Helping mission-driven firms deliver sustainable, scalable social impact.
You’re not lacking passion
Probably not drive, instinct, or conviction either. The problems that you're solving demand it.
But are you confident in your strategy to get from A to B? Is there a C or D you should be shooting for? How will you resource it? Evaluate it? What partners will you need?
These are just some of the questions that you'll have to answer to deliver the results that your clients, customers, investors, and constituents deserve.
That's where we come in.
strategy
Whether you're a nonprofit, for-profit, intermediary, foundation, or government agency, you won't get your idea to market without a strategy. Using tools like lean startup and business plan canvas we can help you envision, design, articulate, and execute.
Whether its expanding your social enterprise, engaging your stakeholders, developing new initiatives, or sourcing your next impact investments, we can map out the market, find accessible entry points, focus your value proposition, chart the course to growth, and leverage our network to get you off of the launchpad.
operations
Struggling to execute? Need a turn-around? Interim senior leadership? We've been there. Literally.
With experience from the boardroom to the mailroom and with perspectives informed by our roles as executive directors, investors, program managers, team leaders, and the day-to-day go-to, we're ready to help our clients deal with the crises, deadlines, outmoded systems, and ever-present "why doesn't this work better?" More importantly, we can draw-up the blueprint to get you beyond the moment and build the infrastructure you need to work smarter.
partnerships
"Collective impact" is more than a buzzword to us. The intractable challenges facing our communities will not be solved by a single organization or solution. And while we resist overbuilding and overcomplicating, there needs to be a compelling, market-tested reason to go it alone. There's just too much time and resource-sucking redundancy in the social impact space.
We specialize in developing partnerships—particularly those between uncommon bedfellows or across sectors—that enable your impact to go farther, faster. We help you negotiate roles and resources to align incentives and create mutually reinforcing relationships at the local, regional, or national level. And while we don't force marriages, we have an extensive network of business, nonprofit, philanthropic and public sector partners that are looking to work with organizations like yours that can help them achieve their goals.
fundraising
Let's face it. No one likes this part of the job. There's never enough money for mission. And while we don't subscribe to a "build-it-and-they-will-come" strategy, we believe that it takes money to raise money. More specifically, it takes disciplined, strategic investments in the right hypothesis-testing of your theory of change.
We've raised tens of millions of dollars by matching donors, program officers, impact investors, and public funders with the right investment opportunity. We'll help make your investment thesis clear and compelling, but also help you find the right funding partners. We identify and research prospects, develop approaches and pitches, write grants and proposals, and network each opportunity to get to funding decisions quickly.
why an anvil?
An anvil is a basic tool, a block with a hard surface on which another object is struck. The block is as massive as it is practical, because the higher the inertia of the anvil, the more efficiently it causes the energy of the striking tool to be transferred to the work piece.
I don't know about you, but if I'm really passionate about my work, I sometimes need inertia to slow me down just enough to make me acknowledge my surroundings. Sometimes I need something in my way "as massive as it is practical" to cause me to test my assumptions; a forcing mechanism to problem-solve or pivot on my idea.
With strategy consulting, if we do our jobs right, your passion (the striking tool) meets our "inertia" with "the work piece" (your idea, plan, or scheme) in-between. The more we ground your enthusiasm in reality, the more energy will ultimately be transferred to your mission.
If this makes us sound like a bunch of bubble-bursting kill joys, you might need us more than you think. If that's the case, let's talk.