Hello,

As I watch the second season of The Pitt, I am reminded of the heroic work of the health care providers that our team works with daily, whose first priority is achieving patient health and wellness despite the utterly chaotic conditions that they must confront. 

These conditions include lack of policy clarity from Washington, the continued fallout from the closure of community hospitals in Massachusetts nearly two years ago, and sustained cost pressures that make achieving a margin next to impossible – and margins are critical even for nonprofit health care providers. Surplus income is essential for investing in the newest technologies and medical advances. You can read below about one community hospital that is investing in the future despite the fierce fiscal headwinds.

Health care isn’t the only sector filled with challenges. While policy discussions are now focused on the right interventions that include cutting red tape so that it is easier to build housing, the demand for housing still greatly outpaces the supply. Economic conditions, foot-dragging, and NIMBYism is killing worthwhile projects, particularly “infill” projects for vacant blocks in urban core areas. Many small steps will be required because there are no magic bullets – you can read about one such step in the client spotlight below.

Lastly, we are working on several large-scale mergers in the nonprofit sector and expect to see this trend accelerate. As business and policy challenges intensify, scale becomes a necessary solution. We have entered into a new strategic partnership to provide a full suite of M&A services. More details are in company news below.

These interesting times call for innovative solutions. Please let us know how we can help.

Cape Cod has been mired in a housing crisis that has hit a breaking point for the people who make the area work year-round: the health care professionals, public safety personnel, school teachers, and hospitality sector employees. The cause is not a lack of housing; it is that too many homes sit idle for long stretches of the year. The result is that more longstanding Cape residents are moving elsewhere for less costly housing – some over the bridges and others out of state. Without intervention, the Cape could become a place only for the wealthy but lacking the people who actually make things run.

Housing Assistance of Cape Cod, which works to create housing stability for Cape residents, is advancing solutions. The nonprofit organization developed an initiative called Rent 365, which provides incentives to owners of rental properties to take those properties out of the seasonal rental inventory and to rent them instead year-round to Cape Cod residents. While renting year-round generates less revenue than renting to vacationers for short stays over the warm-weather months, an incentive payment made through Rent 365 helps to make up the difference. The data is in, and the program is working, as is a similar effort in Provincetown. More homes are now being used year-round.

This won’t solve the housing crisis on the Cape, but in conjunction with other initiatives to develop more workforce housing and create more homeownership opportunities, it is making a difference. Read a white paper that we developed with Housing Assistance that explains this novel program in great detail, and makes the case for its adoption in other seasonal resort communities.

Sturdy Health marked the opening of its new specialty care building with a ribbon cutting ceremony that was covered by Channel 12 (WPRI, CBS affiliate), Channel 10 (WJAR, NBC affiliate) , and featured in an article by Providence Business News. The new 60,000-square-foot, three-story facility centralizes specialty services – including cancer treatment, hematology, cardiology, gastroenterology, pulmonology, and surgery – and strengthens access to care for patients in the Greater Attleboro area.

The milestone came as Sturdy Health President & CEO Aimee Brewer was also recognized as a 2026 Innovator in Healthcare by the Boston Business Journal.

HopeHealth President & CEO Diana Franchitto and her colleague, Dr. Jennifer Ritzau, joined MassNonprofit News’ Mission Critical podcast, which is designed to explore the missions, perspectives, and strategies of nonprofit executives in Massachusetts. The episode focuses on hospice care and addresses common misconceptions.

Amid renewed public debate and misinformation surrounding autism, The Arc of Massachusetts CEO Maura Sullivan penned an opinion piece for The Boston Globe reflecting on her experience raising two sons on the autism spectrum. In the essay, which responds to claims linking autism to pregnancy-related factors, Sullivan calls for an end to stigma and underscores the importance of evidence-based research.

Residents from North End Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center in Boston, which is supported by Marquis Health Consulting Services, took to the ice during an excursion with Boston Latin Academy’s boys’ varsity ice hockey team. On their seated skates, they practiced with the boys and took a few wrist shots. The outing was featured in national trade journal McKnight’s Long-Term Care News.

A new sensory immersion room supported by The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts was recently unveiled at Southbridge High School as part of the CARES (Clark-Southbridge Advancing Resilience in Education and Support) initiative. The project, in partnership with Southbridge Public Schools and Clark University’s Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise, is designed to help students manage stress during the school day. The ribbon cutting was featured in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. A follow-up visit by Mass. Department of Secondary and Elementary Education Commissioner Pedro Martinez was covered on Boston 25. 

As workforce pressures continue across the human services sector, the Association of Developmental Disabilities Providers (ADDP) released its 2025 Workforce Survey examining staffing trends in Massachusetts. In coverage by GBH News, ADDP highlights that nearly 4,000 positions remain vacant and that rising health insurance costs threaten to make the workforce shortage worse.

The Association for Behavioral Healthcare (ABH) is backing legislation (S.703/H.1276) to require commercial health plan coverage of behavioral health crisis services provided by community behavioral health centers (CBHCs). In an opinion piece in the Boston Business Journal, ABH CEO Lydia Conley outlines the necessity and modest cost of ensuring equitable access to care for Mass. residents. 

Kaitlyn Kenney Walsh succeeded Audrey Shelto as president and CEO of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation, the organization’s first leadership change in a decade.  The Boston Business Journal, Worcester Business Journal, and MassNonprofit News all reported the news. Kenney Walsh has been with the Foundation for over 10 years.

The Coalition for Safe Drinking Water is advocating for stronger protections for over half a million Massachusetts residents who rely on private wells for drinking water. In an opinion piece in the Boston Globe, Bradley M. Campbell, president and CEO of the Conservation Law Foundation, calls for support for bills (S.585/H.900) that would broaden well water testing for PFAS and other harmful contaminants.

When SAMHSA terminated and reinstated over $1 billion dollars in federal grants in less than 24 hours, Julie Burns, RIZE Massachusetts president and CEO, spoke out on the critical nature of these investments for substance use disorder programs in Massachusetts in The Boston Globe, WBUR, and State House News Service. 

Ball Consulting Group & Curtis Strategy Partner on Nonprofit M&A Communications

Effective communications are critical to a successful nonprofit merger. The messaging and sequencing of the news are the building blocks of the communications strategy. For instance, the merits of the merger must be explained to key audiences in proper order and according to a tightly managed schedule. Questions from clients and employees must be anticipated with answers developed long before the deal is announced. External communications to the news media must be carefully planned and implemented. A new brand is often essential for the merged organization.

Depending on the industry or sector, regulatory approvals can be complex, and a strategy must be developed to ensure that stakeholders have input at the right points on the transaction continuum.

We are pleased to have entered into a strategic partnership with Curtis Strategy, a leading consultancy that advises nonprofits on strategic planning, organizational development, succession planning, and M&A strategy. Because communications planning and execution are so pivotal to a successful merger, we are working closely with the Curtis Strategy team to tailor effective communications plans for the mergers that they guide through their collaborative and innovative approach.

Welcome Account Executive Isabel Indresano

The Ball Consulting Group team welcomes new Account Executive Isabel Indresano! Isabel joins from Boston’s Channel 5, where she was the weekend producer. Before that, she was a news producer at a TV station in Portland, Maine. Isabel brings a great broadcast news perspective to our work and we are thrilled to have her.

HousingLab

Applying the Crisis Playbook to

Affordable Housing

David Ball penned an op-ed for the January issue of O’Dwyer’s, a PR trade publication, on applying the principles of crisis communications to the housing crisis. The permitting road is long and arduous, and NIMBY forces are able to kill projects by delaying them until economic conditions are no longer favorable. Social media and frivolous appeals and lawsuits are powerful tools for opponents of new housing.

To meet these forces head on and win approval from city or town hall, Ball makes five recommendations, ranging from generating favorable press to making modest accommodations where possible. You can read the piece here.