Our Work

Our Values

These values serve as a commitment to ourselves, to our work, and to the collaborators, leaders, consultants, funders, and partners with whom we work. They are also an invitation to our community to hold us accountable. We seek to use our values to create systemic change; collaborate with stakeholders and leaders to build power, equity, and sustainability within our ecosystem; and address systematic oppression. 

Equity, Justice, & Liberation

We believe that disruption of oppression in all its forms––systemic, organizational, interpersonal, and personal––is required to achieve liberation for us all. We commit to centering racial, gender, and economic justice strategies core to that disruption in everything that we do, including our organizational practices. We do this by ensuring that our values and anti-oppression principles drive our programs and partnerships; naming power dynamics and working to shift them; and committing our time and resources to this work.

Personal Responsibility & Accountability

We believe that systemic change must begin with us. We commit to living our values, holding ourselves accountable for the agreements we make, and examining and addressing individual and collective habits that reinforce dominant culture. We do this by engaging in continuous learning as to how race, background, and experiences have affected us within systems of oppression; providing loving feedback; and building intentional accountability practices in all of our work.

Communication & Transparency

We believe that open and honest communication is central to all trusted relationships, and that change happens at the speed of trust. We commit to transparency in all aspects of our work, and to investing in equitable long-term relationships beyond transaction. We do this by ensuring that our work and processes foster transparency, especially as to financial matters, time commitments, and power dynamics; by utilizing non-violent communication practices; and by centering people and relationships above all else.

Innovation & Learning 

We believe that to build progressive power to transform our society, we must explore innovative ways to build capacity within our movement. We commit to doing the work of capacity-building differently by dismantling aspects of the dominant culture of nonprofit consultancy that often fail to value the diverse lived experiences, expertise, and knowledge of community leaders. We do this by honoring leaders' wisdom; building intentional learning into our external work, internal practices, and partnerships; and co-creating innovative solutions to emergent challenges.  

Transformative Collaboration 

We believe that transformative and radical collaboration within our movement is required to create and sustain systematic change. We commit to forming long-term relationships with diverse stakeholders across our movement, to building lasting organizational and ecosystem capacity, and to disrupting funding practices that divide us. We do this by forming deep, sustained, values-based partnerships; engaging partners to co-create solutions to shared challenges; and participating in joint fundraising efforts to support the important work of collaboration. 

Resilience & Sustainability

We believe that the work of our movement must be sustainable. We commit to centering wellness, sustainability, and resilience in our programmatic work, policies, and ongoing organizational practices. We do this by creating intentional practices that support self care, building coaching into our programs and internal practices, and dedicating resources to support wellness and cultural and organizational sustainability.