Root to Bloom

What Root to Bloom does

Root to Bloom (RTB) is a private social enterprise and consulting collective, founded in 2020 by Valérie Bellande and Ré Phillips, operating with a core team of approximately eight people distributed across the San Francisco Bay Area, Atlanta, Montréal, and London. The firm provides professional services—coaching, workshops, organizational assessments, funding proposal support, retreat facilitation, and strategy consulting—to two named client segments: "Purpose Leaders" (BIPOC creatives and mission-driven entrepreneurs seeking financial sustainability) and "Progressive Funders" (philanthropists seeking to align grantmaking with feminist and racial equity values). Service breadth spans roughly twenty distinct offerings organized under the two tracks, including organizational sustainability assessments, branding and marketing consultation, concept coaching for creatives, funding proposal development, financial sustainability strategy, funder stewardship, strategic partnership facilitation, organizational strategy assessment for funders, resource mobilization ethics analysis, gender and racial justice awareness training, giving portfolio assessments, comprehensive training, multimedia visualizations, values-aligned funding portfolio development, partnership stewardship and mediation, and portfolio diversification. The firm does not sell software, APIs, SaaS, or any proprietary technology platform; delivery is human-hours-based consulting.

The business model is professional services with quote-based, non-publicly-disclosed pricing sold via multi-year custom contracts that begin with a complimentary 30-minute discovery call. Go-to-market combines direct sales outreach through [email protected] with a community-led motion rooted in feminist activist networks, BIPOC creative communities, and progressive philanthropy circles. Acquisition is driven by referrals from progressive funder partners and inbound interest from creatives/entrepreneurs, supported by content marketing through an active blog, a podcast (including Fouta Harissa), and social media. Geographic reach spans North America and the UK, with strategic partnerships extending to Ghana (abantu+) and Tunisia. Notable impact signals include a cited $30M in funding secured for Global South movements through strategic-partner Hafsa Mustafa, engagement with 60+ BIPOC groups and social movements, and partnership with organizations such as Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, FRIDA, Coraz\u00f3n y Pueblo Consulting, the Ford Foundation, Microsoft, Kiva, and the World Economic Forum via the consultant bench.

Name

Root to Bloom

Legal name

Root to Bloom

Website

https://roottobloom.org

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Root to Bloom is a private social enterprise and consulting collective providing coaching, fundraising strategy, and capacity-building services to BIPOC creatives, purpose-driven entrepreneurs, and progressive funders across North America, Europe, and Africa.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Social Enterprise Consulting

NAICS

Grantmaking and Giving Services (8132), Grantmaking Foundations (813211)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Donor Coordination, Monitoring & Evaluation (MEL) Programs (BPADABAN)

Keywords

• Social enterprise consulting
• Fundraising strategy services
• Financial sustainability advisory
• Philanthropy advisory services
• Creative entrepreneur coaching

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco Bay Area

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Coaching Services: One-on-one and group coaching for creatives and entrepreneurs to develop financial sustainability strategies, funding proposals, and business plans.
2. Workshops and Training: Organizational sustainability assessments, fundraising strategy development, and comprehensive training programs for purpose leaders and funders.
3. Retreat Facilitation: In-person and virtual retreat facilitation for teams, focusing on team-building, strategic planning, and creative exercises.
4. Funder Strategy Consulting: Assessment, development, and investment services for progressive funders including portfolio diversification, partnership stewardship, and multimedia visualizations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Root to Bloom is a social enterprise that delivers professional consulting and advisory services to two client segments: Purpose Leaders (BIPOC creatives and entrepreneurs seeking financial sustainability) and Progressive Funders (philanthropists seeking values-aligned grantmaking strategies). Core offerings include one-on-one and group coaching, organizational sustainability and fundraising assessments, funding proposal development, brand and marketing consultation, workshop facilitation, and in-person or virtual retreat design and facilitation.

Product overview

Root to Bloom operates as a consulting and advisory firm rather than a software product company. The organization offers a suite of professional services organized into two primary client segments: Purpose Leaders (creatives and entrepreneurs of color seeking to build sustainable ventures) and Progressive Funders (investors seeking to align their giving with values of racial and gender equity). Services are delivered through direct consulting engagements including assessments, coaching, strategy development, proposal writing support, and partnership facilitation. The company also hosts a blog with educational content on topics like fundraising, branding, creative expression, and philanthropy. No software products, platforms, APIs, or SaaS offerings were identified in the source data.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Coaching Services for Purpose Leaders One-on-one and group coaching engagements for BIPOC creatives, artists, and mission-driven entrepreneurs focused on developing financial sustainability strategies, funding proposals, business plans, and moving from ideation to execution.
• Workshops and Training Programs Organizational sustainability assessments, fundraising strategy development, and comprehensive training programs for purpose leaders and progressive funders, including funding proposal drafting, brand and marketing consultation, and industry and market research.
• Retreat Facilitation In-person and virtual retreat design and facilitation for teams, focused on team-building, strategic planning, creative exercises, and alignment of mission and culture.
• Progressive Funder Strategy Consulting Assessment, strategy development, and advisory services for progressive funders and resource allies, including organizational strategy assessments, fundraising strategy reviews, resource mobilization ethics analysis, gender and racial justice awareness training, giving portfolio assessments, comprehensive training and development, multimedia visualizations, values-aligned funding portfolio development, partnership stewardship and mediation, and portfolio diversification.
• Complimentary 30-Minute Discovery Call A complimentary 30-minute introductory consultation for prospective purpose leaders and progressive funders to explore their vision, identify challenges, and determine fit for Root to Bloom's coaching, workshop, retreat, or funder advisory services.

Quantifiable outcome

• Developed and implemented financial sustainability strategies for international partners
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 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.

• abantu+coreStrategic or Co-development Partnerabantu+ is a space curated by artists for artists in Accra, Ghana. The aim is to support music creatives in Ghana by creating a space to learn, grow, showcase and exchange as well as working unitedly to identify ways for sustainable art making. RTB partners with abantu+ in developing and implementing their financial sustainability strategy, including diversifying revenue streams to include grants and income generating work such as coaching programs. Both partners seek to experiment with and grow solidarity and community-based economic models that can be replicated by other 'artrepreneurs' in Africa.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• The Adaway Group: A DEI-centered fundraising and equity consulting firm that helps nonprofits and foundations diversify revenue and integrate racial equity into fundraising practice — closely aligned with RTB's funding proposal development and funder-portfolio work.
• Justice Funders: A field-building organization that specifically supports progressive funders in realigning resourcing toward racial and economic justice — a direct match to Root to Bloom's 'For Funders' practice around portfolio diversification, values-aligned giving, and resource mobilization ethics.
• Radical Partners: A purpose-driven consulting firm that works with nonprofits, foundations, and social enterprises on strategy, capacity building, and sustainability. One of Root to Bloom's own consultants (Alia Mahmoud) serves as part-time Director of Growth and Innovation there, making it the closest direct peer in mission and service mix.
• TCC Group: A consulting firm serving nonprofits and foundations on strategy, evaluation, and capacity building — closely comparable in service portfolio (assessment, funder strategy, organizational sustainability) to both of RTB's primary client segments.
• La Piana Consulting: A nonprofit and foundation strategy consultancy focused on organizational sustainability, executive transitions, and strategic planning for mission-driven organizations — overlapping heavily with RTB's purpose-leader and funder engagements.
• Common Future: A field-building organization that supports BIPOC and rural entrepreneurs and the funders who back them, with an explicit focus on closing the resource gap — directly comparable to RTB's Purpose Leaders segment and its Global South/Africa partnerships.
• Frontline Solutions: A racial-justice-focused capacity builder that provides coaching, training, and strategy support to BIPOC leaders and progressive funders — overlapping directly with RTB's intersectional-feminist, racial-equity-centered practice.

Others

• Koya Partners: An executive search firm exclusively serving the nonprofit and social-sector space — adjacent rather than directly competitive, but operates in the same progressive-funder and purpose-driven-organization ecosystem.

Broad incumbents

• Arabella Advisors: The largest dedicated philanthropy and impact-advisory firm in the US, serving individual donors, foundations, and corporations with strategy and resource-allocation support — broadly competes for the same funder-side engagements but at much larger scale.
• Bridgespan Group: A major social-sector strategy consultancy serving nonprofits, philanthropists, and impact investors on growth strategy, fundraising, and organizational transformation — broader in scope than RTB but operating in the same advisory category.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/root-to-bloom

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 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 Root to Bloom