FAConsulting
Our Story
FAconsulting is a boutique social impact consultancy founded and led by Fayise A. Ecclesiaste, who brings over a decade of experience in community based research, evaluation, facilitation, organizational development, curriculum development, strategic communications and more. She has led and conducted research for government, including city, county, and state, as well as for small to large non-profits, both rural and urban, regional and national. In her many years as a facilitator for creative social change, she observed the major gap between systems and those they intend to serve and developed a personal commitment to bridging those gaps as well as creating alternatives. Her consulting practice is deeply rooted in valuing community based knowledge and cultural and creative approaches that welcome diverse peoples, world-views, and ways of being.
As a daughter of Ethiopian refugees to rural MN, she is greatly shaped by Indigenous knowledges, wisdoms and rural ways of being passed down to her by her family as well as by her lived experience. She has a Bachelors in Sociology from Amherst College, trained in Ethnic Studies at University of Oregon and is a graduate student at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. She sits on boards for various non-profits and is a published poet and creative writer, with many years of experience leading and facilitating intergenerational dialogue, community story telling and shared visioning.
Our Approach
In a nutshell,
cultural strategy is the intentional embrace of culture as a relevant practice for making change and having influence whether that is in movements, organizations, or markets. We define culture as the underlying values that inform our ways of being, world-views, and practices. Honoring diverse cultures is more than decoration but a strategic force in building and restoring imagination, relevancy, alignment, and belonging. It is critical to how we address social issues, approach policy, evaluation, research, grantmaking, philanthropy, impact investing, program design, fundraising, organizational development and more. Whether you are working on your 5 year strategic plan, organizational impact narrative, clarifying your vision or mission statement culture is key. Cultural strategy makes all the difference in who shows up, and without it, we miss out on opportunities to utilize the very assets in local communities that can support greater success.
Our Services
1
Strategic Facilitation & Training
We provide guidance and facilitation for teams moving through collaborative processes that unlock new insights, strengthen alignment, move strategies forward, including identifying, creating or updating relevant toolkits, curriculum and interactive workshops. We also support facilitation and development of strategic visions, 5 year plans, decision making protocols, logic models/models of work, theory of change & more
2
Research, Evaluation & Learning
We design, conduct and lead research & evaluation utilizing creative methodologies, including community based research, action-oriented research, decolonial methodologies that honor community wisdom, generate actionable insights, and support continuous growth. We value many forms of knowledge-- lived, oral, academic, cultural, somatic, spiritual and make space to gather relevant forms of knowledge that supports communities most impacted
3
Fundraising & Resource Development
We drive resource regeneration by taking stock of our clients existing mental models and practices to support, clarify, and evaluate the effectiveness of their fundraising approaches. We trouble shoot missed opportunities, develop new opportunities, and expand on existing opportunities for deeply aligned and relational fundraising strategies. We provide training support, especially catered towards small grassroots non-profits unfamiliar or newer to fundraising
4
Org Development, Coaching & more
We strive to provide our clients with psychological safety, by making safe space to listen and understand various challenges leaders & organizations face, identify & share relevant evaluation to improve or develop systems and organizational infrastructure that are values informed, effective and that actualize outcomes. We also provide design support for programs, narrating impact, integrating arts, culture, storytelling &more
Clients & Collaborations
