Ten years ago — on February 25, 2015 — I woke up, climbed out of bed, made my morning cup of coffee, sat down at a desk in the corner of my small New York City apartment, and started a social impact company. For years, a sign had hung over my desk that read, “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?” As the board matching, training, and support concept behind Cause Strategy Partners began to take shape, I knew the answer. I’d quit my job and start doing this work.

There was a fair amount of anxiety in making this decision, to be sure. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 65% of new businesses fail within 10 years. But Cause Strategy Partners hasn’t. We’ve managed to be among the 35% of new companies that survive their first decade.

How did we do it?

Over the course of the last 3,653 days, thousands of decisions have been made. As we mark this milestone, I believe our success is owed, in large part, to 10 key decisions that have contributed most meaningfully to the positive impact Cause Strategy Partners is making in the world.

1. Center the work around a clear set of values. Our six values have served as a clarion call for our team every step of the way. They are lifted up during interviews and new employee onboarding. We talk about them on Slack and in meetings. Our Causie Award categories honor team members who exemplify each value. Most importantly, we use them as a constant guide in decision-making.

2. Set high expectations for board members. We refuse to contribute to a culture of mediocrity on nonprofit boards. Nonprofits deserve outstanding leadership in and out of the boardroom. There should be no difference between the diligence, engagement, and performance of a corporate board and nonprofit board. In fact, we won’t work with a candidate unless they commit to The BoardLeader Way, our definition of full board engagement.

3. Invest deeply in governance training. A tiny percentage of board members receive training on performing the responsibilities of a nonprofit director, despite the importance of this leadership role. Research tells us that a board is 34 times more likely to cause harm to their nonprofit if they don’t understand the role and set of responsibilities. We prioritize governance training at every step in the BoardLead process and we conduct scores of trainings each year for groups of corporate and nonprofit leaders. By placing trained and supported candidates on boards, our nonprofit partners learn to trust us.

4. Lead with a partner-centric approach. We don’t think of our nonprofits as “beneficiaries” of our work. They are partners. We don’t think of our board candidates as program “participants.” They are partners. We don’t think of the 60+ corporations and professional services firms that have hired Cause Strategy Partners as clients. They, too, are partners. Great partnerships are built on shared success, open communication, reliability, trust, and long-term commitment. Every Causie — our team members — is passionate about serving those we are honored to partner alongside.

5. Say “yes” when opportunity knocks. When the opportunity to do something new emerges, requiring us to step outside of our comfort zone, we are inclined to say “yes.” This willingness to grab ahold of opportunities led us to expand outside of New York City and develop into a national model. It led us to expand our international presence in the United Kingdom (and soon a new global city — stay tuned). It led us to offer tailored programs for C-suite executives and young professionals alike. It led us to create technology to achieve scale. It led us to build BoardLearn, our good governance training platform. In each instance, we saw a new opportunity to strengthen our impact and we said “yes.”

6. Focus on your sweet spot. But we also learned to say “no.” When we launched in 2015, I wrote a broad mission statement so we could figure out where opportunities might lie and take them on. After three years, we more clearly understood that our sweet spot was matching talent to purpose through BoardLead and training professionals on good governance. It was tough to close down our nonprofit consulting practice, for example, but we recognized that there are many others in the field who offer such expertise. As we recognized our strengths as an organization and learned how our services could create the greatest social impact, we started to decline opportunities that would come our way. Ironically, learning to say “no” would ultimately also become one of the great drivers of our growth over our first 10 years.

7. Adapt, adapt, adapt. Everything is constantly evolving and so must we. Sticking to what has worked in the past is a sure recipe for future stagnation. Idealistic purity is comforting, but sometimes it is not prudent or possible. By navigating nuance and complexity effectively, we can preserve our values-driven work and ensure it will have an ongoing societal impact for the next 10 years.

8. Hire carefully and promote internally. The Cause Strategy Partners team — our Causies — is a truly exceptional group of talented and dedicated professionals. We invest countless hours in each hire — whether a part-time, full-time, or temporary role — in order to carefully protect the strong culture our team has built together. We also promote internally most of the time. All three members of our leadership team, for example, started as graduate interns. When new positions come on line, we invite our team members to apply first. As I wrote in the acknowledgment to my book, Becoming a Causie, “Any accolade for the success of Cause Strategy Partners is owed” to them.

9. Commit to excellence. Our first of six values reads, “Excellence: We never take short cuts. We infuse quality into every action, every day.” This guiding principle is owned by every Causie. When we fall short of that standard, we acknowledge it and we dissect what went wrong so it won’t happen again. Committing to excellence means everything takes longer. One has to proof-read each email before pressing send. One has to take the time to carefully explain something rather than gloss over the concept and hope it was understood. Every tool and resource must be reviewed multiple times by multiple people before it is ready for showtime. But a commitment to excellence leads to optimal outcomes.

10. Express gratitude through generosity. It has been incredibly exciting to do something new. Something different. To try a new approach. To work on something important. On a personal level, I feel incredibly honored to be on this journey alongside the staff and Advisory Board of Cause Strategy Partners. We have been able to express our gratitude in a tangible way through giving. In our first 10 years, we contributed $391,414 to 121 nonprofit organizations driving positive impact in the world.

If I were to summarize the first 10 years in one word, I’d choose “thankful.”

Thank you for joining us on this journey!

With deep appreciation,

Rob Acton
Founder & CEO