Our Services
Consulting for Nonprofits, Foundations & Social Impact Organizations
How we work
Our approach draws on human-centered design methods from Stanford’s d.school and the public narrative framework taught at Harvard Kennedy School. We start with the people closest to the work, test ideas before you commit resources to them, and help leaders tell a story their board, staff, and community can act on.
Who we work with
Executive directors, boards, and staff teams at nonprofits, coalitions, and public agencies, plus conference and event organizers looking for speakers and facilitators. Every service below can be scoped as a standalone engagement or combined to fit what your organization needs right now.
Our practice areas
Strategy Activation
The best strategies are the ones your whole team already believes in, and actually lives by. We facilitate the process of getting to a clear, shared direction, then stay engaged to help you build the structures, decision rights, and accountability systems that turn that direction into how your organization runs.
- Strategic Direction: equity-centered strategic planning with clear priorities, measurable outcomes, and defined metrics.
- Theory of Change: a clear line from daily decisions to the long-term systems change you’re working toward.
- Ongoing Activation Cycles: quarterly implementation cycles that turn strategy into action, with accountability built in.
Community-Centered Design
The strongest systems are the ones a community helps build. We bring structured, human-centered design methods to your engagement work, creating space for real community voice, surfacing options your team hasn’t considered, and building something people trust because they helped shape it.
- From Insight to Action: a structured design sprint that turns real community input into a concrete, actionable plan.
- Listening Sessions & Advisory Groups: facilitated spaces that bring the people closest to the work into the decisions that affect them.
- Collaborative & Participatory Planning: larger-scale processes that produce a plan a community helped shape and will stand behind.
Story & Voice
Every organization is carrying stories that haven’t been told yet, the ones that explain why the work matters. We help you find those stories, tell them well, and use them with confidence across fundraising, advocacy, and everyday conversations about your work.
- Narrative Capacity Building: developing your team’s ongoing ability to gather and tell stories, not a one-time deliverable.
- Storytelling for Fundraising & Advocacy: sharpening the language and moments that move funders and partners to act.
- Visual & Documentary Storytelling: photography and documentation that capture the work as it’s actually happening.
Leading Forward
Great leadership gets stronger with the right space to think it through. Whether you’re navigating pressure in your current role, stepping into something new, or preparing your organization and board for what’s next, we help leaders build clarity, confidence, and systems that don’t depend on any one person in the seat.
- Executive Coaching: confidential, ongoing coaching for Bay Area and Napa County nonprofit leaders.
- New Leader Coaching: dedicated support for leaders stepping into a role for the first time.
- Whole-Organization Coaching: one-on-one coaching for senior leaders across your organization, with patterns from those sessions synthesized to pinpoint where to invest in your team’s growth.
- Board Development & Governance: clear roles, sharper decision-making, and shared accountability.
- Succession Planning & Readiness: a transition framework that reflects your values and leaves your team ready.
- Curriculum & Learning Design: workshops, toolkits, and learning series that make leadership development stick.
Additional support
Focused engagements for specific moments, from a single board retreat to interim leadership or a keynote.
Retreats
- Staff Retreat Facilitation
- Board Retreat Facilitation
Learning & Development
- Trainings & Workshops
- Capacity Building
Leadership Support
- Interim Team Leadership
- Fractional Leadership
Speaking
- Keynote Speaking
- Panelist & Moderator
ALIGN Impact Lab. Human-centered. Future-ready.
A multi-year partnership
ALIGN Impact Lab builds the strategy, systems, and shared ownership your organization needs, with built-in support to see it through. We work inside your organization for a Year 1 intensive, followed by two years of coaching and support, with community voice shaping every phase.
The goal isn’t to hand you a plan. It’s to build the clarity, operational strength, and shared ownership that make the plan happen, across your board, your staff, and the communities you serve. The result: durable independence. Built in, not borrowed.
The six phases
- 01Community-Grounded Vision: structured community listening shapes the strategy, not as input, but as co-author.
- 02Strategic Direction: equity-centered direction with clear priorities, measurable outcomes, and defined metrics.
- 03Theory of Change: a clear line from daily decisions to the long-term systems change you’re working toward.
- 04Strategy Activation: quarterly cycles that turn strategy into action with weekly accountability.
- 05Reflection + Storytelling: storytelling that builds visibility, credibility, and real funding power.
- 06Execution Cycles: cycles of execution, reflection, and adjustment that keep strategy alive.
Three years, built in stages
Year 1: Intensive
We work inside your organization alongside your board and staff, moving through community listening, strategic direction, and your theory of change, then launching your first activation cycles.
Years 2 and 3: Coaching & support
We step back into a coaching role while your team leads the work, with structured cycles of execution, reflection, and adjustment that keep the strategy alive.
Community voice throughout
The people your organization serves help shape every phase, from the first listening session to the stories you tell about the results.
Program benefits
What your board and leadership team can expect from the partnership:
- A strategic plan with measurable targetsClear priorities, defined outcomes, and metrics your board can govern against and report on.
- Clear decision rights and accountabilityEveryone, from the board to program staff, knows who owns which decisions and which results.
- Progress you can see every quarterQuarterly activation cycles turn the plan into scheduled work, so your board reviews results, not just intentions.
- A stronger case for fundingA theory of change and an impact story that show funders exactly how their investment leads to results.
- Credibility with the community you serveCommunity input built into the plan itself, strengthening trust with partners, funders, and constituents.
- A team that sustains the workTwo years of coaching after the Year 1 intensive builds your team’s capacity to lead the strategy with confidence, so progress continues beyond any single leader or plan.
Now scheduling engagements
If your organization is ready for a deeper, multi-year partnership, start with a short interest form. Prefer to talk it through first? We’re happy to answer questions and help you decide whether ALIGN is the right fit.
Not sure which fits? Start with a conversation.
Every organization we work with is different, but the first step is always the same. Tell us where you’re headed and we’ll help you find the right place to begin.