Sectors
Educational leaders confront complex, interconnected challenges
Educational institutions face funding challenges, regulatory and policy uncertainty, recruiting and labor shortages, a fast-evolving technology environment and above all else, the need to deliver for students. These problems are often interconnected and defy easy answers.
Keeping up with federal, state and accreditation requirements can place a significant burden on already stretched teams. Compliance expectations continue to evolve, creating operational and financial risk for institutions that lack specialized resources. Wipfli’s team includes professionals with firsthand education experience who understand the regulatory environment and can provide practical guidance tailored to your institution.
Educational institutions are increasingly targeted by cybercriminals, putting sensitive student, employee and financial data at risk. At the same time, many schools and higher education institutions are working with limited technology resources and aging systems. Wipfli combines education-focused technology, cybersecurity and risk advisory services to help you strengthen security and modernize infrastructure.
Recruiting and retaining qualified faculty, administrators and support staff remains a persistent challenge across education. Our team can help you strengthen leadership, optimize processes and manage change so that staff feel empowered to navigate the next initiative and support better student outcomes.
Fluctuating enrollment, budget pressures and changing funding sources can make long-term planning difficult. Institutions need strategies that help them maximize resources while maintaining financial stability and student outcomes. Our integrated support across finance, strategy, operations and technology can help you make informed decisions and prepare for what’s ahead.
Explore our services for the education industry
We advise leaders at educational institutions on how to overcome today’s challenges and meet the moment. Ask us for help navigating uncertainty, tackling regulatory compliance, meeting audit and tax reporting requirements, strengthening your organizational performance and making technology an asset for your team and students.
Insights for education leaders
EVENT | December 1, 2026
Virtual Stronger to Serve 2026
Feel confident and ready to lead your nonprofit into 2027. Join this special online Stronger to Serve event to exhale, regroup with fellow nonprofit professionals and learn actionable strategies to help your organization grow stronger in the new year.
RESEARCH REPORT
The state of nonprofit, government and education research report
Leaders are managing complexity in different ways. Nonprofit, government and education (NGE) leaders are facing similar strategic tensions: financial pressures, technology integration and talent retention. But their responses often vary. Wipfli surveyed 299 executive-level leaders across these sectors to identify their top challenges. Across the sectors, we found: Financial outlooks vary: Government respondents reported the strongest optimism about their organizations’ financial stability. Nonprofit respondents were moderately optimistic about their own organizations but less so about the sector as a whole. Education respondents expressed the least confidence in both their current and future financial outlooks. Technology maturity differs sharply: Only about one-third of nonprofit respondents described their organizations as “advanced” or “cutting-edge.” In contrast, roughly half of government respondents and nearly two-thirds of education respondents reported mature integration levels. Cybersecurity concerns are widespread — and warranted: Nearly half of nonprofit and government respondents — and three-quarters of education respondents — reported detecting three or more incidents of unauthorized network access in the past year. AI strategies are emerging — but unevenly: While 84% of education respondents say they have a defined AI strategy, nonprofit and government respondents are more evenly split between exploration and focused implementation. The full report unpacks how the data manifests in real organizations — and how NGE leaders build stronger people strategies, financial resilience and technology readiness in a complex and changing environment.
Reach out to our team
Let ’ s talk about how we can help your institution become more resilient, effective and impactful. Connect with our experienced education advisors to share your challenges and develop a plan to solve them.
LET'S CONNECT
Let Wipfli help you improve student support, protect your assets and transform your infrastructure.
