Groundwork
Partners
Our Practice
Groundwork Partners is a women-powered social
impact consulting consortium that works with
philanthropic families, institutional foundations,
nonprofits, and purpose-driven companies. We
help our clients define goals, execute plans, and
create the structure and momentum necessary to
spur transformational change.
As a team of experienced consultants, grant
makers, strategists, and lifelong social change
advocates, we’ve learned that the means through
which we pursue change are equally as important
as the results achieved. Thus, we build trusting
relationships with our partners and design
experiences that invite authenticity, honesty,
curiosity. We draw on research, design thinking,
our own expertise, and the innate wisdom of our
clients and their community partners to develop
solutions. We create clarity amidst complexity so
you can make sound decisions.
Groundwork Partners * www.groundworkpartners.co * lauren.marra@groundworkpartners.co
Our Services
For many philanthropic individuals and families,
strategic philanthropy is personal, complex, and
time consuming. We partner with you so that you
can enable meaningful change with confidence,
clarity, ease, and joy. Whether you want to translate
a big idea into action, lay the groundwork for the
next generation, or take a more private approach to
giving, we customize our services to meet your
needs. Core offerings include:
• Strategy and Planning: We help you develop a
mission and vision, identify issues you want to
focus on, and construct effective strategies and
opportunities for giving.
• Grant Making & Learning: We partner with you
and your advisors to design, launch, and
implement innovative and high-impact
programs. We also identify approaches and
opportunities learning alongside family
members, grantees, and other funders.
• Governance: We help you design your
governance structure, plan and facilitate board
meetings, and create and maintain foundation
policies and records.
Our Team
Groundwork Partners is led by
Lauren Marra, a seasoned
philanthropic advisor, social
impact strategist, connector,
and facilitator with over 15
years of experience leading
high-impact initiatives across
the public and philanthropic
sector. Her clients have ranged
from local, regional, and
national foundations like the
Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation, Ewing Marion
Kauffman Foundation, the
William Davidson Foundation,
Ms. Foundation, and the AARP
Foundation, to numerous
individual philanthropists,
donor collaboratives, and social
entrepreneurs. She’s also
worked with leading
nonprofits, like Jobs for the
Future and Echoing Green, and
several purpose-driven
companies.
Groundwork regularly engages
its “Collaborator” network, a
group of ten practitioners who
collectively bring a diverse
range of skills, experiences, and
backgrounds. The Collaborator
network enables us to build
teams customized to our
clients’ needs and aspirations
and representative of the
communities we support.
For more information, visit our website (www.groundworkpartners.co) or
email us at lauren.marra@groundworkpartners.co.
Recent Partners
Our consortium has partnered with over 200 philanthropic individuals,
families, and foundations. We have helped advance issues spanning from
economic mobility, educational equity, and conservation to racial,
gender, and environmental justice. Some of our relevant work includes:
The Case Foundation
Created a strategy to advance the inclusive entrepreneurship movement
Entrepreneurship has been a major driver of prosperity throughout U.S.
history; however, aspiring and existing entrepreneurs who are women
and people of color continue to be sorely under-represented and under-
resourced. Working closely with trustees Steve and Jean Case and their
staff, and drawing on the expertise of peer funders, business leaders, and
entrepreneurs of all races, places, and genders, our team developed a
robust programmatic and grantmaking strategy that leveraged the Cases’
assets as skilled communicators, impact investors, and grant makers.
The Rockefeller Family
Developed a grantmaking program to increase public radio listenership
Public radio is a longstanding and respected purveyor of factual
reporting, global perspectives, and compelling stories about life around
the world. An anonymous Rockefeller heir engaged our team to explore
ways in which public radio could reach more audiences, include more
diverse perspectives, and capitalize on the digital era. To do so, we held
ongoing conversations to build rapport, understand our client’s hopes,
and elicit her expertise. We also gathered the perspectives of radio and
digital news service providers, station managers, journalists, funders, and
prospective listener audiences. Then, together with our client partner, we
crafted a $5M giving strategy and later supported its evolution.
The AgroEcology Fund (AEF)
Designed, launched, and ran an international, multi-donor pooled fund
Eight years ago, our team helped launch AEF, a multi-donor fund that
aims to support viable food systems, promote the economic well-being
and human rights of small farmers, and mitigate climate change. We
developed AEF’s founding grant-making strategy and governance
structure; led the formation and evolution of its advisory board; ran its
first two grant-making cycles; hired its first staff director; and onboarded
four more funders. Today, AEF includes 33 donor partners; it has
awarded ~$7M to nearly 50 collaboratives that include 300 organizations.