Third Plateau is a full service social impact consulting firm. We bring diverse expertise, fresh insights, and a collaborative spirit to help funders, nonprofits, and other social change organizations more effectively drive impact. For funders and funder networks, we provide philanthropic management, strategic consulting, and coaching services.
Philosophy/Approach: We believe that complex social change requires new ideas, a deep understanding of people and systems, and a commitment to continuous learning. As a field with a long time horizon, a wide vantage point, and relatively few constraints, we believe philanthropy has an important role to play in driving social impact — especially in addressing persistent, complex social challenges.
Good philanthropy is surprisingly difficult to accomplish, but we’re here to help. We support high-net-worth individuals and families, as well as corporate and institutional foundations, to articulate and execute their philanthropic visions. We provide philanthropic management, strategic consulting, and coaching services for funders and funder networks. And we offer our broader strategic consulting services to funders and their grantees.
We help our clients think expansively and avoid narrow problem definitions, silver-bullet solutions, and the seduction of herd mentality. Because funders are frequently removed from the problems they are attempting to solve and the people they aspire to serve, we help them to be informed by both those experiencing and those working on the issues they care about and develop processes that create conditions for grantees to do their best work.
Our goal is to help you create meaningful and effective philanthropy: Funding that aligns with your deepest values and aspirations and that follows evidence-based strategies that drive impact.
Types of clients: Private foundations, corporations, community foundations, invidual donors, smallto mid-size nonprofits, major nonprofits, universities
Specialization:
Receive Tailored Services. From back office support to strategic consulting and beyond, get the services you need in the ways you want them. Leverage Our Diverse Team Access unique insights to achieve your philanthropic vision from our talented team, representing a range of backgrounds and disciplines, and diverse expertise across the philanthropic, nonprofit, public, and private sectors.
Lean Into Your Growth. Whether you’re looking to sharpen your skills as a leader or team, develop a learning agenda for a group, or track the outcomes from your investments, our team of strategists, coaches, and researchers can help you enhance your learning and elevate your practice.
Do More Than Give. Creating social impact often requires giving time and talent in addition to money. We can help you roll up your sleeves, whether that involves serving on boards, hosting events, engaging with other funders, or otherwise supporting your grantees.
Third Plateau has been indispensable over the past five years in rallying an ever-more vibrant network of advocates, commentators, scholars, NGO leaders, funders, and politicos who are committed to working on a trans partisan basis to strengthen U.S. democracy.
—Daniel Stid, Former Director of U.S. Democracy Program, William & Flora Hewlett Foundation
Our partnership with Third Plateau helped us create a framework from which we could revise the fund's mission in response to the current social, political, and economic issues impacting the communities we support.
- Luisa Adrianzen Guyer, President, Penney Family Fund