The IRIS Collaborative

What The IRIS Collaborative does

The IRIS Collaborative is a Washington, DC-based social enterprise consultancy founded in 2018 by Shyrea Thompson. The firm delivers professional services across health equity, patient advocacy, community engagement, digital media, coaching, leadership programming, events, strategic planning, philanthropy, workforce development, operations support, and compliance. Its work is anchored by the proprietary IRIS Impact Approach, a collaborative methodology built around five principles (People, Process, Place, Performance, Portfolio), and the Pink Divas sub-brand, an award-winning breast cancer education and patient navigation program that has reached more than 10,000 women and trained 40 lay health workers via partnerships with 200+ organizations.

The IRIS Collaborative serves a primarily institutional client base that includes government agencies (notably the World Health Organization), nonprofit and advocacy organizations (Fund II Foundation, Tigerlily Foundation, National Minority Quality Forum, HELA100 Initiative), private sector companies (Pfizer, Rethink New Orleans Schools), and educational institutions. Revenue is generated through quote-based professional services engagements, including consulting, coaching and speaking, event services, and digital media services. Pricing is not publicly disclosed and there is no technology product platform; the offering is centered on expert-led consulting delivered alongside clients as a collaborative team.

The firm is privately held as The IRIS Collaborative, LLC, with no disclosed external funding, parent company, or institutional investors. Strategic positioning is enhanced by the founder's prior leadership tenure at Susan G. Komen, where she led a $27 million Fund II Foundation partnership to address breast cancer disparities, and her recognition by the White House in 2014 for breast cancer patient navigation work. The firm is differentiated by deep community roots in minority health equity, a measurable track record of community-level outcomes, and a bench of named collaborators with public health, epidemiology, and nonprofit management expertise.

Name

The IRIS Collaborative

Legal name

The IRIS Collaborative, LLC

Website

https://irisimpact.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The IRIS Collaborative is a Washington, DC-based social enterprise consultancy that delivers health equity, patient advocacy, community engagement, and strategic planning services to nonprofits, government agencies, healthcare organizations, and private sector clients through its proprietary IRIS Impact Approach.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Social Impact Consulting

NAICS

Public Relations Agencies (541820)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Digital Workplace & Collaboration Consulting (BPAHAEAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Hospital Shared Services, GPOs & System Support Organizations (HLAFAAAO), Rare Disease & Special Needs Support Organizations (BPAGACAM)

Keywords

• Social impact consulting
• Health equity services
• Patient advocacy consulting
• Nonprofit capacity building
• Community engagement programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Consulting Services: Professional consulting engagements with clients across health, education, government, media and private industry sectors. Services include strategic planning, program development, and capacity building delivered through collaborative team engagements.
2. Coaching and Speaking: One-on-one and team coaching services, expert speakers for keynotes, fireside chats, facilitated trainings, workshops and sessions for leaders and organizations.
3. Event Services: Event development, content creation, conference management, experience design, branding, facilitation, speaker management, and relationship management services for strategic events.
4. Digital Media Services: Advocacy campaigns, coalitions, interactive trainings, digital content creation, storytelling, thought leadership, social media management, audience engagement, SEO optimization, strategy, planning and analytics services.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

The IRIS Collaborative is a social enterprise consultancy that delivers professional services in health equity, patient advocacy, community engagement, digital media, coaching, leadership programming, events, strategic planning, philanthropy, workforce development, operations support, and compliance. It applies a proprietary "IRIS Impact" collaborative methodology and operates the Pink Divas breast cancer disparities program. Services are sold via tailored, direct engagements to enterprises, nonprofits, healthcare organizations, educational institutions, and government agencies.

Product overview

The IRIS Collaborative is a social enterprise consultancy offering a portfolio of professional services including the Pink Divas breast cancer program and the IRIS Impact Approach methodology. Their offerings span health equity, patient advocacy, digital media, coaching, leadership programming, events, strategic planning, philanthropy, workforce development, operations support, compliance, and community engagement services. The company operates as a collaborative of expert practitioners serving nonprofit, health, education, government, media and private industry leaders.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Pink Divas: Award-winning evidence-based training, outreach and patient navigation program designed to combat breast cancer disparities. Educates, empowers and impacts women where they live, work, play and pray to ensure that where a woman lives will not determine if she lives.

Products and services

• IRIS Impact Approach A proprietary collaborative methodology using the 5 Ps (People, Process, Place, Performance, Portfolio) to work alongside clients to define solutions, demonstrate return on investment, and achieve outcomes across health equity, advocacy, and social impact programs. Sold as the foundational framework for client consulting engagements.
• Pink Divas An award-winning, evidence-based training, outreach, and patient navigation program designed to combat breast cancer disparities. Educates, empowers, and impacts women where they live, work, play, and pray to ensure that where a woman lives will not determine if she lives. Customers include healthcare nonprofits, advocacy organizations, and community partners seeking culturally attuned breast health programs.
• Health Equity Consulting Expert consulting services implementing evidence-based methods to address disparities, barriers to care, systems change, and behavioral health interventions to improve outcomes and advance health equity for nonprofit, healthcare, and government clients.
• Patient Advocacy & Policy Services Advocacy campaigns, coalitions, interactive trainings, Hill Days, fly-ins, site visits, roundtables, town halls, policy briefs, and district meetings tailored for patients, providers, and policymakers at federal, state, and local levels.
• Community Engagement Services Award-winning programs reaching people where they live, work, play, and pray through building relationships, amplifying trusted voices, centering stakeholder perspectives, and sparking community change for clients in nonprofit, healthcare, and private sectors.
• Digital Media & Communications Services Diverse and inclusive content creation, design, storytelling, thought leadership, social media management, audience engagement, SEO optimization, strategy, planning, and analytics delivered to nonprofit, healthcare, and advocacy clients.
• Coaching & Speaking Services One-on-one and team coaching and expert speakers for keynotes, fireside chats, facilitated trainings, workshops, and sessions for leaders, teams, and organizational clients.
• Leadership Programming Services Evidence-based online and in-person mentoring, retreats, cohorts, resources, and interactive programming that invests in growing diverse leaders for organizational clients.
• Events & Activations Services Full-service event program development, content, conferences, experience design, branding, facilitation, speaker and relationship management, IT, marketing, media, materials, swag, and fundraising delivered to enterprise clients.
• Strategic Planning Services Tools and tactics to assess, analyze, define, goal set, plan, budget, implement, evaluate, sustain, scale, and communicate impact for nonprofits, healthcare, government, and private sector clients.
• Philanthropy & Development Services Support for nonprofits, donors, and philanthropic leaders from engaging grantees and stakeholders to simplifying applications, improving partnerships, and reporting processes.
• Workforce Development Services Award-winning, evidence-based workforce pipeline programs, youth engagement, adult education training, cohorts, resources, and support services delivered to organizational clients.
• Operations Support Services Nonprofit and small business payroll management support, task automation using AI and technology, annual review of HR practices for compliance and application, resume and employee file management for organizational clients.
• Compliance & Policies Services Local, state, and federal labor law compliance, process updates to align with regulations, policies, tools, and resources including employee and manager handbooks, training, and audits for organizational clients.

Quantifiable outcome

• 10,000+ women reached through breast health education and mammogram screening programs
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• Fund II FoundationflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor partnership for Black Maternal Health Equity Project addressing breast cancer disparities in Black communities. Included a $27 million initiative led by Shyrea Thompson during her tenure at Susan G. Komen.
• Tigerlily FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration since 2019 for ANGEL Advocates program and HEAL Policy Center of Excellence, focusing on metastatic breast cancer advocacy and healthcare access for Black women.
• World Health OrganizationflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for Cervical Cancer Elimination Initiative. Shyrea Thompson serves as WHO Goodwill Ambassador supporting Henrietta Lacks family collaboration and global health initiatives.
• National Minority Quality ForumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHealth equity initiatives and minority health quality improvement programs. Shyrea Thompson served on the 2018 NMQF Advisory Board.
• Henrietta Lacks' Family-led HELA100: Henrietta Lacks InitiativecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerImplementing HELA100 initiative to honor Henrietta Lacks' legacy and the impact of her immortal HeLa cells in medical research since 2015.
• AARP FoundationminorGTM or Marketing PartnerServed as Bridge for Billions AARP Foundation's Work for Yourself@50+ Incubator Program mentor in 2021, supporting entrepreneurship for workers over 50.
• Carnegie Mellon UniversityminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSupported 2024 Carnegie Mellon University - Africa Entrepreneurship Delegation visit to Washington, DC as Guest Lecturer and Tartans Innovate Hackathon Judge.
• Mom CongressminorGTM or Marketing PartnerJoined Mom Congress' Board of Directors in 2024 to support maternal health and parenting policy advocacy.
• KROUN (thekroun.com)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with KROUN founded by Kristen Hobbs for Black excellence, arts, and public health content creation. Featured in inspiration gallery.
• Public Health GoalsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with Falasha Zuend's Public Health Goals platform focused on women's health issues and positive images of Black families.
• University of California California Breast Cancer Research ProgramminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerServed on CBCRP Steering Committee and was first chair of its CBCRP Equity Review Committee Panel.
• George Washington University Trachtenberg SchoolminorGTM or Marketing PartnerJoined as Nonprofit Enterprise professorial lecturer in 2025, supporting next generation of nonprofit enterprise students.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• HealthBegins: Social enterprise providing health equity consulting, training, and program design for healthcare systems and communities. Closely comparable consulting services model and equity-focused client base.
• Tigerlily Foundation: Breast cancer advocacy organization for women of color, particularly Black women under 45. Operates ANGEL Advocates and HEAL Policy Center; both a current IRIS partner and a directly comparable peer in patient navigation and policy advocacy.
• The Balm In Gilead: Faith-based public health nonprofit addressing health disparities in Black communities through congregational engagement. Directly comparable in faith-placed community health strategy and partnership model.
• Black Women's Health Imperative: National nonprofit focused on advancing health equity and policy for Black women. Highly comparable in mission, target population, and advocacy focus, though structured as a nonprofit rather than a consultancy.
• Sisters Network Inc. National African American breast cancer survivorship organization running community-based outreach and navigation programs. Closely comparable in mission (Black breast cancer disparities) and community-led delivery model.

Broad incumbents

• Susan G. Komen: Largest breast cancer-focused nonprofit globally; a prior employer of IRIS's founder and an ongoing ecosystem partner. Operates at substantially larger scale and broader geographic reach but shares breast cancer disparities mandate.
• Manatt Health: Large professional services firm with deep health equity, Medicaid, and public health practice. Comparable consulting service mix and federal/state client base, though at materially greater scale and breadth.
• Families USA: National health equity advocacy organization running campaigns and policy work on healthcare access. Comparable advocacy and equity mandate; primarily policy-led rather than consulting-led.

Emerging players

• Prevention Institute: Nonprofit focused on prevention, health equity, and community health systems. Comparable equity and community-systems orientation with consulting-adjacent services.
• Touch4Life: Nonprofit focused on breast health education and disparities in Black communities. Comparable niche focus and community education delivery, though smaller and more program-only than IRIS's consulting model.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/IRIS4impact
• Facebookfacebook.com/IRIS4Impact
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-iris-collaborative
• Instagraminstagram.com/iris4impact
• Pinterestpinterest.com/iris4impact

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 The IRIS Collaborative