Shannon Farrar
Instructor, "Building Your New Nonprofit: What Every Founder Needs to Know," and "Introduction to Nonprofit Management." Both classes are offered in July and August 2026.
Shannon Farrar is a nonprofit consultant, grant strategist, trainer, and leadership coach with more than 25 years of experience helping mission-driven organizations strengthen their funding, governance, programs, and long-term sustainability. Shannon brings deep expertise in nonprofit management, health and human services, grant writing, organizational development, and strategic planning.
Throughout her career, Shannon has worked with nonprofits at various stages of growth, from emerging organizations establishing their first funding foundation to established agencies seeking stronger systems, clearer strategies, and more sustainable revenue. Her work centers on helping nonprofit leaders move from urgency and overwhelm toward structure, confidence, and measurable impact.
As a facilitator, Shannon brings both technical expertise and lived leadership experience into the classroom. She understands the realities nonprofit professionals face: balancing mission and money, supporting staff and boards, meeting funder expectations, building community trust, and making decisions with limited resources. Her teaching style is grounded, accessible, and practical, offering participants tools they can apply immediately in their own organizations.
In her nonprofit management classes, Shannon helps participants explore the essential building blocks of effective organizations, including leadership, board engagement, grant readiness, strategic planning, program design, fundraising, compliance, stewardship, and impact reporting. She is especially skilled at helping leaders connect big-picture mission with the everyday systems that make nonprofit work sustainable.
Shannon’s approach is rooted in the belief that strong nonprofits are not built by passion alone. They require clarity, structure, sound governance, transparent finances, meaningful relationships, and a compelling story of impact. Through her training and consulting, she helps nonprofit professionals develop the confidence and capacity to lead organizations that are not only fundable but resilient, accountable, and deeply connected to the communities they serve.