OUR APPROACH

Our work is guided by our vision of a world where all people thrive — particularly those who have been kept furthest from resources and power. In pursuit of that vision, we work with nonprofits and grantmakers to transform bold visions into lasting, meaningful change.

We prioritize centering the perspectives of those closest to the issues because we know this yields stronger results. This could take a variety of forms, such as including community members and front-line staff in a strategic planning process, co-creating a capacity-building offering with grantees, or using a participatory research process to inform your strategy.

We are skilled at creating inclusive spaces where all voices are heard. We focus on creating processes that result in equitable outcomes. We bring expertise, structure, and tools that help drive lasting solutions. We prioritize relationships in everything we do, and we aren’t afraid to initiate difficult conversations, surface unspoken assumptions, and question the status quo.

We primarily work with nonprofits, private foundations, community foundations, corporate grantmakers, and funder collaboratives. We want to be your partner in figuring out how to make greater progress toward a world where all people thrive.

Learn more about our commitment to equity and how we check for alignment for new opportunities.

Our work across a range of issue areas allows us to bring a holistic perspective and fresh insights to client engagements. While our skills and experience can help grantmakers and nonprofits working in a range of issue areas, over the years, we bring a breadth and depth of experience in the following issue areas:

• Advancing Equitable Health Outcomes: We have helped clients co-create strategies and programs with the people closest to the issues that affect their health. Our work has helped expand access to healthy food in communities of color, create regional strategies for addressing social determinants of health, and strengthened the capacity of national and community-based nonprofits providing critical health services and advocacy.
• Expanding Opportunities for Children and Youth: Through partnership with dozens of grantmakers and nonprofits focused on education and youth development, we’ve gained insight into the barriers that stand in the way of equitable opportunities for children and youth and strategies for addressing those barriers. We have helped funders and nonprofits build a stronger ecosystem of out-of-school time support; improve access to affordable, quality childcare; and strengthen support for educators and students.
• Building Inclusive Economies: We’ve partnered with nonprofits and funders to design strategies and capacity-building programs that help create solutions for workforce development, affordable housing, supporting entrepreneurs of color, and advancing economic mobility. We’ve worked both at the national level to help organizations pilot and scale solutions and at the regional and local level to help advance strategies that are specific to the local context.