is that you leave with a useful map, not a dependency on me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Who this is for<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">This is for small and medium-sized NGOs and social enterprises that are serious about their mission, have been around long enough to have developed some habits (good and less good), and are led by people who are curious rather than defensive about the question: how are we actually doing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Pricing &amp; timing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">The price depends on the size of your organisation (more staff = more work) and location (higher or lower income countries).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<figure class=\"is-style-stripes wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Price (incl. VAT)<\/strong><\/td><td><em>Organisation &lt;12 staff<\/em><\/td><td><em>Organisation 12-40 staff<\/em><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><em>Higher income (e.g. EU)<\/em><\/td><td>\u20ac800<\/td><td>\u20ac1200<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><em>Lower income (e.g. MENA)<\/em><\/td><td>\u20ac600<\/td><td>\u20ac900<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">By rule of thumb you can count the number of staff for the number of hours I will probably need to work on this. Please note that for this exercise to work well, you need to commit the same number of hours. And if planned well, we can do the whole project from survey to debrief in 3-4 weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">If this resonates, let\u2019s talk. No commitment, no pitch:&nbsp; just a call to see if it makes sense for where you are right now. And if you have read this far: <a href=\"https:\/\/calendly.com\/jotham-sietsma\/45-minute-meeting\">book a call now<\/a> and I will conduct the first survey with your team free of charge. Then you decide if you want to continue.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Your NGO needs check-up: a quick scan to identify gaps, tensions and leverage points to bring the organisation back to its best.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":253,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[41,19,42,17],"class_list":["post-685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-offer","tag-governance","tag-non-profit","tag-od","tag-strategy"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>\u201cWhen the ambulance is on fire\u2026\u201d - Jotham Sietsma<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Your NGO needs check-up: a quick scan to identify gaps, tensions and leverage points to bring the organisation back to its best.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/de\/your-ngo-needs-check-up\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"de_DE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cWhen the ambulance is on fire\u2026\u201d - Jotham Sietsma\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Your NGO needs check-up: a quick scan to identify gaps, tensions and leverage points to bring the organisation back to its best.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/de\/your-ngo-needs-check-up\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jotham Sietsma\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-15T10:42:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-15T11:15:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Jotham-MitOst-Camp-Berlin-At-Work-2-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1706\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jotham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Verfasst von\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jotham\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Gesch\u00e4tzte Lesezeit\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3\u00a0Minuten\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sietsma.de\\\/your-ngo-needs-check-up\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sietsma.de\\\/your-ngo-needs-check-up\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jotham\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sietsma.de\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5c2de7c8d1666f28e468ff2dc2367a46\"},\"headline\":\"\u201cWhen the ambulance is on fire\u2026\u201d\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-15T10:42:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-15T11:15:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sietsma.de\\\/your-ngo-needs-check-up\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":647,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sietsma.de\\\/your-ngo-needs-check-up\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/sietsma.de\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/Jotham-MitOst-Camp-Berlin-At-Work-2-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1706&ssl=1\",\"keywords\":[\"governance\",\"non-profit\",\"OD\",\"strategy\"],\"articleSection\":[\"New offer\"],\"inLanguage\":\"de\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sietsma.de\\\/your-ngo-needs-check-up\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sietsma.de\\\/your-ngo-needs-check-up\\\/\",\"name\":\"\u201cWhen the ambulance is on fire\u2026\u201d - Jotham Sietsma\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sietsma.de\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sietsma.de\\\/your-ngo-needs-check-up\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sietsma.de\\\/your-ngo-needs-check-up\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/sietsma.de\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/Jotham-MitOst-Camp-Berlin-At-Work-2-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1706&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-15T10:42:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-15T11:15:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sietsma.de\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5c2de7c8d1666f28e468ff2dc2367a46\"},\"description\":\"Your NGO needs check-up: a quick scan to identify gaps, tensions and leverage points to bring the organisation back to its best.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sietsma.de\\\/your-ngo-needs-check-up\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"de\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/sietsma.de\\\/your-ngo-needs-check-up\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"de\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sietsma.de\\\/your-ngo-needs-check-up\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/sietsma.de\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/Jotham-MitOst-Camp-Berlin-At-Work-2-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1706&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/sietsma.de\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/Jotham-MitOst-Camp-Berlin-At-Work-2-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1706&ssl=1\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1706},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sietsma.de\\\/your-ngo-needs-check-up\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sietsma.de\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\u201cWhen the ambulance is on fire\u2026\u201d\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sietsma.de\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sietsma.de\\\/\",\"name\":\"Jotham Sietsma\",\"description\":\"Facilitation, Process design, Collaboration, Leadership, Strategy, Partnerships, Program development, Fundraising, Philanthropy, European funding, Team management, Coaching, Consulting, Organisational development, Networks, Intercultural and intersectional, Communications, Civil society, Culture and creativity, Digital and AI, Social impact investing, Social and climate justice, Europe and the world\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sietsma.de\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"de\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sietsma.de\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5c2de7c8d1666f28e468ff2dc2367a46\",\"name\":\"Jotham\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sietsma.de\\\/de\\\/author\\\/jotham\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u201cWhen the ambulance is on fire\u2026\u201d - Jotham Sietsma","description":"Your NGO needs check-up: a quick scan to identify gaps, tensions and leverage points to bring the organisation back to its best.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/de\/your-ngo-needs-check-up\/","og_locale":"de_DE","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u201cWhen the ambulance is on fire\u2026\u201d - Jotham Sietsma","og_description":"Your NGO needs check-up: a quick scan to identify gaps, tensions and leverage points to bring the organisation back to its best.","og_url":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/de\/your-ngo-needs-check-up\/","og_site_name":"Jotham Sietsma","article_published_time":"2026-03-15T10:42:36+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-03-15T11:15:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1706,"url":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Jotham-MitOst-Camp-Berlin-At-Work-2-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jotham","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Verfasst von":"Jotham","Gesch\u00e4tzte Lesezeit":"3\u00a0Minuten"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/your-ngo-needs-check-up\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/your-ngo-needs-check-up\/"},"author":{"name":"Jotham","@id":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/#\/schema\/person\/5c2de7c8d1666f28e468ff2dc2367a46"},"headline":"\u201cWhen the ambulance is on fire\u2026\u201d","datePublished":"2026-03-15T10:42:36+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-15T11:15:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/your-ngo-needs-check-up\/"},"wordCount":647,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/your-ngo-needs-check-up\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sietsma.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Jotham-MitOst-Camp-Berlin-At-Work-2-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1706&ssl=1","keywords":["governance","non-profit","OD","strategy"],"articleSection":["New offer"],"inLanguage":"de"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/your-ngo-needs-check-up\/","url":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/your-ngo-needs-check-up\/","name":"\u201cWhen the ambulance is on fire\u2026\u201d - Jotham Sietsma","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/your-ngo-needs-check-up\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/your-ngo-needs-check-up\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sietsma.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Jotham-MitOst-Camp-Berlin-At-Work-2-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1706&ssl=1","datePublished":"2026-03-15T10:42:36+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-15T11:15:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/#\/schema\/person\/5c2de7c8d1666f28e468ff2dc2367a46"},"description":"Your NGO needs check-up: a quick scan to identify gaps, tensions and leverage points to bring the organisation back to its best.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/your-ngo-needs-check-up\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"de","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sietsma.de\/your-ngo-needs-check-up\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"de","@id":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/your-ngo-needs-check-up\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sietsma.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Jotham-MitOst-Camp-Berlin-At-Work-2-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1706&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sietsma.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Jotham-MitOst-Camp-Berlin-At-Work-2-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1706&ssl=1","width":2560,"height":1706},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/your-ngo-needs-check-up\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u201cWhen the ambulance is on fire\u2026\u201d"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/","name":"Jotham Sietsma","description":"Facilitation, Process Design, Zusammenarbeit, Leadership, Strategie, Partnerschaften, Programmentwicklung, Fundraising, Philanthropie, Europ\u00e4ische F\u00f6rdermittel, Team Management, Coaching, Beratung, Organisationsentwicklung, Netzwerke, interkulturell und intersektional, Kommunikation, Zivilgesellschaft, Kultur und Kreativit\u00e4t, Digital und KI, Social Impact Investing, Sozial- und Klimagerechtigkeit, Europa und die Welt","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"de"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/#\/schema\/person\/5c2de7c8d1666f28e468ff2dc2367a46","name":"Jotham","url":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/de\/author\/jotham\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sietsma.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Jotham-MitOst-Camp-Berlin-At-Work-2-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1706&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=685"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":688,"href":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685\/revisions\/688"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sietsma.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}