The Strategists Report, Full Text

With permission of Mike Shaner, who heroically obtained the report and posted it on his substack,

https://theseditionpapers.substack.com/p/full-lnc-report-from-strategists

we publish here the text of the report as leaked, allegedly by a member of the LNC.

Please reward Mike Shaner for his diligence in distributing the document by visiting his site.

Full LNC Report From Strategists Inc
Mr. Steven Nekhaila
Board Chair and CEO
Libertarian National Committee
1444 Duke St.
Alexandria, VA 22314

Dear Steven,

Please find enclosed the final report of findings for the operational review services conducted by Strategists Inc. (SI) for the Libertarian National Committee. (LNC). As promised, I met with the Executive Director Hannah Kennedy a number of times, as well as meeting with all of the key staff/contractors. As a part of the review process, I evaluated the organization’s plans, budgets, stated priorities, funding, expenses, staffing ratio to deliverables, member services, and systems utilized.

This report was not a detailed audit of every functional area or the employees/contractors. This report reflects findings from a high level operational review of systems, plans, priorities and expenditures of time and money to evaluate for alignment to the organization’s strategic plan.

During the process, Hannah was extremely helpful. Also, as we discussed different areas of the organization’s operations, I offered suggestions which she readily implemented and adapted as her own.

I hope you and the entire board find this report helpful to focus your efforts this year. If I can answer any questions, please let me know.

Warm regards,

Debbie Mason, CFRE, APR, Fellow PRSA
President
Strategists, Inc. 954-480-7814 www.strategistsinc.com 1Operational Review Findings

Libertarian National Committee
Report Submitted: April 18, 2025
Conducted by: Strategists, Inc.

Introduction

Strategists, Inc. was retained by the Libertarian National Committee (LNC) on February 28, 2025, to conduct a confidential operational review of staff and organizational functions. This report, submitted April 18, 2025, outlines the key findings and recommendations derived from the review.

1. Situational Overview
The LNC is currently in a highly stressed financial state. The abrupt departure of the prior chair in early 2025 initiated an unplanned leadership transition, compounding long-standing issues rooted in internal disharmony. These disruptions have significantly eroded donor and member confidence, as evidenced by a multi-year decline in financial support dating back to 2022.

A primary issue has been the historical pattern where the board chair alone established the organizational vision. This unilateral approach created instability whenever the chair changed, often leading to conflicting directions, visible board disagreements, and reputational damage. The board has not collectively owned a long-term vision for the organization, resulting in a cycle of inconsistent leadership, fractured messaging, and
diminishing enthusiasm among stakeholders.

Furthermore, the model in which the chair functioned as both board leader and de facto CEO has reinforced singular, short-term priorities rather than sustainable strategies aligned with a unified board vision.
Unfortunately, the organization has a history of disharmony at the board level which has created cumulative years of negative distractions for the organization. This is being felt with a direct impact to the finances, as demonstrated by the several year decline (2022-current) of support from members and donors. Loss of credibility for organizations shows up directly in its financial performance.

Yet, tumultuous shifts in leadership perspectives are not the only factors impacting how the organization may have gotten to this point. Some of the current reputation and financial standing could be based on the historical pattern of how the organization’s vision has been established. In the past decade, vision was nearly always crafted and articulated by the person elected as the board chair. That person was usually elected based on his/her particular stated vision for the organization.

It would appear that only the board chair and not the full board, held the vision-making power for the organization. When board members disagreed with chair, disharmony rooted, and public displays of that disharmony subsequently further impacted the organization’s reputation and credibility among some stakeholders, both internal and external. This in turn, likely impacted membership and fundraising.

This model likely worked from the lens of getting things done for the organization in the past. This model likely worked as long as the chair’s vision was in alignment with enough members and donors to support the work. However, recent years have shown an increasingly fractionalized membership of the party, which means having only the chair’s vision as the organization’s vision likely is not a viable path for its future. Also, it is decidedly not a best practice.

This historical pattern has left the full board without the ownership of creating a collective vision for many years. As chairpersons changed, sometimes abruptly, so did the vision and path of the organization, Over time this zigzag, stop-start-resume pattern has eroded the trust of its see-saw weary members and donors, and somewhat neutralized the potential effectiveness of the national board

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This model no longer serves the organization moving forward. It has created some very unhealthy outputs along the way, primarily demonstrated in the ongoing pattern of declining membership, dwindling fundraising support and in the lack of a common unifying voice for the organization.

Members and donors vote with their wallets. Either those wallets are open or closed to support appeals from the organization. These wallet votes have spoken loudly for the past few years, and it has not been a ringing endorsement. Only a change in the board’s collective vision and behavior can move the organization
forward out of this slump.

Key Impacts:
• Declining membership and donor contributions.
• Erosion of organizational credibility and public trust.
• Unstable strategic direction, undermining long-term planning.
• Increasing staff demoralization, based on erratic directives and lack of board alignment.
• Board performance in fundraising is very weak to date outside of convention in 2024.

2. Forward Movement
It is imperative that this current board chooses to change the practices and behaviors that have driven the organization to this current position. What got the organization to this point in time, will absolutely not serve it in moving forward. It is time to actively choose to change.

Organizations thrive when they have all three elements of leadership implemented effectively. Those three organizational leadership elements are:

VISION ALIGNMENT EXECUTION
A. Vision
Best practices dictate that vision is established by the board as a collective body. In contrast, the LNC has allowed this responsibility to rest solely with the chair. The absence of a shared vision has led to reactive governance, diminished stakeholder confidence, and inconsistency in strategic advancement for the organization. When properly developed, from that collective visioning process, the organization’s
strategic plan for the next several years is developed.

The strategic plan is the road map to reach the stated vision. If the vision is not created through a collective process, endorsed and supported by all, the organization will continue to experience disruptive trends and behaviors. Over time those trends become predictable behaviors. This is now the case for the LNC as shown in its downward spiral membership and fundraising support.

B. Alignment
True alignment requires board and staff to co-develop strategies grounded in measurable, attainable goals within available resources. Currently, the LNC operates without a tying its operations to a consistent strategic vision and plan. The recent years of start-stop-resume, fire this person-hire that person are examples of trigger directives of the board which have greatly disrupted alignment.

Short-lived initiatives, abrupt personnel changes, and unclear priorities have disrupted staff alignment and productivity. Using the strategic plan, board and staff can set priorities for each year, that align with the strategic direction envisioned by the board.

C. Execution
Execution should be the responsibility of the staff, supported by board-established goals and resources. At the LNC, execution has been repeatedly disrupted by last-minute board directives. Projects near launch have been halted without notice, creating inefficiencies and damaging morale.

Summary of Vision-Alignment-Execution Status:

Regrettably, LNC is not yet a strong performer in any of the three areas – vision – alignment – or execution. It does not have an annual plan and therefore executes on short term projects that may or may not influence achievement of the new strategic plan goals. This approach wastes precious resources and frustrates the staff team, and other stakeholders.

The start and stop trigger point direction to staff and the rocky finances have directly obstructed the effectiveness of the execution phase the past several years. Severaltimes in the past year, staff has been only short steps away from finishing a launch of a strategy, only to be told at the preverbal ninth hour to stop. This pattern is not only wreaking havoc on the organization’s finances but also impacts the organization’s
reputation.

Accountability and Metrics:
Best practices suggest that staff develop an annual operating plan and budget to execute the strategies and tactics as collaboratively developed. The plan and budget are presented to the board for input and approval. After approval, as the work is being implemented, in that phase of the work, board members serve as volunteers both individually and on committees, to accept and execute necessary tactics as directed by staff.

Accountability is achieved by all through the use of quantifiable metrics to measure the results of strategies. Those are reported monthly (or periodically) in a dashboard format for transparent accountability.
The organization lacks consistent performance metrics and planning tools. The introduction of a dashboard by the executive director is a step in the right direction but requires full board support to be effective.

Board Impact on Accountability
Also, impacting staff morale, is the board’s accountability to achieving its own goals.

When the board sets a goal and does not demonstrate a strong commitment to executing the tasks it collectively agrees to do, credibility suffers.

An example is the board’s recent commitment to emergency fundraising.

At present, the spreadsheet for board fundraising shows only four board members actively have been making calls to help raise funds to pull the organization out of its financial decline. Only one person has produced any results and those alone are not substantive enough to help the financial situation greatly.

This lack of board performance is disheartening to staff/contractors who are worried about their livelihoods and continue to be disappointed by the board’s behaviors in public communications that hurt the organization’s reputation. Fundraising by board members is an expectation of every board member for nearly every type of nonprofit organization.

Staff members want and deserve a strong, unified board that demonstrates the highest levels of professional behavior and emotional intelligence. Everyone wants to work for an organization of highest integrity of which they can be proud.

The major disconnect for this organization is in how it has approached vision, alignment and execution in the past. If the current board can choose to change that dynamic, it could collectively establish a vision for the organization’s next three years. It could choose to be in alignment with each other and staff. That would support the board in raising the funds necessary to operate while demonstrating it can lead. This will foster
an environment where staff can effectively execute.

Abundant personal discipline along with individual and collective behavioral change is needed by this board to mature into demonstrating best practices. The organization is a critical inflexion point for change to either support future success or continue to a slow death.

Recommendations:
• The entire board must work together to craft a bold vision for the party, and create one that finds commonality among its base, is attractive to new supporters, and differentiates a future different that that articulated by the two major political parties.
• The board also needs to focus on its fundraising role to keep the organization alive and build it into a thriving organization with sufficient infrastructure to execute to its bold vision.
• Board members must demonstrate individual and collective restraint to create acohesive brand that is not marred by sniping of opinions in forums outside the board room.

3. Financial Overview
The LNC’s financial operating position is precarious. Key concerns include:
• The former headquarters building presents a substantial financial burden, costing nearly $5,000 monthly. Selling it “as is” may provide short-term relief and would avoid additional costly surprises that inevitably emerge when doing repairs without knowing the full extent of the damage incurred. Getting out sooner versus later creates some financial relief to offset the fundraising downfall.
• The board has not implemented a sustainable long-term fundraising strategy.
• Current revenues positive trends are largely tied to the 2024 JFA fundraising initiative, which has as of April concluded its payments.

In 2024, JFA commissions of $283,373 and better than budgeted convention revenue somewhat obfuscated the poor performance for normal fundraising expectations.

• A review of 2024 budget to actual showed the organization was very weak in reaching its fundraising goals for the Membership Program Revenue Category, reaching only 65.58% of budget, or $972,201 of the proposed $1.5M budget for this category. Of concern, was recurring membership reaching 67% of budget and general fundraising reaching only 48.72% of budget.

• The steadily declining trend in membership and fundraising revenue since 2022 is now worsening. It is clear the party must find commonality and revive its messaging to stakeholders, in order to effectively fundraise

• The board has not implemented its own “emergency” fundraising appeal to sustain hiring a fundraiser.

• The organization cannot sustain mission services if it continues to cut staff.

• No organization can “cut”, or bylaw restrict its way to growth and success. Only increasing revenue will change that.

• On a positive note, the executive director reported that reserves had gotten very low, and there is a renewed effort to increase those funds.

Recommendations:
• Find commonality of consensus points among stakeholders and focus on those to unify the party and bring in support to advance the organization.

• Fundraise to hire a dedicated fundraising expert.

• Develop and execute a comprehensive multi-year fundraising plan based on consensus points to advance the party.

• Launch campaigns targeting new and lapsed members, grounded in a collectively defined board vision.

• Identify and engage major donors aligned with the organization’s new strategic goals.

• The board’s vision of PDR is an exciting one that could motivate growth in membership and financial contributions. Executing that initiative will require growth in IT, communications and direct development of the products and services to support 500 candidates in 2026.

• Restore the targeted reserve to its goal status as noted on page 29 of 46 in the LNC policy document. It reads 11) Targeted Reserve: The targeted Reserve shall be equal to the sum of all monthly occupancy, labor and governance expenses.

Best practice ties the reserve policy to a time specific period established, e.g. the
reserve should be equal to those budget categories covering a period of no less than 120 days and no more than 180 days, for example.

4. Staffing and Morale

The LNC is under-resourced for its national scope. Only two full-time staff members are employed, and the executive director is part-time (32 hours/week). The remaining team comprises of contractors, many of whom hold other full-time positions. That means, understandably, LNC is rarely the first priority for many of its staff/contractors. The organization cannot be the first priority for those who have full time positions, no matter how committed they are. The staffing model is not ideal. The executive director has created a functional organizational chart which works in theory but is under-resourced currently. The recent cuts to staff have not helped. She has to duplicate her efforts for every type of meeting, because of lack of overlapping staffing schedules, which is incredibly inefficient. Piece meal approaches to staffing are not
ideal for long-term sustainability.

The staff/contractor group is highly engaged in executing the mission of the organization. They are passionate about the organization’s purpose for being. They are embarrassed by board behaviors that are less than exemplary and find them very demoralizing and discouraging. The collective staff members long for a mature, governing board that will create a collective vision, raise the resources it needs, drive the organization forward, and provide a stable environment for its employees/contractors in which to produce results together.

The executive director gets great kudos from the staff and is well respected. She gives good direction, has fair and transparent tracking and accountability for their work. She is a coach to them and appears to be a very effective manager. The staff members applaud her ability to help them level set, cut out the distracting behavior of board members, and maintain focus to achieve goals. She is an active partner in understanding their work product, and problem solving with them within the resources available. Yet, when the board calls a halt to an initiative on which staff has been working for months, at the last minute, the staff morale plummets.

During the seven week period of this assignment, the limited level of staffing was cut even more. In the last two weeks, the staff lost the organization’s the only remaining strategist for fundraising. He was known as the primary person with contacts to major donors (the prior chair held some as well.) Staff members believe he was the person with the ability to articulate a selling proposition that seemed worthy to donors.

The impact on the staff morale was substantive, as staff saw that person as providing a financial lifeline to the organization to positively impact its sagging financials. An operational support person also had hours cut, loading even more work onto a beleaguered team and the executive director. People are not working at their highest level of functioning because too much work has been handed to them in comparison to the hours they have available to work.

Job descriptions have not been created consistently in the past and the executive director is rectifying that as she can do so. Recently the Employment Policy and Compensation Committee (EPCC) implemented a consistent template for contractor agreements.

The areas of IT and communications are instrumental to the organization’s viability. One full time IT person works on the current platform. The supervisor and higher level of IT is part time and does his best to keep up the work demands, but acknowledges more time is needed for IT for LNC. The communications person has some inefficiency because of lack of direct access to the tools.

The executive director does a really good job in setting up, managing, and overseeing individual and team work. The team uses Zoho, with its sprints module and the team members reported very favorably on how effective that has been in helping to manage workflow and expectations.

Of note for future review, the current job description of the Executive Director reflects working at the sole discretion of the board chair. Typically, Executive Directors do work most closely with Board Chairs, but for employment purposes are hired by the full board. Executive Directors’ priorities and compensation are set and reviewed annually with the Executive Director by the Board Chair, but only after the Chair solicits input from the full board.

Key Findings:
• Staff morale is low due to inconsistent board directives and public behavior that undermines the organization’s reputation.
• The executive director is highly respected, demonstrating effective leadership, transparent accountability, and operational discipline.
• Staff are deeply committed to the LNC’s mission but are overburdened and discouraged by the current environment.
• Recent staff cuts, including the loss of the primary fundraising strategist, have further weakened operational capacity.
• Staff/contractor contract review should small inconsistencies but no overall big issues of concern.

Positive Developments:
The executive director uses the following meeting structure with the team:
• Sprint planning – 1 to 2 hours every two weeks the executive director meets with the team for planning of actions to achieve the two week sprints. She has to do this twice to accommodate for schedules.
• Daily stand ups – 15 minutes usually does it but occasionally takes longer – she has to do these 3 times each day – because of different staff/contractor schedules.
• Week after planning – 30 to 45 minutes – this is mid-spring to retool the sprint if necessary. She has to do these twice because of different staff/contractor schedules.
• Wrap up – at the end of the spring – to review what tasks were not completed, is there a block or new deadline needed. She has to do these twice because of different staff/contractor schedules.
• All hands meeting – newly implemented – once a month in the evening for everyone to connect and synch initiatives and improve communications.

Recommendations:
Keep a healthy separation of responsibilities of staff and board.
• Allow the executive director to have a larger voice in the viability of board suggested activities, given the reality of staffing and outdated technology.
• As soon as possible, invest in additional staffing resources for key areas such as development, communications and technology, as well as operational support.

5. Efficiency and Infrastructure
The executive director is very organized and manages the team with great efficiency and focus on necessary tasks in priority order. The team uses Zoho, which is a great, reasonably affordable tool for a team this size and offers a lot of functionality within its system tool bar.

The Zoho sprint function provides an at a glance look on status of all projects assigned.

Participants easily can see if a task is still in the “to do” column, moved to “in progress,” “completed,” or “blocked” and you have a note function for any explanations. Also, the executive director requires the staff to use Zoho to log additional requests that might come in from board members, or others created after the sprint was approved.

This helps her ascertain if primary goals have not been met, what other factors could have contributed to that, based on additional requests received.

This is a great system for accountability and has been well received by the staff/contractors. It is simple, transparent and has a timer function if tasks need to time tracked for any reason.

During our work together, the executive director reflected on her own reporting to the board and a dashboard approach was developed, to mitigate the need for narrative reports in the future. This will make it easier for the board to see progress and learn about any blocks or obstacles staff is facing which impede reaching goals.

Technology:
• The Zoho sprint system is proving effective in tracking work progress and managing priorities.
• The IT function is under-resourced; a single full-time staffer is supported by a part-time supervisor. Expanded IT support is needed to scale operations, especially with upcoming initiatives such as the PDR program.
• The organization needs a significant investment in IT systems to achieve its stated goals.
• The communications function IT requires too many independent steps because the communications director needs direct access to the tools.

Internal Processes:
• Zoho is used to manage additional task requests, helping identify scope creep nd resource strain.
• A new dashboard reporting system for the board is being piloted to replace narrative reports, improving clarity and accountability.

6. Recommendations for Growth

To support the LNC’s recovery and growth, the following key changes are recommended:

1. Board Reform and Accountability:
o Establish a collective, board-owned vision for the next 3–5 years.
o Commit to unified messaging for the organization.
o Commit to a set of behaviors that demonstrate emotionally intelligent governance.
o Lead by example, particularly in fundraising efforts and professional conduct.

2. Strategic Planning:
o Set priorities to achieve each year from the strategic plan (ratify existing plan by raising funds and directing the executive director to craft an annual plan and budget for implementation of priorities set by the board.)
o Prioritize initiatives with broad member appeal and unify messaging around shared values.

3. Fundraising and Membership Development:
o Build messaging that focuses on a stronger future for the organization and why member and donor support is necessary to achieve that.
o Launch targeted appeals to major donors and lapsed members.
o Fundraise for the PDR initiative and operational expansion.
o Hire or contract experienced fundraising leadership.
o Teach the board members how to do their role in fundraising.
o Hold board members accountable to deliver.
o Explain the requirement of fundraising accountability for future board prospective members so they know coming in – they must do it or the organization won’t thrive.

4. Operational Stability:
o Empower the executive director and staff to execute approved plans without disruption.
o Restore lost positions critical to development and support.
o Maintain and enhance the Zoho system for internal accountability and transparency.
o Invest in better technology systems to advance the organization’s objectives faster.

5. Culture and Morale:
o Cultivate a professional culture rooted in collaboration and shared purpose to demonstrate to staff and other stakeholders that this board can lead.
o Respect staff time, expertise, and morale by avoiding last-minute changes and public controversies.
o Reinforce a commitment to integrity, professionalism, and high-functioning governance.

Conclusion

The Libertarian National Committee stands at a critical inflection point. Years of fractured leadership, lack of strategic vision, and board dysfunction have contributed to its current challenges.

However, the organization has a dedicated board of members who really want a future that looks different than its past.

That coupled with the passionate, mission-driven staff and untapped potential of the organization can build credibility within stakeholder groups. With collective will, behavioral change, and renewed strategic focus, the LNC can rebuild its credibility, stabilize its finances, and reestablish itself as a strong national force.

Now is the time to choose change — and lead together, as one cohesive board with a bold vision that will engage new supporters.

Appendix: List of Documents Reviewed:

• Employment Contracts
• Contractor Agreements
• LNC Policy Manual
• LNC 2024 Budget to Actual
• LNC 2025 Approved Budget
• LNC Organizational Chart
• Sample Staff Schedule
• LNC Strategic Plan Goals (Memo)
• Zoho – Spring Function
• Executive Director Reports to Board
• LNC Meeting Minutes
• All Team Meeting
• Dashboard Drafts
• Strategic Plan Surveys

© 2025 Mike Shaner