Using breadth and depth of experience to support clients with strategic advice and support through complex and uncertain environments. Drawing on expertise in coalition-building and dispute-resolution to build support for multi-donor collaboratives. 

Supporting clients to maximize impact by clarifying goals and articulating strategies to achieve them. 

Philanthropic advisory services may also include review and evaluation of grant proposals; review of philanthropic portfolios with a monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) lens to align with strategy; and other bespoke advisory support.

Working with clients to:

• explore values, passions, and motivations for action,

• create or revise mission and vision statements to guide grantmaking,

• develop a theory of change that considers a funder’s role in the landscape,

• understand where key performance indicators (KPIs) are helpful, and where they are counterproductive, and

• explore approaches to grantmaking through understanding of power-sharing and collaboration techniques.

This work can include:

• facilitation of workshops, including as part of meetings or retreats,

• stakeholder or issue mapping and internal and external stakeholder interviews and analysis,

• trainings for teams to embed strategy into practices and approach, and

• support with communications tools to share mission, vision, and values.

Supporting clients with due diligence and research to understand, review, and develop portfolios to include high-impact grantees aligned with strategy.

Due diligence may include meetings with grantees, background research, writing briefing papers and memos regarding how an organization or work stream sits within a theory of change or power structure, or other forms of research and communications with philanthropic peers and grantees.

Developing and applying risk frameworks, including risk assessments (security, reputational, impact-based, organizational), risk management, risk mitigation, and risk measurement and accountability structures.

With a trust-based philanthropy lens, this work may incorporate collaboration with grantees on areas of shared risk.

Supporting clients to design and operate monitoring, learning, and evaluation (MEL) systems to understand and measure impact and inject learning into strategy and action.

Methods may include desktop research, quantitative analysis, field-based interviews, collaboration with philanthropic peers to share information, and other techniques.

With trust-based philanthropy as a guide, designing systems to differentiate where key performance indicators (KPIs) are helpful, and where they are counterproductive.

Supporting clients to reach audiences with key messages, and communicate in clear, compelling, and inspiring ways.

Specializing in both internal and external communications through communications strategy advising, writing, training, and drafting.

External communications support may include communications with the public, peers, grantees, or the press.

Collaboration with boards, principals, and leadership teams to advance good governance policies, tools, and practices.

This work can include:

• advising organizations on policy and procedure development, 

• development of internal communications tools to improve transparency and effectiveness, 

• board reporting and board-team communications tools, 

• design of monitoring, learning, and evaluation (MEL) systems,

• risk assessment and safety and security policies and procedures,

• due diligence processes, and

• grievance and accountability policy and procedures.

Consulting to plan and execute high-quality events and convenings, including board meetings, grantee conferences, and donor collaboratives.