What Makes Constellate Different?
Constellate helps organizations build their best path to the future they envision —intentionally, creatively, and with a deep commitment to their mission and values.
Many consultants can write an excellent strategic plan for a world where social change organizations are operating in a relatively static and predictable environments for 3, 5, or even 10 years into the future. The problem is: stability is no longer our reality, and it is more essential than ever for organizations to develop the skills and strategies that allow successful adaptation in response to internal and external shifts.
A core aspect of Constellate’s approach is to help organizations position for current changes and future disruptions so that they can navigate from a position of strength and integrity. Constellate’s work with clients therefore includes developing scenarios to map out potential paths, greater flexibility in design and implementation while still creating clear structures and processes, and an emphasis on learning how to change so that teams are prepared to continue adapting into the future. Successful adaptation is as much about how we think as it is about what we do.
“Some of the issues nonprofit leaders face are perennial, but leaders say that the context in which they are occurring is unprecedented. ‘I have been a nonprofit leader for 20 years and I’ve not experienced a reality like the one I am in currently,’ one leader said. “…It is a wild world right now.’”
The Center for Effective Philanthropy, State Of Nonprofits 2024: What Funders Need to Know
More broadly, the nonprofit sector has long been shaped by extractive structures that prioritize relentless output over sustainable impact. The effects can be seen across the nonprofit sector: many organizations are squeezed by the nonprofit starvation cycle; meanwhile 95% of nonprofit leaders are concerned about staff burnout and more than half report that burnout negatively impacts their organization's ability to deliver its mission. High turnover rates compound this challenge: the nonprofit turnover rate is nearly double that of other industries, and nearly three-quarters of nonprofits report persistent job vacancies and difficulty filling roles.
“Collectively, the data confirm that nonprofits are still enduring a shortage of employees, and as a natural consequence, the public continues to suffer because fewer employees mean reduced capacity, longer waiting lists for services, reduced amounts and types of services provided, and sometimes a complete end of needed services.”
National Council of Nonprofits, The Nonprofit Workforce Shortage Crisis
Despite these realities, standard consulting approaches typically do not account for factors like staff wellbeing, career path advancement, and compensation as strategic opportunities that directly affect the success of an organizational shift. In contrast, Constellate takes a regenerative approach, helping organizations center their work in values-driven, equitable, sustainable, and people-centered methods. This approach includes analysis and solutioning related to staff support, organizational relationship dynamics, environmental trends impacting the community, and other critical contextual influences that ultimately impact the organization’s effectiveness, adaptability, and sustainability.