Our Vision for the Social Sector

We believe that the social sector can:

• Actively lead the charge to address racism and the structural and systemic inequities in our communities to ensure a just, civil society where all people thrive
  
• Integrate participatory models of leadership and decision-making that are inclusive of community members/those impacted
  
• Build adaptive, learning organizations and systems that can continuously align internal functioning with external demand and aspirations for impact
  
• Foster deeper coordination and collaboration by recognizing the interconnectedness of funding, services, and segments within the social sector
  
• Shift scarcity models to models of abundance
  
• Develop new and seasoned leaders to encourage learning and adaptation.
  

Implications for Our Work

To advance our vision for the social sector, as we work with our clients, we strive to:

• Actively amplify the voices of those most impacted. We believe our role as consultants is to value and center the knowledge of those that are served by the organizations we work with, as well as the stakeholders most invested in their work including staff, Board, community partners, and funders. We explore and advance models to share power in organizations and processes.
  
• Advance racial equity. We believe racial equity is the starting point for understanding and addressing how systems, institutions, and communities contribute to disparities. We believe each organization, including our own Network, must begin a journey to reflect on and integrate advancing racial equity in their work. We seek to meet our clients where they are in their journey and support leadership alignment and commitment to moving their journey forward.
  
• Support informed and empowered decision making. We believe in evidence-based approaches, raising information in an objective way, and creating ways to synthesize data to support decision making. The information we raise can create a base of shared understanding upon which our clients can make better decisions. We not only seek to communicate information in an accessible and usable way, but also to show and not tell.
  

Our Values

In all our efforts and interactions, we strive to uphold the following values:

• Respect. All our relationships are based on respect. We share a deep, mutual respect for differing expertise, fields, work styles, perspectives, and objectives, as well as life experiences and choices.
  
• Curiosity. We believe in asking questions, reading, learning more, and engaging each other and our clients in exploring new ideas and concepts.
  
• Accountability. As a geographically distributed team that supports our clients both virtually and in-person, we are accountable to each other and to our clients. Accountability means communicating often, following through, and being reliable.
  
• Intent and Impact. We believe in being kind, assuming good intent, and in using humble inquiry to deepen our understanding of others. We also acknowledge that even with good intent, harm or hurt is possible, and in those moments, we acknowledge that impact, take responsibility for the harm, and commit to reflection to ensure it does not occur again.
  
• Optimism. We bring a positive attitude to all our interactions and seek ways to bring lightness, joy, and laughter into our Network and in our work with our clients.