Intentional, grounded, experienced nonprofit consulting
FUNDRAISING, CAPITAL CAMPAIGNS & MAJOR FUNDRAISING PROGRAMS
BOARD GOVERNANCE & DEVELOPMENT
STRATEGY, PLANNING & ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT & COACHING
ABOUT FOUR STONES CONSULTING
Four Stones is a consulting firm of two nonprofit executives with a combined 35 years in the sector. We hold practical experience leading and stewarding organizational growth and transformation, designing social enterprises, guiding board governance and strategic planning, and implementing successful capital campaigns and major donor fundraising programs. We have worked in the progressive arts & culture sector, community-based healthcare, museums, policy & advocacy and local & state government.
We love to support, coach, mentor and champion leaders. We work with teams, individuals, boards, entire organizations and communities.
We are co-conspirators working in partnership for real and meaningful change.
We value relationships, we center equity and belonging, we love learning, we practice listening and we nurture your path.
Who We Are
-
Crystal Brinkman is an experienced leader with a background in arts & culture, youth work, social enterprises, and local government. She specializes in empowering emerging leaders, developing and managing projects, and facilitating capacity building. Passionate about creating impact, Crystal loves to help organizations refresh their strategic plans with clear, inclusive action steps. As a creative strategist, she brings authentic connection, artistic vision, and a collaborative approach to every project.
-
Alissa Light is a heart-connected systems shaker, with significant experience in healthcare, LGBTQ+ rights, government relations, leadership development, board governance and fundraising. Her passions include executive director support and coaching, major gifts and major campaign fundraising and partnering with boards to amplify and advance justice oriented change work through high engagement and thoughtful governance. Alissa is a geek about role clarity, and loves deep listening, visioning, and resourcing with abundance.
strategy & implementation
·
thoughtful leadership coaching
·
fundraising & capital campaigns
·
board governance & development
·
strategy & implementation · thoughtful leadership coaching · fundraising & capital campaigns · board governance & development ·
Our Services
-
fundraising, capital campaigns & major fundraising programs
We know that resourcing the work is a critical piece of actualizing your mission. We provide tailored fundraising consulting focused on major donor programs, and capital and major fundraising campaigns. Services include: feasibility studies, campaign planning & implementation, and ongoing fundraising strategy and coaching. From recruiting a campaign leadership table to driving a multi-million dollar capital campaign, we partner with you and your team to grow your fundraising capacity and results.
-
board governance & development
We understand that nonprofit boards have a host of challenges and opportunities they grapple with regularly including how to effectively use board meeting time, nurture their executive directors, govern in deep complexity, and facilitate meaningful engagement. As former executive directors and avid board members ourselves we recognize how powerful a high functioning board can be and how hard and sometimes harmful dysfunctional board practices, norms and behaviors are. With openness and experience we partner with you to foster board skills, practices, and connection to amplify your mission and work.
-
leadership development & coaching
We provide experienced, relational leadership coaching. Whether you’re an emerging leader taking the next step in your leadership journey or a seasoned executive director seeking a sounding board and thought partner, we offer tools, insight, and over two decades of nonprofit executive leadership to draw on. One on one coaching is provided in ongoing regular sessions. Team-based coaching can include a series of sessions provided with a leadership or executive team or between board and executive leaders. Alissa is becoming a certified Mind/Body Leadership Coach to offer more somatic and embodied tools and frameworks for her clients.
-
strategy, planning & organizational development
We love strategy and organizational development work, and can help organizations develop action and work plans within current strategic plans, refine strategic plans for current contexts, and provide organizational structure analysis and recommendations. We can support teams to lead in change, and build skills and tools that incorporate distributed decision-making, role clarity, community engagement and collaboration. We can also lead strategic framework design to help you develop your roadmap and strategic directions in a holistic way. We design processes that create the frameworks for your work, team, and mission to shine.
Our Process
At Four Stones Consulting our process always starts with curiosity and listening.
We have a great bank of tools, assessments, frameworks and approaches, from decision-making frameworks, human-centered design practices, motivational interviewing techniques, tested fundraising best practices and a lot of experience including things not to do that we learned about the hard way! We start with listening, asking questions, and reflecting back what we’re hearing and observing. We combine our experience and history with a responsive plan designed for you and your organization.
We know enough to know while there are tools and frameworks that can be helpful, the unique context and relationships that make up your nonprofit and work need to be front and center in our process.
We’ll start with deep listening and curious assessment and build our proposal, plan and actions collaboratively with you from there.
LET’S CHAT