Impacting lives through equity in action for more than two decades.

Christine Robinson provides expert consulting services to philanthropic institutions, government organizations, and collaborative social impact initiatives. Contact Christine to work with her on your creative, sustainable, and innovative projects.

Services

Philanthropic Advising

Consulting for philanthropic organizations and individuals, evaluating charitable interests, prioritizing projects, and more.

Strategy Consulting

 Strategy consulting for educational, philanthropic, government, and non-profit organizations on equity, inclusion, social justice, and more.

Program Development

Create and implement programs for process and cultural change, social change, non-profit effectiveness, and more.

Public Speaking

Available for virtual and in-person
speaking engagements, keynotes, panel discussions, expert guest commentary, and more.

Customized Training & Workshop Facilitation

Creation of custom, small or large workshop and training programs for your organization

Board and Staff Retreats & Innovation Labs

Lead and facilitate retreats & innovation labs for board members, departments, and teams.

Equitable Evaluation & Assessments

Equitable inclusion, diversity, and belonging organizational assessments and evaluations for growth opportunities

Leadership & Strategic Systems Coaching

Coaching for leadership individuals and teams directly related to new strategic objectives and implementation

Reports, Executive Summaries, Articles

Reports and executive summaries are part of the deliverables on our projects. Co-authoring of research papers is also available.

Philanthropic Advising

 

Consulting for national, community, corporate foundations, private foundations, and individual donors. Evaluating charitable interests, prioritizing projects, and more.

 

      • Providing philanthropic advice on matters spanning strategic planning, board development, grantmaking strategies, review processes, organizational assessment and effectiveness, initiative design, transformation and change management, and evaluations
      • Working alongside donors to build generative networks, methods, and new levels of community engagement
      • Honoring the donor’s intent, mission, vision, and values

VIEW RECENT PROJECTS HERE

Strategy Consulting

 

Strategy consulting to education, philanthropic, and government organizations, communities, population groups, and more.

 

      • Consulting on strategic planning, strategic leadership development, and modalities to improve alignment, enhance focus, work with transparency, and generate accountability
      • Guiding transformation planning and implementation for multi-year, system-wide, large, and small change models
      • Honoring the voices of those directly affected
      • Building on an equity backbone
      • Including and prioritizing client partner perspectives and co-creating as needed
      • Providing Organizational Assessments and Equity Assessments

Program Development

 

Create and implement programs for procedural, cultural, and social change; systemic enhancements; non-profit effectiveness; and more.

 

      • Creating evidence-informed, accessible, custom programs using emerging promising practices, traditional adult learning theory, and confirmed participatory approaches related to equity and well-being across multiple domains
      • Building organizational/systemic partnerships and generative transformation
      • Prioritizing community, constituent workplace, and organizational well-being in program development
      • Carefully curating evidence-informed resources to share with partners on numerous topics, such as academic articles, movies, podcasts, reading lists, and other tools

Public Speaking

 

Available for virtual and in-person speaking engagements, keynotes, panel discussions, expert guest commentary, and more.

 

      • Presenting at philanthropic, non-profit events, academic venues, and conferences in the United States and internationally
      • Developing organizational cultures and climates of
        psychological safety, thus improving outcomes for
        constituents and staff by applying well-being, equity, belonging, and community-building lens
      • Paying special attention to participatory engagement, intersectional identities, belonging, equity, and social justice, which are intentionally connected throughout activities
      • Augmenting presentations with executive, individual, and strategic systems coaching
      • Prioritizing active engagement, respect, listening to stories, and working to develop pathways to justice

Customized Training & Workshop Development

 

Creation of custom, small or large workshop and training programs for your board, organization, or community

 

      • Curating and facilitating workshops and designing and
        delivering training focused on intersectional equity for philanthropic foundations, the public sector, and non-profit professionals
      • Supporting leadership effectiveness by encouraging and facilitating alignment of decision-making with actions and behaviors that enhance organizational success
      • Designing and delivering in-person and virtual sessions for foundations, non-profits, and public systems
      • Scoping the organization’s needs and customizing
        sessions alone or by collaborating with a selected team

Board and Staff Retreats & Innovation Labs

 

Design & facilitate retreats, customized training, and innovation labs for board members, departments, and teams

 

      • Designing and delivering customized foundation board retreats, staff training, and innovation labs on some of the most compelling issues of our day
      • Sharing well-being and asset approaches that help an organization take a participatory approach to developing new programs and ways of working
      • Instructing on conversation and communications strategies that lead to shifts in internal culture

Equitable Evaluations and Assessments

 

Equitable inclusion, diversity, and belonging process evaluations and organizational assessments

 

      • Using the principles and values that advance equity in every assessment element and all interactions with staff, board, and partners
      • Increasing the use of systems and evaluations to help organizations identify and understand the impacts of systemic drivers of inequity
      • Designing and implementing evaluations with the underlying values of multicultural validity and participant ownership
      • Chronicling how historical and structural decisions have contributed to the community situation, the process, and the effect of the underlying systemic drivers of inequity in an organization

Leadership & Strategic Systems Coaching

 

Coaching for individuals and teams directly related to strategic objectives and implementation

 

      • Co-creating “train-the-trainer” programs, coaching
        models, and working intentionally on building systems infused with intersectional equity
      • Nurturing a foundation of health and psychological safety is required for sustainability and adaptability
      • A combination of individual, team, and organizational development

Reports, Executive Summaries, and Articles

 

Reports and executive summaries are part of the deliverables on our projects. Co-authoring of research papers or commissioned research is also available

 

      • Defining the desired outcome with the client and clients and partners
      • Outlining the desired outcomes of initiatives, aligning with methodology, issue framing, and report development
      • Analyzing each issue using qualitative and quantitative research and data
      • Developing evidence-informed frameworks
      • Including those directly affected where possible

Featured Case Studies

An Experienced Leader

Christine Robinson is an experienced leader bringing decades of expertise acquired through working with organizations from the White House to  Harvard Medical School and the Ford Foundation to name a few.

Christine Robinson

Christine Robinson

Strategy Consultant to Philanthropic Organizations

Keen Insight and Strategic Capabilities

Christine Robinson is a consummate professional. I have seen her
facilitate meetings with multiple stakeholders with grace and
aplomb and am impressed with her keen insight and strategic
capabilities. I have successfully referred her services to other
clients who have been pleased with her work. Two thumbs up.

Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, Ph.D.

Executive| Board Member| Strategist| Author| Speaker

Beyond Compare

Christine provides excellent advice and services at the intersection
of community and philanthropy. Her ability to strategically apply
her passion, knowledge, and experience to engage communities to
substantively address social issues is beyond compare. These
attributes enhance key processes, and more importantly, results.

Carl Patten, JD, MPH

General Counsel and Chief Administrative Officer at Lakeview Investment Group

Extremely Insightful and Intelligent Expert

Christine is an extremely insightful [and] intelligent expert on the broad and complex causes of poverty in the US
and the powerful routes out of poverty and into lives of economic security from childhood to adulthood. Few people
have Christine’s deep understanding of the linkages from infant brain neuron development to asset development in
adults. Christine is a great speaker, a great writer, a great organizer, a confident manager of groups,
and a great strategic thinker.

Lisa Mensah

President & CEO at Opportunity Finance Network

A Skilled Facilitative Leader

I was initially impressed with Christine Robinson’s enthusiasm, diligence, and professional demeanor when she was selected to serve as Project Director for the Executives’ AlliancePostsecondary Success Project for men and boys of color supported by the Lumina Foundation. Robinson worked seamlessly with foundation staff and leaders in each of the six cities. Moreover, . . . [she] nurtured collaborations within and between institutions in municipalities and regions, including government, nonprofits, and postsecondary collaboration. She brokered alliances between and among postsecondary institutions; building local networks of nonprofits, the public sector, data experts, and local advocacy efforts.
Robinson is a skilled facilitative leader, bringing a deep commitment to equity, inclusion, and listening. She skillfully facilitated [the] co-creation of many elements of systemic and policy change building upon the assets of communities who have traditionally been marginalized. She brings a strong research background and understanding of data, evaluation, and assessment and is skilled in balancing theory, research, and deep listening.
Robinson demonstrates strong interpersonal skills, the capacity to build synergy with foundations, and local and state government, co-create with constituents, and engage systems and structures across race, ethnicity, (dis)ability, LGBTQ identities, language, incarceration, and numerous intersectional identities. I recommend her enthusiastically.

Susan D. Johnson, Ph.D.

Director, Organizational Development & Philanthropic Practice - Lumina Foundation

Focused, Deliberate, Creative, Funny

Christine is a joy to work with. She is at once focused, deliberate, creative, funny, and indefatigable when it comes to
knowing the importance of solid research and evaluation to inform policy
in ways that improve the lives of vulnerable people.
It gives me great pleasure to recommend her.

Dr. Douglas E. Wood, Senior Fellow

Former Program Officer - Ford Foundation

Dedicated, Thoughtful, Creative

I have had the opportunity to know and work with Christine Robinson for more than a decade and a half,
ever since she spearheaded the development of what would become CAAB, and then through ADD, SEED,
and her work to bring psychology and asset-building theory and practice together.
She is dedicated, thoughtful, creative, and a straight shooter.

Robert Friedman, JD.

Author | Founder, Chair Emeritus and General Counsel at Prosperity Now

A Thoughtful, Thorough Practitioner Who Can Aptly Advise

Christine conducted research for us to support our thinking about our Community Building Curriculum,
and we’ve stayed in touch over the years. She interviewed many people in the field and was able to gather
candid reflections from people who knew our work and candid reactions from those who didn’t. She delivered
an in-depth report with creative recommendations. She’s a thoughtful, thorough practitioner who can
aptly advise her clients and peers.

Cynthia Silva Parker

Senior Associate at Interaction Institute for Social Change and Collaborative Social Change Agent

Excellent at Managing the Process

Christine was used to facilitate brainstorming sessions and to
gather information from key stakeholders. She did an excellent
job of getting participants to give candid and useful ideas. She
was excellent at managing the process and moving things to [the] next
steps.

William E. Spriggs, Ph.D.

Professor, Department of Economics at Howard University and Chief Economist, AFL-CIO