Remote Work Can Be Lonely. Here’s How Jen Levy Built and Supports a Community of Nonprofit Leaders.

"Leadership is lonely."

Jen Levy is direct about one of the biggest challenges facing nonprofit leaders in environmental education. As executive director of the Association of Nature Center Administrators (ANCA), she's spent nearly nineteen years connecting isolated leaders across the country.

"If you're the only nature center in town, or maybe in your region, it can feel very isolating," Levy explains. "And it's not just the personal feelings of loneliness, but bouncing ideas off of people, learning about trends and things that work and things that don't work."

ANCA provides exactly that lifeline: a connected peer network for nature centers, outdoor schools, and environmental education nonprofits nationwide. But Levy's path to this work wasn't a straight line.

From Field Biologist to Advocate for Educators

Levy started her career as a seasonal field biologist, but the human element kept pulling her in a different direction. “The jobs where I was interacting with the public, educating people, really spoke to me," she says.

She eventually moved into administration at a local nature center in northern Utah.

"I love being the person who gets the resources that everybody else needs to do their job really well. Because one thing that I've observed is there's just some fabulous, fabulous educators in this field who we need to do everything we can to put them out in front of a group of people: on the trail, in the classroom, wherever it might be."

That philosophy of supporting educators so they can thrive has guided her work ever since. And when ANCA hired its first executive director all those years ago, Levy applied immediately.

When Crisis Sparked Innovation

In April 2020, as the pandemic forced nonprofits across the country to make impossible decisions, ANCA acted quickly.

"I remember that moment very clearly: the first nature center that made the decision to close," Levy recalls. "One of our veteran members reached out and said, 'You need to connect people. Get on Zoom.' "

ANCA launched its CONNECTS program almost immediately, creating space for raw, honest conversations about what nature centers were facing.

"The first few were really just about getting people together to talk about what's happening. What are you hearing? What are you doing?" Levy explains. "And the response was amazing."

What started as a forum to commiserate with kindred spirits became one of ANCA's most valuable offerings. CONNECTS has evolved into a significant revenue source, while giving members an open space to talk about whatever challenges they're facing.

How Ideas Spread Across the Network

Take stick parking, for example. 

"Kids are outside. They're on your property. They're excited. They're hiking. They're picking up sticks, and it becomes their stick," Levy explains. "They get to the front door, and they're told to leave it. No sticks in the building, because staff find them... little pieces of bark, sticks everywhere..."

Someone in the CONNECTS network came up with a simple solution: stick parking. Like an umbrella stand at the door, it gives kids a designated spot for their prized possessions. Now ANCA has photos of creative stick-parking solutions at nature centers nationwide.

But the network tackles more than just stick management. When two CONNECTS members decided to overhaul their HR policies, they worked together to create more flexible, people-centered handbooks, then presented a workshop at ANCA's annual summit to share what they learned.

"People are very generous in sharing," Levy says. "You still have to do the work and make it work for your organization, but it's just super helpful to have resources like that."

The Unique Challenge of Fundraising for Capacity Builders

"We can't necessarily report some of the direct numbers that maybe some funders are looking for: how many students, how much acreage, budget size," Levy explains. "So, the stories we tell need to be a little more complex."

Instead of counting students served, ANCA tells stories about leaders who strengthen organizations, which ultimately strengthen communities. The problems that never happened because someone learned from a peer's mistake? Even harder to quantify.

"Someone might have read about our experience with unlimited PTO and decided it wouldn't work for their culture," Levy says. "There was a decision maybe somebody avoided, and it made all the difference. We just can't necessarily measure that."

The challenge intensifies during crises, when donor dollars naturally flow toward immediate needs like food pantries and emergency shelters.

"Some people feel like, how can I compete with that? How can I get in the way of maybe someone taking their charitable giving and helping people immediately find food, find shelter, find safety?" Levy says. "We're still important, and we still provide things that people need."

Grant applications have gotten easier, with online forms and character counts. Levy notes AI tools can help nonprofits fit narratives into restrictive word limits. New giving vehicles like donor-advised funds and IRA charitable giving offer fresh opportunities for organizations willing to stay current.

What Jen Wishes She'd Known Earlier

When Levy became executive director, she felt the weight of impossible expectations.

"I thought I needed to have all the answers. And maybe it's because I was younger, and it's probably because I'm a woman, but I just felt challenged," she admits. "It's HR, it's finances, it's development work, it's how do I maintain this old building? It's all of these things. But along the way, I learned how important it is to surround yourself with the network you need.”

That includes organizations like ANCA, local networks, state nonprofit associations, and strategically building your board and staff to fill knowledge gaps.

Levy also emphasizes taking time to learn before making decisions; but once you choose a direction, stay the course while remaining adaptable.

Most critically, self-care isn't negotiable. Levy has heard too many stories of directors sleeping in their offices during stressful periods, skipping meals, and neglecting exercise.

"The only way any of us in any job can stay in it for the long haul is to take care of ourselves, both mentally and physically, so that you can stay strong at the job," she says.