MSC consultants lead grantmakers through mapping that clarifies and defines the present moment. Mapping helps grantmakers identify the sources of innovation and untapped leadership in a particular field, explore the relationships and tensions in the field and how to transform them, and recognize the points of alignment and leverage that are the building blocks of strategy.

MSC consultants produce accurate, insightful, and accessible field reports. MSC’s field reports dig into key areas and questions through candid interviews with recognized and unrecognized innovators in the field, original research such as surveys, and fresh analysis of key information and data.

MSC consultants help grantmakers develop strategy that clearly articulates where you’ve been, where you are now, and where you want to go. MSC consultants guide you through the analysis, plans, definitions, and decisions you need to make for strategy in a field, a foundation, a program, or across programs. MSC can help you sharply define success and measure your progress and impact over time.

MSC consultants are skilled at translating strategy into effective and innovative grantmaking program designs. MSC specializes in cultivating field strengths and diversity for maximum impact. We help foundations make grants that strengthen organizations and encourage organizational collaboration. MSC helps foundations leverage impact by aligning program areas and allied funders.

MSC helps grantmakers design comprehensive capacity building programs to amplify the strengths of leaders in the field and address the key challenges they face. MSC can help you strengthen the capacity of leaders, organizations, or collaborations to create deeper impact through creativity, innovation, strategy, and collaboration. MSC consultants will help you identify capacity building approaches and providers with the deepest experience, relationships, and expertise with your sector.

MSC supports projects by providing excellent services or assembling a team of the best providers in the field. MSC focuses collaborative planning, vision and strategy with grantees, coalition and alliance building, learning and innovation, network development, leadership for movement building, collaborative campaigning, and innovations in community engagement.

• Sexuality Research Initiative
  Designed and facilitated exchange and meeting process among scholars and activists to better shape adolescent sexuality policy debate.
• Field Scan and Report
  MSC report Fertile Ground documents stories of women organizing their communities to bring solutions to a range of critical issues at the intersection of environmental and reproductive justice. Fertile Ground focused on helping groups strengthen joint policy work, strategy, and infrastructure in the reproductive justice and environmental justice sectors.

• Groundswell Capacity Building Program
  MSC designed and implemented capacity building program for grantees.

• Move to End Violence Against Women and Girls
  MSC partnered with the NoVo Foundation and the Rockwood Leadership Institute on a 10-year strategic initiative that supports leadership cohorts working to end violence against women and children.

• Stakeholder Analysis and Landscape Map
  Using surveys, interviews, and other research, MSC assessed the infrastructure and models for improving public education in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.

• Leadership Pipeline Initiative
  MSC supported the design and implementation of FCYO’s Leadership Pipeline, a multiyear strategy to sustain social change efforts by cultivating the leadership of low-income youth of color, systemically and intentionally, over time.
• Regenerations – Healthy Communities Initiative
  MSC supported the design and implementation FCYO’s Regenerations: Healthy Communities Initiative to support youth organizing groups to address the root causes of childhood obesity with a specific focus on improving access to healthy, affordable, and culturally relevant food in schools and communities.
• Regenerations
  MSC developed a field map and assessment, and helped expand field and sector resources. MSC produced a field map that was used to create a new collaborative fund.

• Boys and Men of Color Project
  MSC designed and developed structure for statewide Boys and Men of Color network.
• Youth Engagement Strategy
  MSC designed community engagement model and youth engagement model for 10-year initiative.

• Strong Families Initiative
  MSC collaborated with Forward Together to build the strategic and communications capacity of Strong Families. Activities included: Mama’s Day, anti-choice billboard responses, and anti-shackling efforts.

• ECHO Project
  MSC provided research and case studies for ECHO, a project launched by The Center for Media Justice, The Praxis Project, Progressive Communicators Network, smartMeme, and Miami Workers Center/Florida New Majority “to build the collaborative communications infrastructure, skills, and strategy we’ll need to defend ourselves against right-wing attacks and to shift the dominant narrative towards social justice and systemic change.”

• Out of the Spiritual Closet
  Out of the Spiritual Closet: Organizers Transforming the Practice of Social Justice, the first in MSC’s series on Transformative Movement Building, dives into the experiences of individual social justice leaders as they integrate spiritual, creative or otherwise transformative practice into their lives and social justice work. The report introduces Transformative Movement Building as an approach and framework, provides a cultural analysis of where the social justice movement is stuck and how it is being transformed through intentional practice, and showcases the stories of leaders who have begun their own transformations.

• United Workers Congress
  Coordinates the United Workers Congress (UWC), a network of national worker alliances – domestic workers, day laborers, restaurant workers, welfare workers, farm workers, taxi workers, guest workers, and more – all excluded from labor protection by law or practice.

• Civic Engagement Strategy
  MSC partnered with the Solidago Foundation to organize a strategy session with a small group of key practitioners and funders to discuss ways to promote effective political and electoral organizing in the 2012 electoral cycle and beyond.

• Strategy and Design Development
  MSC facilitated the strategy development for this reproductive justice visioning and strategic alignment process. MSC continues to serve as a strategy advisor to the initiative.

• Gender Jobs and Justice
  MSC helped define the strategic alignment of grantees, the field and policy opportunities to advance, and grant-making and capacity building approach to advance opportunities.

• Mapping Project
  MSC developed the field map and concept: defining gender justice as an integrating framework.

• Strategic Plan
  MSC guided a process and report development that resulted in creation of Race and Place, Building a Movement, and Strategic Opportunity Support programs and framework for capacity building for racial justice organizing and movement building.

• Strategic Advising
  MSC provided philanthropic advising on integration of youth organizing, electoral and campus funding streams.