What Alia does

Alia is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, founded in 2015 by Amelia Franck Meyer to transform the U.S. and Canadian child welfare systems from a separation-oriented model into community-led networks of family support. The organization serves state and county child welfare agencies, tribal child welfare systems, and nonprofit service providers across all 50 U.S. states and Canada, working with 30+ jurisdictions annually and impacting over 50 jurisdictions through its flagship programs.

Alia's service portfolio is anchored on its proprietary 2E Co-design™ (Ethical, Equitable Co-design) methodology, developed in partnership with IDEO and the University of Minnesota, and supported by evidence-based programs including Intensive Permanence Services (IPS), Intensive Trauma Services (ITS), Workforce Resilience & Belonging, Leadership Coaching, Community Co-design, Breakthrough Sessions, and Changemaker Cohorts. The organization also operates Bright Spots, a parent-approved resource library, the UnSystem Toolkit (an online course on Litmos LMS), and convenings such as the Ten of Ten for Kids and UnSystem Roundtables. Technology infrastructure is modest: the organization relies on standard nonprofit tooling (Litmos LMS, HubSpot/website CMS) and does not develop proprietary software products; its differentiation rests on methodology, evidence-based outcomes (up to 84% permanency rates, 70% reduction in family separation), and human-centered practice expertise.

The business model is a hybrid of philanthropic donations, earned program fees, and licensed content. Direct service engagements with state and county child welfare systems are the largest revenue channel, typically structured as 2-5 year partnerships. The Changemaker Cohorts are sold at $2,900 per participant, the UnSystem Toolkit is sold as individual one-year user licenses, and Breakthrough Sessions are sold as 1-3 day immersive engagements for groups up to 20 participants. Donations are accepted via GiveMN, stock, planned giving, and donor-advised funds. As an independent nonprofit, Alia is governed by a Board of Directors, has 57 employees, and holds Charity Navigator 4-star and GuideStar Platinum transparency ratings.

Name

Alia

Legal name

Alia Innovations

Website

https://aliainnovations.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Alia is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit that partners with state, county, and tribal child welfare systems across all 50 U.S. states and Canada to transform family-separation practices through 2E Co-design, IPS/ITS programs, and trauma-informed workforce consulting.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Child Welfare Social Services

NAICS

Child and Youth Services (62411), Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Child Rights & Protection (BPADAGAG)

akta.pro secondary industry

Child Protection & Child Rights (BPAGABAG)

Keywords

• Child welfare services
• Family preservation programs
• Trauma-informed care
• Workforce resilience training
• Community co-design

Headquarters

HQ city

St. Paul

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, Others

Revenue model

1. Philanthropic Donations: As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Alia receives tax-deductible donations from individuals and institutions. The organization accepts one-time and recurring donations through GiveMN, stock donations, planned giving/bequests, and donor-advised fund grants.
2. Program Fees - Changemaker Cohorts: Structured leadership development program for child welfare directors. Fee-based cohort model at $2,900 per participant for six virtual monthly 90-minute sessions.
3. Training Programs - UnSystem Toolkit: Online training toolkit sold as individual user licenses. Five video modules with pre/post tests, PowerPoint slides, and facilitator guides covering Trauma 101, Trauma-Informed Practices, UnSystem concepts, Wellbeing, and Building an UnSystem. Accessible for one year from account activation.
4. Breakthrough Sessions: Immersive consulting engagements delivered in-person or virtually, 1-3 days in duration, for groups up to 20 participants. Customized engagement focused on catalyzing system transformation.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Alia is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit that partners with state, county, and tribal child welfare systems to fundamentally redesign practice away from family separation toward community-led, family-centered care. The organization delivers its proprietary 2E Co-design™ methodology, Intensive Permanence Services (IPS), and Intensive Trauma Services (ITS), alongside cohort-based leadership programs, immersive consulting, and trauma-informed workforce resilience engagements. Revenue is generated through philanthropic donations, paid cohort and toolkit programs, and multi-year direct service contracts with public child welfare agencies.

Product overview

Alia is a national nonprofit organization (not a technology product company) that offers a portfolio of service programs, training resources, and facilitation methodologies for child welfare system transformation. The core offering is 2E Co-design™ (Ethical, Equitable Co-design), a signature methodology that prepares child welfare systems and communities for authentic co-creation. This is supported by Intensive Permanence Services (IPS) and Intensive Trauma Services (ITS) — two evidence-informed, long-term relational healing programs developed with the University of Minnesota that serve youth and families. The service portfolio includes Breakthrough Sessions (immersive workshops), Changemaker Cohorts (peer cohorts for directors), Change Readiness Intensive (leadership readiness assessment), Workforce Resilience & Belonging (organizational culture work), Community Co-design, Leadership Coaching, and Keynotes/Trainings. The resource library includes the UnSystem Toolkit (online course on Litmos LMS), Dear Leaders, Dear Workers, and Bright Spots (parent-approved resource library). The organization also convenes UnSystem Roundtables for confidential peer learning and runs comprehensive place-based programs like Rock Families First in partnership with Rock County, Wisconsin.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• 2E Co-design: Ethical, Equitable Co-design methodology that brings together those most impacted by the system with those with power to co-create solutions.
• Intensive Permanence Services (IPS)
• Breakthrough Sessions
• Changemaker Cohorts

Products and services

• 2E Co-design™ (Ethical, Equitable Co-design) Alia's trademarked signature methodology that brings together those most impacted by the child welfare system with those who hold power, recognizing that those closest to the problem are closest to the solution. Includes critical readiness preparation to prevent harm before groups meet. Designed for child welfare agencies and community partners undertaking system transformation.
• UnSystem Toolkit An online course with six video modules (Trauma 101, Applying Trauma Informed Practices, What is an UnSystem, 10 Ways to Build Wellbeing, How to Build an UnSystem, and Peeling Back Bias) hosted on the Litmos LMS in partnership with Envesti Solutions. Provides one-year access and a certificate of completion to child welfare staff at the beginning stages of system change.
• Breakthrough Sessions Immersive 1, 2, or 3-day experiential consulting sessions for groups up to 20 participants, delivered in-person or virtually, designed to mobilize child welfare teams to find breakthrough solutions to pressing challenges through strategic thinking with a lens of growth and innovation.
• Changemaker Cohorts A six-month leadership experience for child welfare directors featuring six virtual monthly 90-minute sessions in intimate groups of six to eight directors, providing peer-to-peer connection, inspiration, and new thinking to sustain teams and drive meaningful system change. Priced at $2,900 per participant.
• Change Readiness Intensive A two-day leadership intensive designed to advance organizational readiness, align teams, and co-create a bold path forward for child welfare systems considering system transformation.
• Intensive Permanence Services (IPS) A 24-month youth-driven relational trauma healing intervention that establishes healing and belonging for long-staying youth in child welfare and their families. IPS builds supportive, stable connections leading to wellbeing and permanency outcomes, delivered through a train-the-trainer model with local capacity building and implemented across over 50 U.S. and Canadian jurisdictions.
• Intensive Trauma Services (ITS) A 24-36 month relational healing intervention that pairs youth and caregivers with a consistent, reliable practitioner. The model focuses on restoring capacity for healthy relationships, feeling safe, and building support networks, co-developed with the University of Minnesota.
• Workforce Resilience & Belonging Services that engage and nurture child welfare leaders and workforce to prepare agencies for co-creation and implementation of new solutions, centering on trust, belonging, and shared purpose to address worker burnout, compassion fatigue, and turnover.
• Dear Leaders An open-access resource containing theme-based discussion prompts and activities developed by lived experts and leaders to help child welfare teams prepare for community co-design as trustworthy partners. Organized around five principles: Collaboration, Context, Compassion, Change, and Consistency.
• Dear Workers A family engagement resource for workers in child welfare to understand the context of their position and prepare them to bring family voice and power to the system, including developmental activities for self-awareness, support systems, and examining trauma and marginalization.
• Bright Spots The first parent-approved resource library of its kind, offering free, practical tools to help child welfare systems prevent family separation. Contains 29 parent-vetted approaches to prevention with 2,900 unique downloads.
• UnSystem Roundtables Confidential, invite-only virtual conversations convening 6-10 key leaders and changemakers in child welfare around high-impact themes. Sessions are not recorded and include peer-to-peer learning, with key insights shared publicly through reports.
• Accelerator Lab A program bringing innovative teams together to share learnings and build UnSystems, engaging 17 child welfare leaders and staff in the inaugural cohort.
• Community Co-design Service that prepares staff and leaders to engage authentically with families, fostering trust and minimizing harm while building trust with impacted parents, supporting equitable compensation, and sparking hope that voices can drive real change.
• Rock Families First Alia's most comprehensive engagement, a multi-year partnership with Rock County, Wisconsin's child welfare system and 13 mothers (the BeeHive) impacted by the system. A co-designed movement to keep children safely with their families through community-led solutions, achieving 58% reduction in youth in out-of-home care.
• Leadership Coaching Ongoing, personalized partnership through 1:1 coaching to help child welfare leaders navigate priorities, cultivate equity, and rediscover the joy that fuels their work.
• Keynotes, Trainings & Workshops Inspirational presentations and training sessions that unlock new ways of thinking through storytelling and practical strategies, building trauma-informed, equity-focused, family-centered practices across the child welfare workforce.

Quantifiable outcome

• Up to 84% of participating youth achieve permanency through Intensive Permanence Services
• +9 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and strategic.

• IDEO / IDEO.orgcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017Partnership with IDEO and IDEO.org beginning in 2017 for the Ten of Ten for Kids national convening. IDEO contributed human-centered design expertise to help reimagine child welfare systems. This partnership established Alia's foundation in co-design methodology and launched the organization's approach to system transformation.
• KeyhubscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIndustry-leading partnership with Keyhubs for workforce wellbeing and resilience work. Keyhubs provides technology platform support for Alia's workforce resilience and belonging programs delivered to child welfare systems and health organizations.
• University of MinnesotacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with University of Minnesota's School of Social Work and Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare. Jointly developed Intensive Permanence Services (IPS) model grounded in research. Also partner on Trauma-Effective Leadership Certificate program (6 years running) and equity audits for jurisdictions.
• Rock County Human Services (Wisconsin)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSix-year comprehensive partnership (2019-present) through Rock Families First initiative. System leaders and 13 mothers (the BeeHive) co-designing new approaches to keep children safely with families. Achieved 58% reduction in out-of-home care and 98% staff retention.
• SCO Family of ServicesstrategicStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to help youth build permanent bonds through Intensive Permanence Services. SCO Family of Services implements IPS to support youth in foster care achieve permanency outcomes.
• Lower Sioux CommunitystrategicStrategic or Co-development PartnerCase study partnership implementing Intensive Trauma Services with parents in the Lower Sioux Community. Showed 100% of active parents strongly agreed they improved a key relationship through the program.
• CFS of ManitobastrategicStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to implement IPS in Manitoba, Canada. Joint case study documents 'The People. The Process. The Permanency.' showcasing cross-border implementation of the permanency model.

Scale indicators17 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Child Trends: Nonprofit research organization producing evidence on child welfare outcomes and evaluating programs for states. Comparable as a research partner and evidence producer in the child welfare transformation field, with overlapping federal/state funder relationships and outcome-evaluation methodology.
• Annie E. Casey Foundation: A major national philanthropy focused on child welfare, juvenile justice, and family economic mobility, funding systems-change initiatives in states. Comparable as a child welfare systems-reform thought leader and convener; broader scope (K-12, economic mobility) but overlapping direct practice transformation work with county/state agencies.
• Children's Defense Fund: National child advocacy organization pushing policy reform on child welfare, family economic security, and education. Comparable as a child-rights/movement-building organization, though primarily advocacy- and policy-focused rather than a direct practitioner with jurisdictions like Alia.
• Casey Family Programs: One of the largest private foundations focused entirely on child welfare, funding systemic reform and direct practice change across U.S. states. Comparable to Alia as a long-duration child welfare transformation funder, with overlapping policy ambitions on family preservation, although Casey operates at foundation scale via grants while Alia is an operating nonprofit.
• Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago: Research-policy center producing evidence on child welfare, with practice-focused technical assistance for jurisdictions. Comparable to Alia's University of Minnesota partnership-driven, research-backed transformation model, but at research-center scale rather than operating-nonprofit scale.
• Child Welfare League of America: National membership organization for child welfare agencies, providing advocacy, training, and standards. Comparable as a national convener and training provider for child welfare systems, though historically focused on agency operations rather than the family-preservation outcomes Alia targets.

Direct peers

• Center for the Study of Social Policy: National nonprofit that provides technical assistance to jurisdictions pursuing child welfare transformation, including the development of frameworks like the Protective Factors Framework and Results Count leadership development — directly comparable to Alia's methodology-driven transformation and cohort programs for child welfare leaders.
• JBS International: Consulting and technical-assistance firm that delivers training and capacity-building to child welfare, behavioral health, and human services agencies — a direct competitor for county/state transformation contracts and curriculum-driven revenue, offering competing toolkit and TA products.

Emerging players

• FosterClub: National nonprofit supporting youth in foster care with peer connection, leadership training, and transition support. Comparable in mission-adjacent space (youth-led child welfare reform, lived-experience engagement) and overlaps with Alia's trauma-informed, youth-driven IPS work, though narrower in scope and reach.
• National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD): Nonprofit research and consulting organization that partners with jurisdictions on juvenile justice and child welfare reform, with proprietary tools for assessing child welfare systems. Comparable as a child welfare transformation technical-assistance provider, with overlapping county/state contract procurement channels.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/aliainnovations
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCPYdfEgPiacYMqo5P1P_RWg
• Facebookfacebook.com/aliainnovations
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/alia-innovations

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 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 Alia