
Our Mission
We specialize in change leadership for the greater good
Trellis Partners is committed to supporting the creation of a just and equitable society by helping nonprofits strengthen their operations, leadership, and culture to maximize impact on the critical issues of our day.



About Trellis Partners
Trellis Partners is a national consulting firm that was created to address a resource gap that Founder and CEO Anna Prow encountered time and again while working in leadership positions at nonprofit organizations:
Nonprofit organizations often need a change leader to guide the organization from one stage of growth to another, particularly from start-up to scaling.
In Anna’s experience, most short-term consultants provided critical project-based services, but rarely were positioned to lead enterprise initiatives that led to sustainable organizational transformation. At the same time, Anna saw the ways changing organizational practices and challenging norms was difficult for regular staff and leadership. Anna realized that an insider-outsider, time-bound change leader embedded with the organization could transform these organizations’ ability to set up the infrastructure needed for growth. This insight inspired the creation of the Term Executive model.
Trellis Partners Term Executives have helped more than a dozen visionary nonprofits scale and deepen their impact on a range of issues from expanding renewable energy to achieving equity in public safety to ending genocide.
Our team is passionate about the work we do – and the success of our clients. We are committed to working together to create a thriving social sector that changes the world.
Our Values and Operating Principles
Helping build an inclusive culture in teams, organizations, and the world
We believe that by practicing our values in our work and local communities, we contribute to the change we want to see in the world – the creation of a just and equitable society.
Our values and operating principles are applicable to every level at which we operate:
- Change leaders embedded with client organizations
- Trellis Partners teammates
- Global citizens
VALUES
Value |
How we practice it in our work/communities |
How it supports the creation of a just, equitable society |
Impact |
We strategically choose activities that maximize the likelihood of achieving desired results. | Everything we do impacts the world around us so we must make careful choices. |
Equity |
We hold ourselves and each other accountable for resisting bias and unfair norms, rules, and practices. | Decisions based on equity produce sustainable results. |
Compassion |
We seek to understand what is important to others and help them succeed in realizing it. | Empathy and benevolence are intrinsic to justice. |
Inclusion |
We share information liberally and encourage engagement. | People deserve to inform conditions and decisions that affect them. |
Diligence |
We are prudent in our decision making and weigh risk, costs, and benefits. | Due diligence fosters accountability, fairness, and quality. |
Integrity |
We do as we say. | Honesty and reliability are essential for building trust. |
Impact
We strategically choose activities that maximize the likelihood of achieving desired results.
Equity
We hold ourselves and each other accountable for resisting bias and unfair norms, rules, and practices.
Compassion
We seek to understand what is important to others and help them succeed in realizing it.
Inclusion
We share information liberally and encourage engagement.
Diligence
We are prudent in our decision making and weigh risk, costs, and benefits.
Integrity
We do as we say.
OPERATING PRINCIPLES
Both with our client organizations and in our Trellis Partners team, we:
- Look for strengths in every situation
- Expect complexity
- Welcome diverse perspectives
- Make the implicit explicit
- Foster learning to achieve transformation
- Respond to failure with a level head
- Distinguish between urgency and importance
- Create “forms that follow function”
What Our Clients Have to Say
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