What if it’s not all falling apart?

Last week, I found myself standing in the Monterey Bay Aquarium, surrounded by sea life, champagne, and a room full of people celebrating something that feels increasingly rare this year: a massive fundraising success.

The Elkhorn Slough Foundation had just closed a $13 million capital campaign.

I was there because our team at Cosmic partnered with them on the brand, website, storytelling, and strategy that supported their work. But this wasn’t our win. It was theirs. It was the community’s. And honestly, I thought I was just showing up to be supportive, celebrate a client, and rub shoulders with some folks in the local community.

But as I stood on the outdoor deck overlooking a gorgeous fall sunset kissing the ocean and the Monterey Bay, I felt something shift.

Something I hadn’t felt in a while: hope. Maybe even optimism?

A Needed Reminder

The dominant narrative this year has been that everything’s falling apart.

Budget cuts. Burnout. Fear. Uncertainty.

For the sector. For our clients. For our team. For me.

And while some of that is absolutely real and valid, I think it’s also created a kind of collective resignation, a social impact doom loop — a belief that growth, sustainability, and long-term thinking are just unrealistic in a moment like this.

That people aren’t funding bold ideas. That we just have to buckle down and survive until… something changes.

The truth is, there’s still plenty of funding out there. A lot of people have made a lot of money in the stock market — even if it’s mostly fueled by a frothy AI bubble that feels totally disconnected from the day-to-day experience of most people.

There’s still deep motivation to support good work. People see the chaos and are compelled to do something about it. And they need a partner to help bring that change to life.

But having a worthy cause alone isn’t enough in our current media and information environment.

You need structure. You need story. You need consistency. A strong foundation. A team that can pivot and adapt without losing the plot. Steadfast leadership. Elkhorn Slough is successful because they have all of that.

Throughout the year as I’ve been talking to friends, colleagues, and even potential clients, people have asked, “How have you been handling it all? How have things been going for you?” My answer for much of the year has been, “Honestly, this year’s been a sh*tshow.”

But here’s the thing: the stories we tell ourselves shape what we see and how we see it. And the more I’ve repeated that narrative — to myself and others — the more I’ve started to believe it.

Starting today, that’s no longer my answer.

I’m done accepting that as the narrative. Or my narrative. Because as long as I keep describing this year as a sh*tshow, it’s going to keep being one. This isn’t about manifestation or magical thinking (though if that’s your thing, more power to you).

But our internal beliefs — especially our limiting beliefs — and the narratives we share and repeat greatly affect our actions and our behaviors. They affect our confidence, and they affect our ability to show up at our best. In small ways, but also in big and important ways. And right now we need social impact leaders showing up at their best.

So here’s my new answer when people ask me how things are going: “We’re making big moves, and we’re very humbled to be trusted by courageous social impact clients who are doing the same.”

This year has been a hard one. But it’s also been a year of invaluable learning, experimentation, and recommitting to our purpose and our mission. And the more I zoom out, the more I realize: it’s been a transformative year. One that’s forced us, like many of the orgs that we work with, to reckon with what truly matters, and how we show up when things are most uncertain.

Building the Future, in Real Time

Earlier this year, we made a conscious decision to move away from the traditional branding and design agency model of one-off projects. Instead, we designed and built a new model for this work we call the Social Impact Growth model. It’s an ongoing, holistic partnership with a small cohort of ambitious social impact organizations. This shift was driven by a deeper purpose and commitment to ensure that our work with our clients is not just creative, not just strategic, but truly transformational for their missions and their growth.

I have a deep yearning to see the good people doing this work build organizations and teams that are truly sustainable, balanced, healthy, properly resourced, and effective.

But I have to admit: even knowing the importance of this shift, and deeply believing in it, earlier this year, I remember thinking: “Man, I really picked the worst year possible to launch this model.”

But as the year has unfolded — and we’ve worked with our clients in this way — I realized I was wrong.

This has actually been the best year possible to launch this model, even if it hasn’t been the easiest.

Because the need has never been clearer.

This experience has doubled down my resolve that this isn’t just the future of our agency — it’s the future of what true partnerships of all types in the social impact space need to look like: built on trust, shared accountability, long-term thinking, and the courage to question the norms and best practices and beliefs around the philanthropic and social impact sector.

What We’re Learning From Our Partners

We’ve been evolving and sharpening the Social Impact Growth Model alongside our partners. And here’s what we’re seeing:

The orgs that are treating this moment as an opening — a chance to invest, align, and act with intention — are building real momentum.

They’re not paralyzed by uncertainty. They’re using it as fuel to rethink their communications, brand, and fundraising strategies holistically. They’re moving beyond the patchwork of disconnected projects and building integrated systems that grow with them.

We’ve joked for years that a big part of our job is being design therapists. We’re often the ones hearing about the challenges, the roadblocks, the politics, the burnout — the messy, behind-the-scenes sausage making of social impact work. And trust me, there’s been a lot of that this year.

But more than anything, those conversations have been what’s kept me going. Sitting in solidarity with our clients. Supporting them through the hard stuff. And feeling their support right back. That mutual trust and honesty — that’s what this work is built on.

And we believe this moment is an opportunity — a liminal, once-in-a-decade kind of window — for visionary orgs to step into a new era of social impact.

Since that night at the aquarium, I’ve felt a real mindset shift personally. About what’s possible. About how we lead. About the kind of partners we want to be. And honestly, it was the jolt I needed.

I’ll be sharing more soon about the changing funding landscape and how to adapt to it. But I just wanted to start here:

If you’ve been feeling the weight of it all — the exhaustion, the doubt, the “what’s even the point?” — I feel you.

But I also want to remind you:
It’s not all falling apart.

There are still wins happening.
Still momentum being built.
Still communities showing up.
Still hope, if you’re willing to look for it.

And if you’re ready to build the kind of communications, brand, and activation system that can carry you into that future, I’d love to talk. Drop a comment below or shoot me a DM — or email me at eric@designbycosmic.com.