We’re thrilled to welcome Karen Riordan, longtime nonprofit and community leader and current President & CEO of Together SC, to the Armstrong McGuire blog — bringing her decades of experience strengthening and uniting nonprofit ecosystems and advancing philanthropic leadership across South Carolina.

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Together South Carolina has completed an energizing strategic planning process to drive our future for the next five years through 2030. Our mission is to strengthen and advance the South Carolina (SC) nonprofit network. We know that when we make SC nonprofits stronger and better equipped to accomplish their mission, we help all South Carolinians thrive.

What you can expect to see from us is more access to support for nonprofits across all the geographic regions of SC and across all the roles each nonprofit has, so we are not only supporting executive directors and chief executive officers but also professionals in operations, development, marketing, volunteer management, advocacy and public policy and all the other positions necessary to serve your communities.  

Another big part of our focus is to shine a light on the impact of the SC nonprofit network, through narratives of individual nonprofit network members and our collective impact to support our neighbors in every community. Telling the stories of the incredible outcomes SC nonprofits are achieving is so important to maintain public and governmental support.

One way we are helping to raise the standards of professionalism and accountability is by issuing the 2026 edition of the Guiding Principles. This helpful workbook allows each nonprofit the ability to assess how they are doing in each of the critical areas of operations. Check out the new edition here.

We designed this edition of the Guiding Principles to strengthen our nonprofits and provide a useful standard for operating at peak performance.  The foundation of the Guiding Principles is in many ways evergreen, yet much has changed since the last edition. From pivoting to new ways of working through a crisis, to using generative AI in our daily work, to lifting our voices in advocacy, we have addressed these changes to our landscape.

We hope nonprofits find these Guiding Principles an effective tool for assessing their nonprofits’ performance in each of these key areas of operations. We encourage nonprofits to discuss these principles with their entire staff and their board of directors to foster continuous improvement.

Together SC has also launched two new peer networks to meet the desire to connect and learn from fellow colleagues; the executive director/CEO peer network and the Volunteer Administration Alliance are busy planning quarterly sessions and signature in-person events. To learn more about our exciting training webinars, workshops and peer network sessions, go to http://www.togethersc.org./

We are committed to leading in this moment to keep nonprofits connected, and to keep them learning and growing to better serve their communities.