Coaching
We help mission-driven leaders and teams connect to, resource, and lead with their strengths. We believe that to disrupt systems of oppression and create change “out there” we also need to do the work “in here” — and we’re passionate about helping people figure out what they need to show up in their lives, work, and communities in more generative ways.
Who We Coach
We coach philanthropic, nonprofit, and grassroots leaders who are striving to work in more collaborative, equitable, and just ways — and navigating the tensions and capacity-building this involves.
You might choose to work with us for a variety of reasons. For example, we can help you:
Steward organizational change,
Operationalize a new community-centered strategy,
Transition into a new role, decentralized organizational structure, and/or distributed decision-making model,
Expand your critical analysis of power, privilege, and oppression,
Build generative conflict skills,
Grow your capacity to hold and work with complexity, and/or
Wield, share, shift, and/or build power in ways that feel authentic and just.
We especially love working with leaders, teams, and organizations who are grappling with how to translate intentions and commitments into action.
If any of this resonates, let’s talk!
Our Approach
Our approach blends training in the Co-Active Coaching Model and Leading Equity and Inclusion in Organizations with 20+ years of experience co-leading adaptive and transformational organizational change as internal staff — and facilitating strategy, learning, and change processes as a consultant.
You can count on us to:
Engage you as a whole person,
Relate to your strengths,
Adapt to your learning, interaction, and processing styles, and
Help you move from insight to action.
Our perspective is also explicitly anti-racist, neurodiversity-affirming, anti-ableist, LGBTQIA+-affirming, and feminist, which means:
We name when systems of oppression like white supremacy, cis-heteropatriarchy, and ableism are showing up in our lives and influencing our sense of self, relationships, and institutions; and
We support ways of being and building relationships and organizations that affirm people’s dignity, autonomy, and interdependence.
In short, we draw on whole-person development and systems thinking to help you make change in ways that both center individual and collective agency — and recognize the power of institutions and systems.
Pricing & Logistics
We offer three coaching partnerships, all on a sliding scale:
Catalyze
For leaders looking to spark change — within themselves, their team, their organization, and/or their community:
90-minute discovery call,
6 x bi-weekly 60-minute coaching conversations, and
Bite-sized email/phone/text support, as it’s useful.
Solidarity: $1,665
Full Cost: $2,250
Restorative: $2,835
Sustain
For leaders committed to stewarding a change process, who would benefit from a thought/accountability partner:
90-minute discovery call,
12 x bi-weekly 60-minute coaching conversations, and
Bite-sized email/phone/text support, as it’s useful.
Solidarity: $3,060
Full Cost: $4,050
Restorative: $5,040
Transform
Accompaniment for leaders navigating transformational change, and the tensions and deep capacity-building this entails:
90-minute discovery call,
24 x bi-weekly 60-minute coaching conversations, and
Bite-sized email/phone/text support, as it’s useful.
Solidarity: $5,400
Full Cost: $7,200
Restorative: $9,000
FAQs
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A discovery call is the start of our coaching partnership. During this initial conversation we’ll:
Set an intention for your coaching,
Discuss relevant organizational and/or personal context,
Explore your preferred learning, interaction, and processing styles,
Talk through accessibility needs and/or accommodations that would be supportive, and
Co-design how we want to work together.
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We offer coaching virtually via Zoom, over the phone, and/or in person if you live or work near our home base of Beacon, New York.
At the start of each conversation, you’ll set the agenda. You can bring a specific topic, experience, or challenge to work on. Or we can start with some coaching to help you choose a focus. Then we’ll dive in…
At the end of each conversation, we’ll identify a line of inquiry and/or action that you can pursue to move your work forward before we next meet.
At times, we may also point you toward specific resources — which we can review and reflect on together, if that’s helpful.
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We’re certified to administer the Intercultural Development Inventory® and the Intercultural Conflict Style Inventory® — and can weave these into the coaching process if they feel relevant.
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Here are some decision-making criteria we invite you to consider:
Choose “Solidarity” if…
You work at a grassroots nonprofit,
Your organization's annual budget is < $1 million, and/or
You answer all or mostly “No” to the Financial Resources Questions below.
Choose “Full Cost” if…
You work at a nonprofit,
Your organization's annual budget is between $1 million and $5 million, and/or
You answer a mix of “Yes” and “No” to the Financial Resources Questions below.
Choose “Restorative” if…
You work at a large nonprofit, foundation, or for-profit business,
Your organization's annual budget is > $5 million, and/or
You answer all or mostly “Yes” to the Financial Resources Questions below.
Financial Resources Questions
Is your board predominately high-income?
Is your board active in fundraising and/or does it have access to networks of wealth?
Did your organization receive grant funding or donations designated to support this coaching work?
Does your organizational budget regularly include a line item for staff professional development?
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We consider this scale a work in progress. If you have feedback, we welcome it — and an easy way to get it to us is to send us a message through our contact form.
The current iteration of our sliding scale was developed using our local living wage as a starting point (calculated via the Economic Policy Institute’s Family Budget Calculator) — and is informed by research on the spectrum of rates charged by peer coaches/consultants, ongoing conversations with friends/collaborators Aisha Rios, Magenta Freeman, and Vidhya Shanker, and pay transparency role-models like AORTA and Both/And for whom we are deeply grateful.
Many people have made cases for sliding scales. Instead of re-presenting their wisdom, we prefer to highlight who we’ve learned from and we encourage you to engage with their ideas directly:
Finally, beyond our sliding scale, as a white-led practice based in the United States, Create Knowledge is committed to redistributing a portion of its annual earnings to Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC)-led grassroots groups in recognition of the need for reparations to address the past and present harms of colonialism, racial capitalism, and imperialism. We currently use the Honor Native Land Tax calculator to help determine how much to contribute.
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Coaching fees can be paid upfront, in monthly increments, or invoiced on a specific budget timeline if that’s helpful.
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If you’re interested in team coaching, we’ll design an approach tailored to your context, goals, and budget; please reach out and we can discuss.
Word of Mouth
What Next?
If you’re interested in working together, we invite you to schedule a complimentary intro call so we can get to know each other and decide whether we’re a good fit. This is an opportunity for us to discuss what brings you to coaching and what you hope to accomplish — and for you to get a sense of what it’s like to work with us.
