January 2026 | 4 minute read

The Year You Build

Every January, the same question lands on mission-driven leaders: "What can we realistically accomplish this year?"
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But realistic has a way of shrinking. It starts as pragmatism and ends as permission to stay small. The outreach program that could reach three new counties becomes "let's stabilize what we have." The mobile health clinic idea stays in the planning folder. The after-school expansion waits for "better timing."
And the organization enters December having maintained. Survived. Kept the lights on.

There's nothing wrong with maintenance. Sustainability matters. But if every year is a maintenance year, the mission starts to fit the constraints instead of the other way around.
What changes when you plan forward instead of around?
The organizations that expand their impact tend to share a common trait: they stop asking "what can we do with what we have?" and start asking "what do we need to do what we're here for?"

That shift sounds simple. It's not. It requires looking at infrastructure, staffing, funding, technology, connectivity, as capacity to be built rather than limitations to be managed. It means treating 2026 as a building year.

For many organizations, connectivity sits at the center of that equation. Programs that reach beyond your walls require reliable access. Telehealth, mobile services, community outreach, digital literacy initiatives, off-site programming, none of it works if the connection doesn't.

The question for January
What's been stuck on your whiteboard? What would move from "someday" to "this year" if infrastructure stopped being the bottleneck?

2026 can be a maintenance year. Or it can be the year you finally build toward what your mission actually requires.

The difference often starts with a single decision: to stop planning around limitations and start planning toward what's possible.