Strategic COO Advising

A trusted partnership to align your internal systems and unlock impact for the communities you serve

Set up a Discovery call

About Advising Services

For Mission Driven Leaders

Essential Operations Functions

Nonprofit leaders wear a thousand hats. When operations, finance, or strategy stretch beyond your bandwidth, Mission Driven Ops provides trusted, behind-the-scenes guidance so you can lead with clarity and confidence. Our advising model gives you a dedicated partner—someone who’s been in the seat—to help you make smart decisions and drive execution.

More and more nonprofits are seeing the benefits of adding a Chief Operating Officer: clear accountability, sharper execution, and a stronger connection between vision and operations. But not every organization can afford—or needs—a full-time COO. Whether you’re leading solo, building out your ops team, or navigating a pivotal season, Strategic COO Advising offers flexible, high-level support without the overhead.

With Strategic COO Advising, you gain access to a trusted partner who understands the tradeoffs, centers equity and sustainability, and knows how to move things forward—even when the road gets messy.

Strategic COO Advising is for nonprofit leaders ready to take action and fuel their organization’s impact. When your internal systems are clear and connected—finance, HR, strategy, tech—you can lead with confidence and unlock more for the communities you serve.

  • Executive Directors and CEOs leading without a COO, juggling finance, HR, legal, and strategy—often alone

  • First-time COOs or Directors of Operations who want an experienced sounding board to level up their thinking and execution

  • Leaders in transition—whether scaling up, stabilizing after a shake-up, or preparing for a big shift in funding, structure, or strategy

  • Funders, board members, or interim leaders who need short-term executive ops guidance while permanent capacity is built

  • Organizations of any size that know operations matter, but aren’t quite ready to hire a full-time COO

Strong operations don’t happen by accident—they’re built through intentional decisions, well-aligned systems, and leadership that understands the tradeoffs. Strategic COO Advising provides support across the areas where structure, sustainability, and equity intersect. Topics often include:

  • Finance: Building a budget that reflects your strategy and values

  • Governance: Aligning boards of directors with operational realities and decisions

  • People and culture (human resources): Designing teams, roles, and practices that support your people

  • Information systems & technology: Selecting and implementing the right tools for impact

  • Legal and risk management: Spotting issues early and protecting your organization

  • Strategic planning and execution: Turning vision into operational clarity and traction

  • Organizational decision making: Improving how decisions get made and communicated

Strategic COO Advising Tiers

  • Essentials

    You want consistent access to a trusted advisor

    Includes a monthly meeting per month and two additional hours per month to review documents or provide advising over email.  Partners can expect a 48 hours response time.

    Monthly Fee: $600

  • Core Partner

    Your navigating a complex or high-stakes season

    Includes a two meetings per month and four additional hours per month to review documents or provide advising over email.  Partners can expect a 24 hours response time.

    Monthly Fee: $1200

  • Executive Ally

    Includes a three meetings per month and six additional hours per month to review documents or provide advising over email.  Partners can expect a same-day response time.

    Monthly Fee: $1800

Schedule a Discovery Call

Alex Cantu

“Sometimes you don’t need another hire—you just need someone who’s been in the seat and sees operations as a form of care.

That’s what Strategic COO Advising is about: helping you make thoughtful, aligned decisions that support your people and your mission.”

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

  • Strategic COO Advising offers high-level thought partnership, decision support, and operational guidance—without embedding someone inside your organization full-time. You still lead; we help you lead smarter.

    This isn’t a contractor role or back-office service. It’s an executive advising model designed to help you make sharper, faster, more aligned decisions across operations, finance, HR, and systems.

  • No. Mission Driven Ops provides advising and guidance—not hands-on operational management. We’re here to help you think through decisions, support your team, and bring clarity to complex issues. If you need someone to manage projects, logistics, or back-office functions, we can help you scope that separately or refer you to trusted vendors.

  • Not at all. While many of our partners are Executive Directors or CEOs leading without a COO, we also support:

    • First-time COOs or Directors of Operations who want a thought partner

    • Interim leaders navigating transitions

    • Organizations restructuring their ops teams or preparing for growth
      If you’re leading operations—or making decisions that affect them—this service is for you.

  • Mission Driven Ops has supported direct service orgs, funders, intermediaries, coalitions, schools, and more. Most advising partners fall in the $100K–$25M budget range. What matters most is not size, but mindset: the best fit is a leader who wants to lead with clarity, improve execution, and align their systems with their values.

  • Strategic COO Advising often includes advising on budget narratives, tradeoffs, or planning conversations. That said, if you need hands-on budget modeling, spreadsheet revisions, or full scenario planning, we may recommend layering in a Budgeting for Impact engagement.

    Advising is about thought partnership. Budgeting services are about rolling up our sleeves and rebuilding the model. We’re happy to help you figure out which level of support is right.

  • Each advising tier includes an ideal response time—48 hours, 24 hours, or same-day—depending on your plan. These response windows reflect typical availability during working weeks.

    That said, we believe in modeling healthy leadership, which includes time away. Occasionally, response times may shift during planned breaks, travel, or heavy facilitation weeks. When that happens, we’ll communicate clearly and set expectations early.

  • COO Advising goes beyond leadership reflection or personal development. While we do support your growth as a leader, our focus is on getting things done. We help you triage issues, troubleshoot barriers, communicate clearly, and move your organization forward—across budgets, systems, staffing, and risk. It’s strategy + execution, grounded in real nonprofit experience.

  • No. Mission Driven Ops is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice or representation. While legal-adjacent topics—like contracts, compliance, or risk management—may come up during Strategic COO Advising, all legal decisions remain the responsibility of the client. We strongly recommend consulting with qualified legal counsel before taking action on legal matters.

    Mission Driven Ops is not liable for any legal outcomes or damages that may arise from decisions made based on our advising. That said, we often help leaders spot risks early, prepare for productive conversations with attorneys, and integrate legal considerations into broader operational planning.

  • Yes. People and culture are core to nonprofit operations, and Strategic COO Advising often includes support around staffing structures, role clarity, performance conversations, team dynamics, and organizational values.

    While we don’t specialize in technical HR services like compensation studies or compliance audits, we’re happy to advise on these topics at a strategic level—or review draft materials as part of your advising hours. When deeper technical expertise is needed, we may recommend bringing in a specialized HR partner.

    Mission Driven Ops approaches HR through an operational lens: helping leaders make thoughtful, aligned decisions about their teams, navigate complexity with care, and strengthen the systems that support your people.

    Please note that all final personnel decisions remain the responsibility of the client. Mission Driven Ops is not liable for any employment-related or legal outcomes resulting from actions taken based on our advising.


  • Each tier includes:

    • 1 to 3 hours/month of live advising calls (depending on tier)

    • Additional time for document review, written guidance, or async advising

    • Dedicated response time (48 hours, 24 hours, or same-day)

    • A trusted partner who’s been in the seat and understands your world
      We can help you decide which tier fits your needs—or start small and scale up.

  • All Strategic COO Advising is led directly by Alex Cantu, a seasoned nonprofit COO with deep experience across operations, finance, HR, legal, and systems. You won’t be passed off to junior staff or a rotating bench. You get direct access to a trusted advisor who’s worked with organizations from $100K to $100M+ in budget size—and who knows what it’s like to hold the weight of a big decision.

  • All advising engagements start with a 3-month minimum commitment, because meaningful impact takes time. After that, you’re welcome to continue month-to-month or prepay for a 6- or 12-month package at a discounted rate. If you’re in an acute moment of transition or challenge, we’ll work together to scope the right level of support.

  • Absolutely—especially if your team includes finance, HR, or operations staff who could benefit from support. We recommend identifying a primary point of contact, but we’re happy to involve others as needed. We often coach and upskill emerging operations leaders as part of the engagement.