Our People

Jenny Bergman

Senior Consultant

Jenny Bergman, Senior Consultant

As I reflect on the past two years at Benefactor Group, I am grateful to have walked alongside clients and their remarkable missions. I have seen boards embrace new governance structures and teams work through executive transitions. One consistent theme is that every organization has both opportunities and challenges. Their missions take many forms, including art, music, prevention, and food security, yet one truth remains: nonprofit boards and leaders are doing the hard work every day to make our society better. As a consultant, I have the privilege of playing a small part in supporting them, helping them realize their potential, serving as a sounding board, and offering thoughtful counsel.” 

Jenny Bergman

Jenny Bergman is an executive-level operational leader, culture builder, and strategic advisor with more than 20 years of experience guiding nonprofit organizations through complex change, growth, and transition. With a foundation in frontline fundraising and extensive interim executive leadership experience, Jenny is frequently asked to step into high-stakes, high-ambiguity moments to stabilize organizations, establish foundational practices, and create the conditions for forward movement. 

Her expertise includes change management, executive and board partnership, governance, strategic planning, and operational effectiveness. Jenny has led organizations and teams through periods of uncertainty, restructuring, leadership transitions, and external pressure, balancing urgency with empathy and discipline with care. She is particularly skilled at parachuting into uncertain environments, building credibility quickly, restoring trust, and aligning people, systems, and strategy to sustain momentum. 

Jenny’s leadership experience spans the philanthropic lifecycle, from event-based fundraising and annual giving to major gifts, capital campaigns, and executive leadership. Known for her calm presence and decisive leadership style, she helps boards and senior teams navigate inflection points with clarity, strengthen internal capacity, and emerge more resilient, aligned, and positioned for long-term success. 

Jenny holds a BoardSource Certificate in Nonprofit Board Consulting and is a graduate of The Ohio State University, where she earned a degree in Political Science with minors in Organizational Communication and Religion. 

Read more about Jenny and why she serves the common good here.

Client Partners

Publications

  • Boardable, “Webinar: Are Your Board Committees Serving You? A Practical Conversation on Committee Effectiveness.” Link. 

Featured Insights

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Fundraising is a Board Responsibility. Not a Department.

At Benefactor Group, we often say: fundraising is not just a development department function — it’s a board responsibility. Yet many board members are unclear on their role, or uncomfortable with the word itself. So let’s explore how fundraising and boards go together and the moments when they don’t.

The 5 W's to Building a Better Board

The 5 Ws: Building a Better Board

In the past, we’ve explored the four traits—work, wisdom, wealth, and wit—that distinguish high-performing boards. Those principles still hold true. But the landscape has changed, and the expectations placed on board members have grown more complex. To meet this moment, boards need something else to add to the framework: the fifth W being Will.

The Board's Role in Strategic Planning. Image shows an empty boardroom table, chairs, and an open laptop.

The Board’s Role in Strategic Planning

Strategic planning—an essential activity for any nonprofit—is an opportunity to step back from everyday work and thoughtfully review: Where are we today? Where do we aspire to go? How will we get there?

Founder Transitions as an Act of Abundance. Icon shows a rotating gear with a person at the center.

Founder Transitions as an Act of Abundance

Founder transitions are often described as risk, disruption, or loss. An abundance lens offers a different framing. A founder transition is not the end of something working. It is evidence that the organization has grown strong enough to hold more leadership, more voices, and more possibility. Founders who step aside make room for the organization to evolve beyond a single individual. Incoming CEOs bring new capacity, perspective, and energy. Boards serve as stewards of this moment, ensuring that generosity of spirit is matched with clarity of governance so that abundance becomes sustainable impact. Explore seven essential tips to ensure a smooth transition from Founder to CEO.

Two Hats, One Responsibility: The Act of Nonprofit Board Service

Two Hats, One Responsibility: The Art of Nonprofit Board Service

Nonprofit board members are often recruited for what they bring. Their expertise, their networks, their lived experience, their judgment. People who know things. People with opinions. And that is a good thing. The real magic of a strong board happens when members are able to use both of the hats they wear to the fullest, without confusing one for the other. Read on for more about what those hats look like and how to wear them well.

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