A Message from our CEO, Trisha Cornwell

Here's the full updated About section:

I've been in your shoes.

For seven years, I served as the CEO of EMERGE, a Houston-based nonprofit that I grew from $500K to nearly $6M in revenue while serving 3,000 students and partnering with 5 large public school districts. The work was meaningful, but it was relentless. Leading the day-to-day while trying to plan for the future, manage a growing team, and still show up for my family felt like an impossible balancing act.

I know what it's like to have a bold vision and not enough hours in the day to bring it to life.

The truth is, most nonprofit leaders are already giving everything they have just to run the day-to-day. There's rarely time left over to think strategically or build the systems your organization needs to grow — let alone take a vacation without your inbox following you.

Sound familiar?

  • You've just received a $1M grant from a major foundation — but every senior-level employee qualified to lead this work already has a full plate.

  • Your CFO resigns unexpectedly and you're left carrying the weight of the function while searching for a replacement.

  • You're ready to scale your team but don't have the bandwidth to screen and interview every candidate.

  • You're big enough to have a significant programmatic footprint, but small enough that HR, Operations and Technology don't live on your org chart.

This is exactly where Capacity comes in. We provide experienced, high-quality leaders on a short-term basis — exactly when and where you need them. Whether you need to cover a senior leader on leave, add an extra set of hands during a busy season, or build the systems your organization needs to grow, we plug in quickly and get to work.

You deserve to be a great leader and without experiencing burnout. Capacity makes that possible.

Let's talk.

— Trisha Cornwell, Founder

Jesse Hendrix, CEO College Possible–Texas

“As a first-year Executive Director, having a coach who has actually held this role was invaluable. Her insight, instincts and advice were always timely and relevant.”

CEO, Houston-based Non-Profit

“When our VP of Development left unexpectedly, I was worried about how we would meet our annual fundraising goal. Hiring Trisha from Capacity was a miracle. Her previous experience fundraising enabled her to jump right in, create a plan, navigate our donor database and manage our grant cycle. Having an experienced short-term leader for the team until I rehired for the role gave me the time to focus on our long-term strategy.”

Sandra Nuñez, Managing Director, Latinos for Education Reform

“The Capacity People Management Training was awesome! Having tools and tested frameworks to use with my direct reports has given me a sense of empowerment and up-leveled my performance as a manager. ”

Sarah Cottone, Content Team Leader @ Megawatt Content

“I’ve held management roles for a few years across different companies but never had the opportunity to take a formal management training. The Capacity management training on trust provided a perspective that changed the game for me. I now have frameworks to think and talk about trust that lets me be more intentional with my direct reports and manager. The training was very approachable and left me feeling more confident as a leader”