Praise for The Deep End

“Writing it from Alex’s interior thoughts makes your work so much more readable and so much more affecting than the usual all-knowing impersonal voice of the usual fundraising text. I applaud your assertion that financial competence is essential to nonprofit leadership and admire the way you tie Alex’s growing financial competence and confidence to her evolution as a strategic leader. I haven’t seen another book that addresses those issues and, if they have, I can’t imagine it being done better.”

~ Jim Langley, President, Langley Innovations, USA

“This book will be a phenomenal resource for non-profit leaders. The narrative style and compelling story will resonate with leaders from all backgrounds, and makes the strategies and tools that are shared quickly accessible and understandable. More importantly, the book offers practical approaches to directly address some of the harmful myths and misunderstandings that plague the sector. To ensure the future viability of community based organizations, it is critical that we move away from fear based strategies that hide the true cost of social impact programs. The sector as a whole needs to continue the shift towards courageous sharing of what resources are available and required to ensure a bright future for community based organizations. This book offers the vocabulary, tools, and guidance to make this possible.”

~ Mark Friesen, Executive Director, Hollyburn Community Services Society

“Financial management isn’t always the easiest topic to make engaging and accessible, but The Deep End succeeds brilliantly. The story format brings the concepts to life, making them relatable, practical, and easy to understand. This is an excellent resource for nonprofit leaders who want to strengthen both their financial confidence and their organization’s sustainability.”

~ Barbara McMillan, Executive Director, Men’s Sheds Canada

“As someone who has spent decades building fundraising and donation platforms and working with organizations at every stage of maturity, I’m used to books that either oversimplify the money conversation into basic techniques or treat donors as an ATM to be optimized. The Deep End does something more important: it insists that understanding money is part of the mission work, not a distraction from it, and it gives leaders the language and mental models to finally see their numbers as a narrative of impact instead of a source of shame. Alex’s journey from a scarcity mindset of “doing more with less” to naming true costs and refusing to make the mission smaller just to keep financial conversations comfortable will resonate with anyone who has ever stared at a payroll deadline and felt the weight of staff trust and program continuity on their shoulders.”

“I also appreciated the book’s insistence that overhead is oxygen, not waste, and that creating reliable infrastructure is an act of compassion for both people working in cause and the beneficiaries of the organization’s work. That focus on sustainability and full-cost funding is where I hope the sector continues to evolve: toward engaging donors as partners in impact and active advocates for the mission, cultivating small recurring donors as future major supporters, and treating operational revenue and unrestricted cash as the backbone of long-term resilience rather than an afterthought.”

“I look forward to seeing where Gord and Kathy take this series of books, but this one, in particular, is a vital first step: a book that finally names the hidden financial realities nonprofit leaders live with, and invites them out of isolation into more honest, courageous leadership. For executive directors, board members, and fundraisers who care deeply about their mission but feel like they’re “in the deep end” with money, this book offers not just tools, but emotional validation and a path forward. It’s the kind of work that can change how a sector talks about financial health—from reactive, grant-chasing scarcity to intentional, impact-driven strategy—and I’m grateful to Gord and Kathy for putting so much of the hard truth, and hard-earned wisdom, on the page.”

~ Daryl Hatton, CEO, ConnectionPoint

“The Deep End transforms nonprofit financial leadership from an intimidating subject into an accessible and engaging journey. Through a compelling story and practical tools, Gordon Holley and Kathy Arney demonstrate that financial literacy is not separate from mission leadership, it is essential to it. This is a valuable resource for nonprofit executives, board members, and emerging leaders seeking to build stronger, more sustainable organizations.”

~ Neelam Sahota, FCPA, FCGA, ICD.D, Chief Executive Officer, DIVERSEcity Community Resources Society

“This is a book I will read and reference often, and I will buy copies for every board I sit on. Told as a story, in the tradition of The Goal and The Wealthy Barber, it makes the finances of a nonprofit clear and engaging. But its real subject is strategic leadership. The finances are a means to that end, and the authors describe that kind of leadership with unusual clarity. It is full of quotable truths, and every one of them applies to the boards I serve on. I especially appreciated the chapter on fundraising, which provides a step-by-step recipe for success. Many capable people turn down board seats because they don’t feel comfortable with the finances. The next time I hear that, I’ll hand them a copy of this book.”

~ Mary-Ann Booth, retired lawyer, board member and former Mayor, District of West Vancouver

“The Deep End does something rare: it makes nonprofit finance human. Through Alex’s story, Kathy Arney and Gordon Holley show that clarity about money is an act of leadership, and that strong missions deserve strong funding. Every new executive director should read this before their first board meeting.”

~ Claude Lestage, consultant en gestion et développement philanthropique

“Working as a capacity building organization in the non-profit sector, it is easy to recognize the key struggles that organizations face. This book, The Deep End, provides important advice and framing to help non-profit leaders build more stability and impact in their organizations. When fundraising and financial management are not linked, a lot of insights are missed and conversely when they are linked, a lot of clarity can emerge. I’d recommend The Deep End to any emerging or new Executive Directors in the field.”

~ Zahra Esmail, CEO, Vantage Point

“As soon as I finished it, I immediately went back and read it a second time, the lessons were so pertinent! I’m already planning to give it to several Executive Directors I know.”

~ Kylie Hutchinson, Nonprofit Consultant, Community Solutions Planning & Evaluation

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