Skills & experience

Tosca Bruno-van Vijfeijken has worked on international development and civil society issues for 30 years, in practice, in academia and as independent consultant, coach and team coach. Tosca supports nonprofit and NGO leaders, managers and board members with leadership training, coaching and team coaching services; she advises on change management, and provides board development as well as organizational health assessment services.

Before launching her consulting practice, Five Oaks Consulting, Tosca was the Director of the Transnational NGO Initiative at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. There, Tosca focused on the governance, leadership and effectiveness of INGOs, directed the TNGO Leadership Institute and advised 5 major NGOs on change management. Earlier, Tosca worked at the European Center for Development Policy Management in the Netherlands, and in Cambodia where she worked for the UNTAC peacekeeping operation, UNDP and PACT. Tosca also served at the World Bank in Washington DC and Vietnam.

Tosca also served as board member of InterAction, Public Interest Registry, Cadasta, ProLiteracy and InterFaith Works. She is the inaugural Non-Resident Fellow at North Carolina State University for the 2025-2026 academic year. Tosca is an occasional international and US-domestic public speaker, host of the podcast NGO Soul + Strategy, and co-author of the book ‘Between Power and Irrelevance: The Future of Transnational NGOs’ (second edition expected in 2026).

Case studies

Tosca helps senior NGO and nonprofit leaders in addressing challenging organizational change management, leadership development and (team) coaching needs. She also supports organizational health assessments and enjoys working on organizational culture change strategies.