The Intersector Project

What The Intersector Project does

The Intersector Project (TIP@PSI) is a non-profit resource hub and programmatic initiative of the Aspen Institute, founded in 2012 and operating with 1-10 employees from locations in Washington and New York. Its mission is to advance effective collaboration among the business, government, and non-profit sectors in the United States, and it does so exclusively through knowledge products: a four-stage Intersector Toolkit (Diagnosis, Design, Implementation, Assessment) for practitioners, a case study library profiling successful U.S. cross-sector collaborations, a curated Resource Library, original research publications including bimonthly Research Briefings and a Research-to-Practice series, and a long-running blog (Intersector Insights). There is no proprietary technology platform; the core 'product' is curated content and a methodology framework, delivered as downloadable PDFs and web pages. The organization is funded through institutional grants and support from the Aspen Institute, with all resources provided free of charge to a diffuse audience of practitioners, academic/policy researchers, government officials, and corporate/non-profit leaders. Its go-to-market is community-led, relying on content marketing, an email newsletter, social media, contributed articles in outlets such as Stanford Social Innovation Review and Route Fifty, and speaking appearances at practitioner and academic conferences (APPAM, ARNOVA, ASPA, Harvard Social Enterprise Conference, among others), with a forthcoming book collaboration with Brookings Institution Press extending its distribution footprint.

Name

The Intersector Project

Legal name

The Intersector Project

Website

https://intersector.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Intersector Project is a non-profit initiative of the Aspen Institute that provides free toolkits, case studies, research, and a resource library to help U.S. practitioners advance cross-sector collaboration among business, government, and non-profit organizations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Grant Funding and Institutional Support: As an initiative of the Aspen Institute ([email protected]), The Intersector Project operates as a non-profit organization funded through institutional grants and organizational support. All resources are provided free of charge to practitioners.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Intersector Project is a non-profit resource hub that produces and curates knowledge products to help practitioners diagnose, design, implement, and assess cross-sector collaborations among business, government, and non-profit organizations in the United States. Its core deliverables include a structured four-stage Intersector Toolkit, a library of case studies profiling successful U.S. cross-sector collaborations, original research publications (Research Briefings, Research to Practice, Researcher Insights), and a curated Resource Library. All resources are provided free of charge through its website.

Product overview

The Intersector Project is a resource hub offering a suite of knowledge products focused on advancing effective cross-sector collaboration among business, government, and non-profit sectors in the United States. The core offerings include: The Intersector Toolkit (a comprehensive guide with tools across four stages: Diagnosis, Design, Implementation, and Assessment), a leading Case Studies Library profiling successful collaborations, a curated Resource Library aggregating external research and tools, Research Publications including bimonthly briefings and research-to-practice analyses, and a Blog for practitioner insights. The Toolkit and Case Studies are available as downloadable resources, with the Toolkit providing the methodological framework for diagnosing, designing, implementing, and assessing cross-sector collaborations while the Case Studies and Resource Library provide practical examples and reference materials.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• The Intersector Toolkit A comprehensive guide to help practitioners diagnose, design, implement, and assess successful cross-sector collaborations. The Toolkit provides tools organized across four stages (Diagnosis, Design, Implementation, and Assessment) and is available as a free downloadable PDF for use by practitioners from any sector.
• Case Studies Library One of the leading libraries on U.S. cross-sector collaborations, featuring brief case studies that profile tactics from successful collaborations across issue areas including community revitalization, health and wellbeing, infrastructure, education, and environmental conservation.
• Research Publications (Research Briefings, Research to Practice, Researcher Insights) Original research offerings including Research Briefings (bimonthly compilations of academic articles), Research to Practice (in-depth examinations of scholarly articles for practitioners), and Researcher Insights (scholars distilling their research for practitioner audiences). Research is publicly available in full.
• Resource Library A curated hub of resources related to cross-sector collaboration, including articles, books, cases, reports, tools, multimedia, and scholarly articles sourced from research organizations, advisory groups, training organizations, academic centers, and journals. The library is organized by resource type, sector, issue area, partnership type, and scope (local, state, national, international).

Quantifiable outcome

• Publications reached 1.4 million+ audience members

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Aspen InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Intersector Project (TIP@PSI) operates as an initiative under the Aspen Institute. The organization's email is [email protected], indicating a close institutional relationship with the Aspen Institute's Center for Business and Government or similar division focused on public-private collaboration.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Aspen Institute: TIP's parent organization, a major policy studies institution with values-based dialogue and cross-sector engagement as core programmatic pillars. Comparable as a research and convening organization operating in the same themes at significantly larger scale and broader scope.
• Brookings Institution: A major think tank covering public policy and social issues including governance and cross-sector collaboration. Co-publisher of TIP's forthcoming book, indicating an established research partnership and overlapping research agenda.

Direct peers

• Bridgespan Group: Social sector advisory firm serving nonprofits, philanthropies, and social enterprises on strategy and organizational transformation. Competes for the same audience of cross-sector leaders and operates an adjacent practice on cross-sector collaboration strategy and partnerships.
• FSG: Social impact consultancy that pioneered the collective impact framework and shares a conceptual toolkit lineage with TIP. Co-hosts the Collective Impact Forum and operates on adjacent cross-sector collaboration methodology, making it a directly comparable thought leadership and advisory peer.
• Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR): A leading knowledge publication and conference platform covering social innovation, cross-sector partnerships, and nonprofit strategy. Directly comparable as a knowledge hub operating in the same intellectual space, publishing long-form practitioner and research content on collaborative practice.
• Collective Impact Forum: A practitioner-focused community advancing collective impact and cross-sector collaboration, co-hosted by FSG and the Aspen Institute. Directly comparable: operates the same Aspen-adjacent cross-sector collaboration knowledge-hub model with practitioner toolkits, case studies, and resource curation.
• Living Cities: A collaborative of philanthropic and financial institutions working on cross-sector urban initiatives. Cited in TIP's resource library and works on the same shared themes (community revitalization, public-private partnership, collective impact) with a city-level focus.

Emerging players

• Convergence: An organization facilitating blended finance and cross-sector investment partnerships between public, private, and philanthropic actors. Comparable as a connector between sectors for collaboration outcomes, with specialized focus on blended finance rather than the broader partnership lifecycle.
• PolicyLink: A research and action institute advancing racial and economic equity through cross-sector policy and partnership work. Operates with a similar cross-sector collaboration approach in a more targeted equity frame, making it comparable as an adjacent peer.

Others

• Net Impact: A community of students and professionals advancing social and environmental impact through business. Operates in the broader social impact space and overlaps with cross-sector collaboration themes via its professional network and chapters, serving an adjacent rather than directly competing audience.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/theintersector
• YouTubebit.ly/Penguin-TIP
• Facebookfacebook.com/theintersector
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/intersector-project

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

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 The Intersector Project