Started by grants management professionals.

I feel lucky to have spent the early part of my career working in grants management for some of the world’s largest foundations. While I have always been fascinated by operations, in the world of philanthropy, grants management is sometimes seen as unglamorous work. If I can help expedite a grant payment by even one day, that money reaches the organization sooner and ensures their staff can stay focused on their work and their community. Seeing the broader foundation and nonprofit ecosystem has kept me aligned on how much small changes to process and visibility can matter for grantees and their communities.

My goal with starting and building a grants management consulting firm was to help foundations be as efficient and effective as possible. In a way, I had already been consulting informally for years inside the corporate and private foundations where I worked, finding pain points in processes and working to eliminate them, often by applying technology.

The grants manager’s role is becoming more strategic, and as data plays a bigger part in decision-making, we see an exciting opportunity to contribute to the field. We bring deep grants management expertise and proven practices to help foundations become better grantmakers.

Our company name, 1892 consulting, came from our family home, which was built in 1892. That turned out to be an eventful year. Ellis Island opened. General Electric, Carnegie Steel and the Sierra Club were all founded, and Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker premiered in St. Petersburg. To the delight of my husband, a lifelong fan, 1892 was also the year Liverpool Football Club was founded.

As with most history, 1892 was no golden age. That summer, steelworkers were killed during the Homestead Strike at Carnegie Steel while fighting for fair wages and the right to organize. While Carnegie would go on to publish the “Gospel of Wealth” in 1889. The same year Ellis Island opened its doors, Congress passed the Geary Act, extending the Chinese Exclusion Act and forcing Chinese residents to carry proof of their right to be here. Philanthropy’s own history (opens in a new tab) is tied up in that era, too, and it’s important to name.

So 1892 consulting is a name we carry with both curiosity and humility: a reminder of what’s possible when people build something new, and of how much work it takes to make sure the benefits reach everyone.