Remembering Tish Mogan, PANO’s First Standards for Excellence Director

1948-2026

Our dear friend and colleague, Patricia (“Tish”) Mogan, passed away on October 18, 2026, at the age of 78. Tish led PANO’s Standards for Excellence program for 21 years. In keeping with her wishes, there will be no formal service. Anyone who would like to honor her memory is invited to make a gift to a charity of their choosing. 

Tish started at PANO on April 1, 2001. Yes, April Fools’ Day. As our very first Standards for Excellence Director, she worked with the national Standards for Excellence Institute to launch the program in Pennsylvania and built it from the ground up. She traveled to communities all over the state to teach nonprofits about ethical practice and accountability. 

Over the years, she was a trainer, facilitator, consultant, and nonprofit help desk manager, often all in the same week. People called her a “walking encyclopedia of nonprofit know-how” and the “Fairy Godmother of the Standards.” To this day, many still tell us Tish is the reason they joined PANO, and the reason they stayed. 

When it came time to retire, Tish – being a good student of the Standards – wrote her own (very detailed) succession plan. She worked alongside her successor, Heather Giampapa, until she handed over the title of Standards Director in 2022. She didn’t go far. Tish stayed involved as a Licensed Standards for Excellence Consultant, and kept turning up on PANO’s monthly legal webinars with nonprofit attorney Don Kramer. In fact, just days before her death, she joined us for the October webinar. 

For PANO’s 40th anniversary series, Tish sat down with then-Standards Director Ashley Tobin to talk about PANO’s third decade, 2004 to 2014. You can watch a clip of the interview and read the full transcript. 

We’ve created a tribute page where anyone who knew Tish can share a memory, a photo, a video – even their favorite “Tish” learning. May her passion continue to inspire others on their own personal and professional journeys for years to come!