mission facilitators

strategy guides

impact catalysts

Strategy is to water, as challenge is to stone. In time, water prevails.

Lyons-NewmanConsulting is a San Francisco Bay Area nonprofit consulting firm and trusted partner to nonprofits, public agencies, and foundations that are advancing social, economic, environmental, and racial justice. We support our clients to develop their vision, achieve their goals, and create lasting change.

We offer strategic planning, board development, facilitation, grantmaking strategy, and other organizational development services. Our mission is to deepen your impact, fostering transformation from the inside out.

We have subject matter expertise and extensive experience in public health, affordable housing, social services, disability justice, climate justice, multi-stakeholder coalitions, collective impact, policy advocacy, and the arts.

We work with national organizations and organizations across California, in addition to local Bay Area community nonprofits, public agencies, and foundations in Alameda, San Francisco, Contra Costa, Marin, Solano, Napa, Sonoma, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties.

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Our Offerings

Strategic Planning

Our strategic planning process guides organizations in creating practical, adaptable plans through meaningful and inclusive constituent engagement, thoughtful assessments, and a clear collective understanding of the opportunities and challenges ahead.

Board Development

We offer board retreats, governance best practices training, governance design, policy development, board self-assessments, board recruitment strategies, and board job descriptions and engagement contracts to ensure board effectiveness.

Facilitation

We facilitate customized retreats, strategy sessions, coalition meetings, and multi-stakeholder collaborations to support team building, decision-making, planning, and collective impact.

Grantmaking

We partner with foundations and grantmakers to design and develop thoughtful grantmaking strategies, programs, and initiatives that strengthen communities and maximize impact.

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Our Difference

Proven Results

After working with us, our clients have board members and staff members who are aligned and energized. They have greater clarity on their mission, positioning, and theory of change. They have confidence in their decision-making, a compelling organizational story, a clear roadmap for the years ahead, effective tools and processes, engaged constituents, and greater mission impact. Every engagement with us benefits from our expertise, effective tools and frameworks, and lessons learned from our work supporting more than 100 nonprofits, public agencies, and foundations.

On-the-Ground Nonprofit Leadership Experience

Our team has extensive consulting, direct service, executive leadership experience, and business training. Our principal spent a decade as an executive director of a San Francisco Bay Area public health nonprofit. We know what it's like to juggle staff, board, and other constituents while raising funds, overseeing programs, and responding to community concerns, all in the same hour. Building on our experiences, we help our clients not only articulate their vision and priorities, but turn them into lasting, community-centered change.

In Solidarity

We stand in solidarity with the causes and leaders we support. We take a community organizing approach to organizational development and managing change, bringing skill, care, authenticity, and deep listening throughout our work with our clients. Our inclusive processes center the voices of those who are most impacted. We meaningfully engage our clients’ diverse constituents, building alignment, teamwork, and collective ownership over decisions.

In Our Clients’ Words

“Working with Belinda is a dream! Balancing the personalities and needs of our volunteer leaders and staff members, Belinda is able to successfully navigate our program, facilitate meetings and support our volunteers, steering committee members, and other stakeholders through her coaching, troubleshooting, and research.”

Alyssa Lane, Program Manager, City of Vallejo
"Working with Lyons-Newman was transformative for all of us at Citywide and for me personally. Belinda and Erica patiently helped us shape a mission, vision, and values that we have pride in. Every step of the way they helped organize the engagement of our whole community. We are deeply pleased and grateful for their help that is launching us to a brighter future."

Fumi Mitsuishi, MD, Director, UCSF Citywide Case Management
"The Lyons-Newman team provided steady guidance and structure throughout. It was impressive to see how they brought us from brainstorming to some clear themes and strategies. While the plan was absolutely created by EBHO staff and members, Belinda and Erica provided the framework to ensure a clear path forward.”

Gloria Bruce, Executive Director, East Bay Housing Organizations
“We have worked with Belinda for years. She is rigorous in her preparation, always asks excellent questions, and facilitates challenging conversations with tremendous skill and sensitivity. She brings to her work a clear-eyed view of the challenges that organizations like ours can face, based on her own experiences as an executive director as well as a consultant.”

Jason Marsh, Executive Director and Editor in Chief, UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center
"Belinda brings a rare combination of heart, mind and spirit to her work - she is instantly likable and trustworthy, and equally knowledgeable and strategic. Her keen intellect, deep organizational experience and warm personality are truly a winning combination. I recommend her without hesitation to any non-profit leader."

Ann Shulman, Former Executive Director, UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center
“We hired Belinda to help us develop a strategic plan for our organization, but we got so much more. She is a skillful facilitator, with the ability to engage and synthesize diverse perspectives. As a result, we not only gained an actionable strategic plan, but perhaps more importantly, we gained a stronger organization with enhanced teamwork, better communication, and greater alignment between the Board, the CEO and the executive leadership.”

Marsha Fong, Board Chair, AACI
“Belinda is a real gem as a strategic planning consultant, with her authentic, warm and gracious personality matched by her keen insight, extensive knowledge and experience, and her ability to effortlessly draw the best out of diverse teams. She is exceptionally perceptive, creative, well informed and flexible. Her approach is collaborative and systematically generative. It was a real pleasure to work with her.”

Sarita Kohli, President and CEO, AACI
“Belinda and her team were fantastic to work with. They engaged our planning committee, community stakeholders, staff, and board in the process, helping our team focus on the organization’s future. We were really impressed with their ability to help us synthesize our ideas into a useful and well-structured plan that accurately reflects our goals and aspirations.”

Laura Chiera, Executive Director, Legal Assistance to the Elderly
"Belinda and Erica were warm, empathetic, creative, and knowledgeable. They helped us dial in to exactly what we envisioned for the future of the agency while incorporating the input of our participants, partners, and community. The process was full of excitement and deep discussions. At all times, our needs and interests were at the forefront. They were a joy to work with!"

Jennifer Vanaman, Executive Director, Peers Envisioning & Engaging in Recovery Services (PEERS)
“Our collaboration with the Lyons-Newman team was highly effective. It allowed for authentic conversations and flexibility, which ultimately resulted in the co-creation of a strategic plan that truly reflects who we are as an agency. I feel an immense sense of pride for what we created and am excited about the positive impact our strategies will have, both internally and externally, for our organization and community.”

Erin O’Brien, President and CEO, Community Solutions
"The Early Care Educators of San Francisco Board selected Belinda to guide our strategic plan and board retreat—and were glad they did. What were they looking for? Someone who would listen first, be down-to-earth, and have responsive interactions while bringing in her own knowledge and experience guiding a 501(c)(3). Belinda was a great fit."

Sara Hicks-Kilday, Director, Early Care Educators of San Francisco
“Belinda was a pleasure to work with. She was thoughtful, asked great probing questions, provided great insights, kept us on track and moved us forward in completing our strategic plan. What was delivered was exactly what we wanted!”

Jodi Pincus-Cabrera, Executive Director, Rising Sun Center for Opportunity
“Belinda is an experienced professional with a deep understanding of community-based organizations and the process of strategic planning. Her approach was incredibly helpful. We engaged in a process that commits the organization to some much needed change. The process was transparent, inclusive, thoughtful, and realistic. Our board and our staff were pleased with the results."

Bill Hirsh, Executive Director, AIDS Legal Referral Panel
“Working with Belinda and the Lyons-Newman team was not only inspiring, but also very successful. The process kept board members and staff engaged and it allowed us to have tough conversations. The clarity that it provided applies to every aspect of the organization, and that is tremendously helpful! We now have a well articulated path that the entire organization is proud of, and it feels achievable.”

Edie Nehls, Executive Director, Sunflower Hill
“If you are seeking someone who you can partner with to optimize your organization from both a mission and a financial perspective, and who can talk to all members of your organization, from the board to the front lines, with an engaging personality and flexible attitude, Belinda is the person for you. Belinda is such an enthusiastic, collaborative team member and a very disciplined, caring person.”

Rev. Robert Thomas, President and Executive Director, San Francisco Zen Center
"Belinda was absolutely great to work with. In addition to being responsive, timely, and within budget, she was also really easy to work with. We all really enjoyed working with her. The plan and documents she developed are incredibly user friendly, and make it so easy to track our implementation as we move forward. I highly recommend Belinda!"

Bonnie Guttman, Executive Director, The Dance Palace Community Center
"I found Belinda to be skilled, professional, intuitive, and gracious in her work with me. I highly recommend her! I was able to do a much better job of pitching my work to prospective clients after doing this work with Belinda.”

Diana Marie Lee, Principal and Founder, Sweet Livity
“Belinda has a warm, calm, clear, accessible, and collaborative approach. As a result of her strategic planning consultation and facilitation assistance, we are much more aligned and coalesced organizationally, with a clearly articulated vision and plan for our future. The process was illuminating and clarifying, and the value we received was enormous.”

Rawna Romero, Executive Director, Grateful Heart Holistic Therapy Center
"By partnering with us to get feedback from our staff, board, funders, and community, Belinda and Karla supported us to demonstrate that we are all in this together. They strengthened our capacity so that we could all grow out of this pandemic together and build the new agency our community needs.”

Gabriel Medina, Executive Director, La Raza Community Resource Center
"Belinda brought a breath of fresh air, building group collaboration, fostering a sense of joint purpose, expertly facilitating through difficult times, and most importantly, listening; i.e. letting everyone in the room participate, pulling out feedback as necessary, and ensuring that each individual felt like a positive force working towards a common goal."

John Peterson, Executive Director, Audubon Canyon Ranch
“I’ve worked with Belinda for years, and continue to return to her as a reliable, valuable, and consistent nonprofit consultant and coach—and a resource in my life. She has supported me, my board, and our leadership team through many of the challenges and opportunities of running a nonprofit, and she does so with grace, compassion, and kindness—and a great deal of wisdom and intelligence."

Katherine Katcher, Founder, Root & Rebound: Reentry Advocates
“At every turn, Belinda's insightful guidance has proved critical in helping shape the direction of this project, and her team-building skills have been invaluable in bringing together and focusing our growing collection of board members, advisors, and volunteers.”

Jeff Bell, Founder & President, Adversity 2 Advocacy Alliance
“Belinda was engaging, thoughtful, and a fabulous facilitator. Our Fellows left with a deep understanding of nonprofit governance.”

Brian Garshelis, Executive Director, New Sector Alliance
"It is a rarity to meet someone who was so organized and calm as Belinda. Her professional and organizational skills enabled her to efficiently execute the board strategic planning process. Her calming presence helped immensely to direct board members’ thoughts and energy. I’m very grateful for her service and dedication."

Robert Jones, Board President, Menlo Park Fire Protection District
"As stewards of Mission Housing’s legacy and champions of its future, we stand united in our mission to empower communities and shape futures. We are thankful to Lyons-Newman Consulting for helping our team throughout this important five-year strategic plan process. Their guidance helped us achieve this important milestone for our organization."

Sam Moss, Executive Director, & Marcia Contreras, Deputy Executive Director, Mission Housing
“Belinda helped our board and team to see eye-to-eye, get back on the same team together, and collectively envision the future we want for our organization and those we serve. It was a very healing and productive experience and provided numerous concrete next steps to keep us moving forward together in a healthier, more effective, and more joyful way.”

Jessica Hansen, MSW, Executive Director, Alliance for Smiles