Yancey Consulting

What Yancey Consulting does

Yancey Consulting (YC) is a privately held, boutique professional services firm founded in 2009 by Lisa Yancey and headquartered in Mount Vernon, New York. YC provides strategic consulting, facilitation, and organizational transformation services to nonprofits, foundations, and public-sector entities operating primarily in the creative, justice, and public sectors, with a stated mission of advancing just, equitable, and thriving societies. The firm differentiates through a suite of proprietary, trademarked methodologies—Dream Planning™ (strategic planning centered on vision over abstract strategy), Digital Discovery Lab® (virtual stakeholder engagement rooms), Building & Weaving Teams® (cross-stakeholder planning methodology), Kitchen Cabinet™ (advisory working team model), and the Program Viability Matrix for Nonprofits© (revenue viability assessment tool)—alongside its Head. Heart. Being. transformation theory framework. Its core technology is therefore a body of intellectual property and facilitation architecture rather than a software platform; there is no API, no app, and no documented AI capability.

YC operates a sales-led, direct-engagement go-to-market model: prospective clients complete an intake form on the website, and the firm selects engagements based on alignment with mission, values, and organizational readiness. The firm is structured around a small core team of five internal members—a President/Founder, a Chief Thinker and Organizational Design Engineer (PhD clinical psychologist), a Master of Stories (PhD in human factors and I-O psychology), a Chief Brand Curator, and a Senior Strategist/Facilitator—supplemented by three resident accomplices. Most services are quote-based, custom consulting engagements, with a single productized offering—a 90-minute strategic session with Lisa Yancey at $1,200. The firm also operates a sister site, THE DASH, offering a luxury three-day individual planning retreat, and the founder co-founded The We's Match, a venture supporting underestimated women entrepreneurs. Notable engagements include supporting a 2020 coalition of seven U.S. funders that deployed $21 million in relief grants to nearly 4,000 artists during COVID-19, published thought leadership for Grantmakers in the Arts and Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and a qualitative research partnership with Slover Linett.

Name

Yancey Consulting

Legal name

Yancey Consulting, LLC

Website

https://yanceyconsulting.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Yancey Consulting is a Mount Vernon, NY-based boutique consulting firm providing strategic planning, systems change, and organizational transformation services to nonprofits, foundations, and public-sector organizations in the creative, justice, and public sectors, differentiated by proprietary frameworks including Dream Planning™ and Digital Discovery Lab®.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Management Consulting (Nonprofit Strategy)

NAICS

Management Consulting Services (54161), Other Management Consulting Services (541618)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Strategy & Corporate Development Consulting (BPAHACAA)

Keywords

• Nonprofit strategic consulting
• Organizational transformation services
• Strategic planning facilitation
• Systems change consulting
• Leadership transition advisory

Headquarters

HQ city

New City

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Strategic Consulting and Facilitation Services: Professional services revenue from strategic consulting, facilitation, thought partnership, and organizational transformation engagements. The firm offers a 90-minute strategic session at $1,200 per session as a productized service offering.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Yancey Consulting is a boutique management and strategy consulting firm serving nonprofit organizations and mission-driven entities in the creative, justice, and public sectors. Its core offerings are custom strategic planning (branded Dream Planning™), systems analysis and redesign, ecosystem mapping, research and evaluations, leadership transition planning, framework customization, and facilitation/thought partnership. The firm also sells a productized 90-minute strategic session for $1,200.

Product overview

Yancey Consulting offers a portfolio of consulting and advisory services centered around strategic transformation toward just, equitable, and thriving societies. The core offering is Dream Planning™ (strategic planning reimagined), supplemented by signature frameworks including Digital Discovery Lab® (virtual stakeholder engagement spaces), Building & Weaving Teams® (collaborative planning methodology), Kitchen Cabinet™ (advisory team model), and Program Viability Matrix for Nonprofits© (assessment tool). Additional services include systems analysis, ecosystem mapping, research and evaluations, leadership transition planning, and facilitation. The firm also offers a structured 90-minute intensive session as an add-on engagement model.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Digital Discovery Lab®: A curated digital space with multiple rooms holding different topics or themes, designed to inform and gain feedback on ideas in formation.
• Building & Weaving Teams®
• Kitchen Cabinet™
• THE DASH

Products and services

• Dream Planning™ (Strategic Planning) YC's flagship strategic planning methodology that centers clients' dreams and desires rather than abstract strategy, positioning the client's vision at the core of all planning activities. Offered to nonprofit organizations in creative, justice, and public sectors.
• Systems Analysis and Redesign Consulting service that identifies power structures and root causes of systemic issues and analyzes interlocking policies, regulations, customs, and practices to create conditions favorable for just environments.
• Ecosystem Mapping and Field Analysis Service that maps the interplay between ecology (interdependent things), systems (governing interconnectors), and intentions (values motivating actions), documenting interconnected roles, governance, resource climate, and power dynamics.
• Research, Evaluations, and Assessments Research and evaluation services focused on accountability, learning, and understanding impacts of decisions and actions toward just, equitable, and thriving societies.
• Founder and Leadership Transition Planning Care-centered consulting for founders and leaders navigating transitions, successions, or changing roles, involving all stakeholders to understand hopes and desired outcomes.
• Framework, Curriculum, and Tools Development Customization of Yancey Consulting's intellectual property and signature frameworks for client partners, offered as a long-standing component of the firm's practice.
• Facilitation and Thought Partnership Process facilitation services that elevate critical questions, identify strategic decision points, name patterns that impede progress, and ensure everyone's voice is heard and considered.
• 90 Minutes to Strategic Action with Lisa Yancey A 90-minute strategic action session where clients (and up to two team members) can problem-solve on a pressing issue, affirm the issue, vet and source solutions, name action steps, and receive a recap. Priced at $1,200 per session with completion of intake form required in advance.

Quantifiable outcome

• Nearly 4,000 artists received $5,000 each in emergency relief through YC-supported coalition in 2020
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered major, core and minor.

• Artist Relief 2020 Coalition (7 U.S. Funders)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020YC supported a coalition of seven U.S. funders who launched a $21 million artist relief fund during COVID-19, providing $5,000 grants to nearly 4,000 artists in financial distress. YC contributed research, evaluations, and published comprehensive recommendations addressing crisis preparedness and economic disparities for artists.
• The We's MatchcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLisa Yancey is co-founder of The We's Match, a venture supporting underestimated women entrepreneurs. This represents a related venture outside of YC's primary consulting practice.
• Slover LinettminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerYC partnered with Slover Linett on a qualitative research study titled 'Black Perspectives on Creativity, Trustworthiness, Welcome and Well-Being'.
• Capture Create MediaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNathan Kigenyi operates Capture Create Media as YC's Super Producer and Resident Accomplice. This is an individual contractor relationship rather than a formal corporate partnership.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• FSG: Social impact strategy consulting firm advising foundations, corporations, and nonprofits on strategy, evaluation, and collective impact. Directly comparable to YC's systems-change and ecosystem-mapping focus.
• ORS Impact: Evaluation and strategy consulting firm focused on social impact, philanthropy, and systems change for foundations and nonprofits. Comparable to YC's research, evaluation, and systems-change offerings.
• La Piana Consulting: Nonprofit management consulting firm specializing in strategic planning, executive transitions, and organizational development for nonprofits and foundations. Highly comparable to YC's Dream Planning and leadership transition services.
• TCC Group: Boutique consulting firm focused exclusively on nonprofit, philanthropic, and social-sector clients, offering strategy, evaluation, and capacity-building services. Directly comparable to YC in mission, client base, and small-team consulting model.
• Mission Search: Executive search and consulting firm focused exclusively on nonprofit and mission-driven organizations, including leadership transition support. Comparable to YC's leadership transition and nonprofit specialization.
• The Bridgespan Group: Nonprofit and social-impact strategy consulting firm serving foundations, nonprofits, and social sector leaders with strategy, leadership, and transformation advisory. Closely comparable to YC's strategy and systems-change practice with arts and public-sector clients.
• Arabella Advisors: Philanthropic and social-impact advisory firm that helps foundations, donors, and nonprofits develop strategy and deploy capital for social change. Comparable to YC's foundation and ecosystem mapping work.
• BCT Partners: Research and consulting firm specializing in social impact, equity, and inclusion work with nonprofits, foundations, and government agencies. Comparable to YC's DEI-centered, justice-sector focus.

Broad incumbents

• McKinsey Social Sector Practice: Large global management consultancy with a dedicated nonprofit, arts, and public-sector practice that competes for high-profile social-sector strategy engagements. A broader incumbent alternative to YC's bespoke consulting.
• IDEO (IDEO.org): Design and innovation consultancy with a social-sector arm working on systems change and equity-focused challenges with foundations and nonprofits. Comparable in its human-centered, transformation methodology but at much larger scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@THEDASHExperience
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/yancey-consulting
• Instagraminstagram.com/yanceyworld
• Facebookfacebook.com/profile.php

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Yancey Consulting