51����

“I have had to deconstruct and reconstruct many things in my life,” says Lauren Dillon ’06.

At 51����, Dillon imagined becoming a foreign news correspondent, but she pivoted toward public service shortly after college. She quickly climbed the traditional public service ladder, fundraising for small nonprofit organizations in the heart of Chicago’s economically challenged south and westside communities. But by 28 years old, she burned out and imagined adding new rungs to the ladder.

The idea to help nonprofits improve their fundraising outcomes emerged on a six-month career sabbatical, resulting in the company Triad Resource Group. Later, a career mentor joined her and, together, they developed a distinct blueprint for growing emergent organizations. The premise was simple: organizations do not need complex missions and visions; they need sharp, concise impact statements with a well-defined beginning and end point for reaching their impact goals.

Dillon added specialized independent contractors to come alongside organizations with budgets ranging from $1–5 million. In tandem with organizations’ leaders, her team reverse engineered these client organizations from top to bottom to achieve their goals and increase their capacity. Donors also appreciated the plain and effective communication of the approach. Over six to 12 months, Dillon would see organizational capacity double and sometimes triple.

But life dramatically shifted in 2021. Motherhood, Covid-19, divorce, and a newly diagnosed chronic illness prompted Dillon to reconsider her own capacity. “Triad is in its sunset,” she says. “But the concept isn’t.”

Living with chronic illness has Dillon imagining how Triad’s model of helping companies reverse engineer themselves to achieve maximum impact could help individuals in her shoes navigate limitations with purpose. “Reverse engineer a company, reverse engineer a life. Why not?” she ponders.

She believes the approach could empower people to find more meaning and direction in their lives. As she looks ahead, she is considering further education, perhaps a master’s degree in social work. “How do we hold on to a dream—or rewrite it—when the unexpected happens?”