Services

We believe organizational development and advancing social equity and belonging means creating new systems and structures that redefine how institutions relate to the people they serve and work with. We approach our core service areas using a variety of methods and tools to reimagine how people-systems come together and cooperate in harmony. 

Our consulting teams deliver:

Communities of Practice

Strategic Plans 

Equity plans

Coaching and guidance

Strategic implementation support

Culture repair

Diversity, Justice, Access, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DJAEIB) training/planning

Organizational restructure and sustainability planning

Communities of Practice (CoP)

Complex problems need complex solutions, and it’s the fresh, sophisticated approach of Targeted Universalism (TU) that can break through gridlock and create new avenues communities to thrive. TU is a systemic approach that supports the needs of the particular, while also attending to universal thriving and reminding us that we are all part of the same social fabric. This CoP is an opportunity for participants to grow their TU "muscle", build relationships with others, and grapple with the challenges and opportunities of co-creation and implementation of TU.

The purpose of this CoP is to:

  • Foster a deep understanding of TU methodology, strategies, and implementation for distinct workflows (e.g., a funder making grants, a nonprofit addressing a community issue, a company achieving a corporate priority)

  • Share challenges and opportunities, including what works and discrete practices

  • Collaborate on creative problem solving, learning, and innovating, using TU within the cohort and with expert TU practitioners

  • Build Relationships with colleagues and experts in service to co-creating and learning together the concepts of belonging and TU

How can Targeted Universalism help my organization?

There is a groundswell of multi-sector interest in the practice of TU and belonging, from hospitals and schools to government programs and foundations, from corporations to community and advocacy groups. The appeal and promise of TU addresses some of the most pressing systemic challenges of our time -- including increasing division, breaking, and competition between groups -- by offering a process to care for our different needs and situatedness.

TU differs from typical approaches to equity.

Equity is often practiced as focusing on disparities, which can become a binary that looks at the most- and least-favored groups, ignoring other groups, and setting the goal as what the most favored group has rather than a universal, affirmative outcome. Disparity-focused or "closing the gap" strategies can lead to pitting groups against each other and creating competition for scarce resources. It can also fall into the trap of racial essentialism.

TU, on the other hand, organizes around an outcomes-based, universal goal while developing strategies that look at structures, institutions, culture, and the situatedness of groups and individuals. TU focuses on the construction and situatedness of groups through data and disaggregated information and takes racially constructed outcomes and disparities seriously by looking at how they are constructed. Organizing around a universal goal can create common cause and social cohesion, while the targeted strategies recognize and address differences in situatedness, history, and opportunity. Importantly, TU thus accounts for issues affecting marginalized groups, including but not limited to race, gender, religion, and disability. TU is also valuable when there is broad consensus that there's a problem but disagreement on solutions. At its best, TU can expand care, power, and promote real reform -- which advances us towards a world of belonging. Often called equity 2.0, TU is particularly effective around policy, programs, process, and design. As an operations and communications strategy, it is a sophisticated and practical process and philosophy that can advance us towards bridging and belonging.

Objectives

  • The TU CoP is designed to advance justice, equity, and belonging through realization of the following outcomes:

  • Strengthen the application of TU among interested institutions focused on both internal and external functions

  • Create broad understanding of the challenges and successes among institutions and places applying TU

  • Create relationship among those working with TU to enable knowledge-spillover effects among community members

  • Increase exposure to experts and experienced practitioners of TU

  • Understand TU in the context of and in service to belonging and "bridging" as both a mechanism and outcome of TU that can drive transformation.

  • Feel free to email us with questions.

  • michelle@seedcollab.com or paul@seedcollab.com

Cultures and Communities of Belonging

We delve into understanding how people systems work internally with the individuals who serve the operations and their constituents. We solve problems that stymie integration between driving teams and their institutions towards serving their mission and vision.

Our Services for Cultures and Communities of Belonging:

  • Culture repair strategies

  • Coaching and guidance

  • Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging training

  • Strategic plans

Strategic Planning and Implementation and Growth Strategies

To support our clients with their growth strategies, sustainability goals, as well as various restructure opportunities, we employ consensus-based decision-making group processes to ensure that key stakeholders are engaged and are brought into processes and decisions at the highest levels. Using processes that prioritize common ground and align stakeholders around decisions allows organizations to move forward with strong stakeholder support that discourages internal politics, silos, and disengagement, while promoting transparency, shared direction, and unified action.

Our Services for Strategic Planning and Implementation and Growth Strategies include:

  • Conducting operational, governance and structural analysis 

  • Designing research-based program design and implementation 

  • Developing strategic plans 

  • Facilitating strategic mergers and collaborative restructures 

  • Providing post-restructure integration 

  • Board Retreats 

  • Executive Coaching 

Hear from our clients

  • "I found our experience with Seed to be very smooth and positive. They are communicative and responsive and easy to work with. We were able to hire them for two parts of our merger process thanks to a grant from NSI. "

    Kerry Armstrong | Executive Director | Home Dog LA

  • "Seed has been extremely helpful, easy to work with and very responsive to any inquiries, questions, requests, etc. They connected us with funding sources, legal services and other consultants as resources. They have been a pleasure to work with."

    Christy Schilling | Executive Director | Bark Avenue Foundation

  • "Evocative, challenging, enlightening, collaborative. The work of Seed Collaborative has strengthened our team and in turn, our work with partner organizations."

    Liz Baxter | CEO | North Sound ACH

  • "Seed is amazing, full stop. It's rare to find consultants who truly listen, who embrace the culture of OUR organization, rather than insisting on their own, who ensure we get to the right place for US, and who make it all feel fun in the process. Every time we work with SEED we feel heard, supported, and like we're able to move forward."

    Kaile Shilling | Executive Director | Arts for Incarcerated Youth Network

  • "Seed provided stellar facilitation and strategic guidance throughout our merger exploration process. Their deep knowledge of nonprofit governance, organizational effectiveness and racial equity principles positioned them well to navigate difficult conversations with ease and guide a diverse group of stakeholders to an unanimous decision to merge. They also brought joy to our process which helped deepen trust between our stakeholders and their team. We would rehire them in a second and in fact, we already have!"

    Tom DeCaigny | Executive Director | Create CA

  • "Paul Hudson was very results oriented. He met with both Boards of Directors and explained process of merger and associated risks."

    Jack Barbour | CEO | Southern California Health and Rehabilitation Program (SCHARP)

  • "They were very accommodating and easy to work with. Paul willingly shares his knowledge and resources."

    Carolyn Chadwick | CEO | Tessie Cleveland Community Services

  • "Paul Hudson was a mentor to me from the start-up of ICEF and as it grew. He has a razor sharp mind, he is kind, and has a great sense of humor. One of the best humans I have ever known. I hope more learn from him, and I hope more foundations support his work."

    Michael Piscal | CEO & Founder | College Achieve Public Schools

  • "Thank you immensely for such a potent session and eye-opener. It was everything I had hoped for and it enabled my continuum an entry for further exploration of the process. Your presentation resonated for the rest of the afternoon."

    Ambassador Shabazz | LACC

  • ""I am already seeing a lot of positive feedback in our post-meeting survey. Managers are starting to internalize the lessons and they are seeing and participating in our shift to tangible actions. It’s very encouraging!"

    Anna Mendoza | Sr. Management Analyst | City of Sunnyvale

  • "Seed was very thorough, direct and worked well with us...Evan was a joy to work with and the team at Seed are top notch."

    Sandra Martinez | Chief Impact Officer | LA84 Foundation

  • "The Seed team was thoughtful, strategic and process oriented. Our team was greatly impacted and benefited by their work with us...We love Seed and would recommend their team to any organization needing additional support"

    Marlene Montanez | Associate Director | Long Beach Forward