What we do

Supporting the Social Change Sector — Changing the World!

what we do

We are Catalysts in Social Change!

Point b(e) Strategies is not your average consulting company. We are a woman-of-color-owned-and-operated firm, our team members are representative of the diverse clients and communities we serve, and we have been in your shoes! Every Catalyst on staff came into consulting after spending years as boots on the ground in the social change sector.

We have built budgets, managed programs and staff, provided administrative support, volunteered as board members, conducted participant assessments, and been present in communities where the need for systems change is pressing and clear.

This lived and learned expertise makes us uniquely positioned to help ask you and your team the BIG questions that we know will help drive your strategy and your impact. 

What makes us different?

Using a strategic, strengths-based approach to co-create a tailored process, we’ll get you to your Point b(e)!

We design and implement projects that we believe in, because our decades of experience in and with the sector have shown us what works and what doesn’t. 

change starts here

Explore Our Services

Strategic Planning

Point b(e) Strategies approaches strategic planning through a collaborative and capacity building lens that is guided by core beliefs about what makes the strategic planning process successful, actionable and authentic. 

We recognize that the strategic planning process is as important as the final product. Therefore, we develop and deliver a tailored, active engagement process that supports strategic thinking throughout, while engaging multiple levels of stakeholders.

This approach leads to the development of a strategic framework that includes: 

A better understanding of and collective agreement about the organization’s identity, purpose and direction;

Strategic priorities that capture the organization’s strategic direction for the next few years; and

Objectives and benchmarks that clarify how the organization aims to achieve this strategic direction

Program Design and Evaluation

Point b(e) Strategies approaches program evaluation based on the belief that—when used holistically—formative, process and summative evaluations each helps organizations build better programs and more effectively serve constituents.

We help clients use formative evaluation to guide ongoing program development and improvement; process evaluation to better understand whether they are conducting activities and programs with fidelity; and summative evaluation to determine whether their work leads to the intended outcomes.

Catalysts have supported organizations in the development of logic models and evaluation plans, the development and implementation of data collection tools – including surveys, interviews, focus groups, town halls and community meetings, and the analysis and reporting of data from evaluation processes. 

Catalysts ensure that evaluations are rooted in the principles of the Equitable Evaluation Framework, and that processes are designed and delivered using trauma-informed approaches.

Finally, Catalysts have the technical capabilities to conduct mixed methods evaluations and to analyze data using Excel, SPSS, Dedoose and ATLAS.ti.

Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives

With over 40 collective years of experience working in, with and for communities, Point b(e) Strategies approaches equity and inclusion from a critical multiculturalist framework that emphasizes critical awareness, collaborative change, and transformation of micro practices as well as macro structures.

Point b(e) Strategies envisions inclusive and equitable environments that aim for more than diversity, and the team hopes to provide its community partners and clients with language, best practices, and replicable strategies for creating alignment among the vision and values of all their programs.

On the ground, this means increasing awareness of the ways that small, everyday practices can facilitate or inhibit the creation of equitable and inclusive spaces. Simultaneously, having open and direct discussions of institutional racism, white supremacy, and dismantling the oppressive structures within our communities and organizations help drive the bigger picture.

Through our justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (JEDI) work, Point b(e) Strategies’ Catalysts conduct equity audits, review internal policies and procedures, design and implement trainings for board and staff members, support in development of JEDI statements and action steps in alignment with strategic plans, and support with organizational culture audits through an equity lens.

Strategic Grants Consulting and Grantwriting

The Point b(e) Strategies approach to strategic grants consulting is designed as a capacity building initiative that includes prospect research and the development of boilerplate language, but is also focused on providing coaching and guidance around building a successful grantwriting program and approach.

Based on your organizations’ current fundraising goals and capacity, Catalysts will help you build your expertise and systems, so that you can manage a successful grants program. 

Our strategic grants consulting will result in the creation of a comprehensive grants calendar, the development of a holistic boilerplate, the development of good fit proposals for submission to prospective funders, and strategic consulting and support to help you better understand what will be needed to support and sustain an ongoing grants program at your organization. 

Our best-in-the-business Catalysts are superb technical writers who know the local, state and national funding landscapes well, are skilled storytellers who can help you weave data into compelling proposals, and are strategic thinkers who can help your organization build or strengthen a grants program to sustain your work into the future. 

Board and Staff Training and Development

Peter Drucker said: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast!” We tend to agree with him! Our Catalysts have decades of experience designing and delivering trainings for staff and for boards of directors. 

We can work with your staff to increase team functioning, strategic communication, and job alignment. We can work with your board of directors to clarify their role in fundraising, to set expectations for committee work and overall performance, or to do board recruitment and onboarding.

Trained in tenets of experiential education, our training and development work is engaging, active and fun. We don't believe in ice breakers for ice breakers' sake. We don't make your team do things we won't do ourselves. We believe in using activities to mirror real-life experiences, and we know that our training and development work will equip your staff and board to work better together, to get more done for your organization, and to thrive.

Equitable Philanthropy and Fund Management

Point b(e) Strategies has the unique experience of working on all three sides of the philanthropic equation — supporting nonprofits as they seek grant funds, partnering with foundations and other grantmaking entities to design and implement more equitable processes, and serving as fund managers ourselves.

We believe that our work with the nonprofit sector is only as strong as our work with government entities, grantmaking organizations, and institutes of higher education – as these are the spaces where most decisions are made, where resources live and are distributed, and where many priorities about the community or sector are set.

It is with this lens that Point b(e) Strategies supports grantmaking/philanthropic organizations and/or serves as a fund manager. Whether you are a new or growing family foundation, an established community foundation, or a city/state agency seeking support in the distribution of public funds, Point b(e) Strategies’ Catalysts are prepared to utilize tenets of equitable and trust-based philanthropy to design and implement grantmaking processes that are responsive to the needs of communities and individuals, and that meet the needs of your organization or institution. 

If you aren’t looking for an external entity to manage your funds or funding process, we are happy to conduct process audits of your grantmaking and to support you in the development of more equitable and inclusive processes.   

Organizational Change Management aka “Ice Ice Baby”

Our Founder is from the Vanilla Ice Generation (yeah, we know that’s not a thing!), and in his hit song Ice Ice Baby, Vanilla Ice says “If there was a problem, yo, I’ll solve it!” Well, that’s how we feel about the social change sector!

If you need help with something that isn’t on our list of core services, reach out anyway! We can take on complex project management, large-scale community facilitation, design and implementation of curricula, internal change management initiatives, and many other things. 

Ready to consider a partnership?

Reach out – We would love to learn more about you!

Testimonials

See More Results

Read the results from clients who’ve partnered with us to get to Point b(e).

Point b(e) Strategies has been more than a consultant, they have been a critical thought partner in re-thinking how we support evaluation efforts for environmental educators.  We came to Point b(e) with a fledgling idea about how we could support our members across the state in building capacity for evaluation with collective tools and resources and they have worked alongside us brainstorming, dreaming, co-creating, and putting those big ideas into tangible trainings, resources, and tools.  We are so grateful to be able to work with them as partners!”

Katie Navin
Executive Director, Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education

Our Point b(e) Strategies team was an effective partner in helping Bee Vradenburg Foundation put its equity and inclusion goals into practice. Their facilitation process provided a safe and listening environment for our diverse stakeholders to voice aspirations, critiques and needs. Their structured approach and knowledge of best practices allowed this feedback to grow into a plan that was measurable, action-oriented and right-sized for staff and board bandwidth. They provided flexibility, tailored work plans and agendas, and were generous with their time and advice.”

Claire Swinford
Executive Director, Bee Vradenburg Foundation