Lumin Strategies

What Lumin Strategies does

Lumin Strategies is a privately held consulting firm headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, providing public policy, advocacy, and strategic communications services to chambers of commerce, business associations, and economic development organizations. The firm originated as Francis Consulting Services, a solopreneur practice founded by Brian Francis, and rebranded to Lumin Strategies in June 2022 to reflect its expansion into a multi-person team with formalized leadership — including President and CEO Bryan Fox, Managing Director and lobbyist Sarah Prencipe, Policy Director Caitlin Fontaine, and General Counsel David Ford.

The company's core offerings are organized around a proprietary "Advocacy Framework" methodology that is delivered in two forms: personalized 1:1 consulting where Lumin acts as an outsourced advocacy director for client organizations, and a productized 12-month online Group Coaching program with more than 20 video lessons, templates, agendas, and scripts supported by twice-monthly virtual coaching sessions. Supporting assets include a library of topical webinars (candidate events, funding advocacy, legislative agenda development, local government relations) and free lead magnets (a board advocacy PowerPoint template and a preview lesson on policy committee formation). The firm has documented case-study outcomes including legislative agendas built from scratch in six weeks, advocacy programs improving from a C+ to an A grade within a year, and a multi-chamber PPP deductibility coalition representing 10,000+ North Carolina businesses.

Commercially, Lumin operates a B2B consulting model with a sales-led, consultative go-to-market motion targeting chamber executives primarily in the Southeastern United States. Revenue derives from professional services engagements (1:1 consulting) and a recurring subscription product (the Advocacy Framework Group Coaching program), with pricing not publicly disclosed. The firm runs an active LinkedIn and blog presence as top-of-funnel demand generation, converts prospects through free resources and webinars, and closes via scheduled calls with the President. No outside funding, parent company, or M&A activity is disclosed, and the company remains founder-led under private ownership.

Name

Lumin Strategies

Legal name

Lumin Strategies

Website

https://luminstrat.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Lumin Strategies is a Charlotte, North Carolina-based public policy and advocacy consulting firm serving chambers of commerce and business associations, offering 1:1 consulting services and a signature 12-month Advocacy Framework group coaching program.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Public Policy and Advocacy Consulting

NAICS

Management Consulting Services (54161), Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services (541611), Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services (5418)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Services-Management Services (8741), Services-Advertising (7310)

akta.pro primary industry

Social Media & Community Management (PR-led) (BPAFADAM)

Keywords

• Public policy consulting
• Advocacy consulting services
• Chamber of commerce consulting
• Legislative agenda development
• Strategic communications consulting

Headquarters

HQ city

Charlotte

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

Revenue model

1. Personalized Consulting Services: One-on-one consulting services where Lumin Strategies acts as an external advocacy director for client organizations. This is a custom, high-touch service engagement tailored to each client's needs.
2. Advocacy Framework Group Coaching Program: A 12-month online group coaching course providing step-by-step instructions for building advocacy programs. Includes more than 20 individual video lessons, templates, agendas, scripts, and Lumin Strategies staff support. Participation agreement is by organization.
3. Free Resources and Lead Magnets: Free PowerPoint templates and educational resources distributed to build trust and generate consulting leads. Resources include advocacy board presentation templates with talking points.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Lumin Strategies provides public policy, advocacy, and strategic communications consulting for chambers of commerce and business organizations. Its core offerings are (1) personalized 1:1 consulting in which it acts as an organization's external advocacy director, and (2) its signature Advocacy Framework Group Coaching program, a 12-month online curriculum with more than 20 video lessons, templates, scripts, agendas, and twice-monthly group coaching calls.

Product overview

Lumin Strategies offers a unified product portfolio centered on advocacy program development for Chambers of Commerce. The core offering consists of the 12-month Advocacy Framework Group Coaching program, which provides step-by-step methodology for building advocacy committees, legislative agendas, and policy engagement. This is complemented by personalized consulting services where Lumin Strategies acts as the organization's advocacy director. Supporting resources include free PowerPoint templates for board presentations, free preview lessons on policy committee formation, and various webinar trainings covering candidate events, election navigation, funding strategies, legislative agenda development, and local government relations. The company also maintains a blog publishing policy analysis and communications strategy content.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Advocacy Framework Group Coaching A 12-month online group coaching program for chamber and association executives that delivers step-by-step instructions for creating an advocacy committee, identifying guiding principles, building a legislative agenda, reporting back to membership, and engaging top investors. Includes more than 20 video lessons, templates, agendas, and scripts plus twice-monthly virtual coaching sessions with Lumin Strategies staff.
• Advocacy Director Consulting Services Customized, high-touch consulting engagements in which Lumin Strategies serves as the chamber's or association's outsourced advocacy director, providing full-service public policy support for growing organizations that cannot yet afford (or do not yet need) a full-time in-house policy executive.

Quantifiable outcome

• Chambers can build legislative agenda from scratch in 6 weeks using the Advocacy Framework
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers11 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Subject Matter: Strategic communications and public affairs advisory firm working with associations, corporations, and nonprofits on advocacy and reputation management. Comparable offering to Lumin's public-policy communications practice.
• SmithBucklin: Largest U.S. association management company, providing full-service management for trade and professional associations and chambers. Directly comparable to Lumin's association-management and advocacy offerings, but at significantly larger scale and broader scope.
• McKinley Advisors: Association consulting firm providing strategy, government relations, and membership growth services to trade and membership organizations. Comparable consulting engagement model and nonprofit/association client base as Lumin.
• Mehlman Consulting: Government relations and public affairs firm focused on legislative advocacy and coalition building. Comparable coalition-building approach to Lumin's chamber coalition work.
• Association Management Center: AMC is an accredited association management company serving trade associations, professional societies, and chamber-like organizations. Provides management and advocacy support analogous to Lumin's outsourced advocacy-director model.
• Forbes Tate Partners: Public affairs and government relations firm offering strategic communications, advocacy, and policy consulting. Comparable to Lumin's strategic communications and advocacy services for organizational clients.
• Winning Strategies Washington: Government affairs and public policy consulting firm that helps organizations develop and execute advocacy campaigns. Closely mirrors Lumin's public-policy and advocacy services for membership-based clients.
• Capitol Hill Consulting Group: Bipartisan government relations and public affairs firm providing advocacy, lobbying, and strategic advisory services. Closely aligned with Lumin's policy and lobbying capabilities.

Broad incumbents

• Ketchum: Global public relations and communications agency with significant public affairs and advocacy capabilities. Overlaps with Lumin on strategic communications, but serves a much broader client base with a wider portfolio of services.
• Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld: International law firm with one of the largest government affairs and public policy practices. Provides lobbying and policy advocacy services comparable to Lumin's policy work, but as part of a much broader legal and lobbying portfolio.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/LuminStrategies
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/francis-consulting-services-llc
• Instagraminstagram.com/luminstrategies

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 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 Lumin Strategies