About Us
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Helmer N. Ekstrom founded the firm in 1997 as a natural extension of his earlier work as a consultant, a community foundation director and CEO, and as president and CEO of a national association of consulting firms.
Angela G. Powers joined Helmer in 1998, and Bryan Clontz in 2003, marking the firm’s growth into a team of seasoned senior-level professionals who advise philanthropic organizations across the U.S. and around the globe. Steve Alley joined the firm in 2010, and in 2015 became the firm’s managing partner and owner. |
“In designing our strategic development plan for the next several years, I valued greatly your role as outside thought partner to share ideas and suggestions. Your participation in our planning process and at the Board retreat was excellent and helped raise the importance of a new direction with the Board.”
Ruben Orduña, Vice President of Development and Donor Services The San Francisco Foundation 
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Why Us
Breadth of Knowledge Base — Our client experience and network connections with those in the practice and management of philanthropy across the US and around the globe provide us a wide-ranging wealth of practical ideas and solutions which we tap to deliver better results for our clients.
A “Been There” Team — We take a team approach to our work whenever possible. Simply, it produces better results. Seasoned in the practice of philanthropy, we have access to a considerable inventory of mistakes made and, thankfully, lessons learned from those mistakes—including how to see them coming and avoid them. Working in teams allows us to bring those multiple perspectives to clients’ unique situations.
Objectivity — Our agenda is our client’s agenda. We respect a client’s aims and purposes. While we are not shy about asking the tough questions and saying what we think, we know our job is to help our clients achieve their objectives. We’re often that fresh pair of eyes and ears that helps board, staff, and stakeholders get “unstuck” on the way to strategic transformation.
Rigor — While the Ekstrom Alley Clontz & Associates' experience base guides us on what to look for in a client situation, we will not let ourselves be trapped by preconceived notions. That is because our experience also includes discovering surprises—things that have flown in the face of preconceived notions.
Aligned and Durable Solutions — Our approach gets at underlying misalignments between priorities, resources, and community expectations. Achieving alignment is critical to effectively managing growth and to effectively using existing staff and services before adding new ones. We look beyond band-aids to solutions that fit well beyond the here-and-now.
A “Been There” Team — We take a team approach to our work whenever possible. Simply, it produces better results. Seasoned in the practice of philanthropy, we have access to a considerable inventory of mistakes made and, thankfully, lessons learned from those mistakes—including how to see them coming and avoid them. Working in teams allows us to bring those multiple perspectives to clients’ unique situations.
Objectivity — Our agenda is our client’s agenda. We respect a client’s aims and purposes. While we are not shy about asking the tough questions and saying what we think, we know our job is to help our clients achieve their objectives. We’re often that fresh pair of eyes and ears that helps board, staff, and stakeholders get “unstuck” on the way to strategic transformation.
Rigor — While the Ekstrom Alley Clontz & Associates' experience base guides us on what to look for in a client situation, we will not let ourselves be trapped by preconceived notions. That is because our experience also includes discovering surprises—things that have flown in the face of preconceived notions.
Aligned and Durable Solutions — Our approach gets at underlying misalignments between priorities, resources, and community expectations. Achieving alignment is critical to effectively managing growth and to effectively using existing staff and services before adding new ones. We look beyond band-aids to solutions that fit well beyond the here-and-now.
Our Approach
At Ekstrom Alley Clontz & Associates, our approach to work with clients is value based. And the value is delivering solutions that achieve a client’s objectives. That means no off-the-shelf methodologies. We specifically shape each engagement by client objectives and needs. That said, we commonly include these elements in our work:
We charge a single fee for our project work, plus reasonable out-of-pocket expenses whenever it is practical and feasible. We do not believe that a “meter” should be running, and we do not want to put clients in the position of making an investment decision every time our help may be required. Consequently, clients have unlimited access to us and our resources within the scope of the project for a single fee. In this manner, they know their investment from the outset.
- Review of the client’s existing policies, services, and key documents.
- Interviews and/or surveys with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders to ensure we have a full range of insights on the client’s strengths, challenges, relationships, and possibilities for future growth and action.
- A preliminary assessment that shapes core strategic questions and decisions the board and staff will need to consider.
- Facilitated discussions to achieve internal alignment around priorities for business model, strategic direction, and related use of resources.
- Plans that provide longer-term road maps to success while outlining short-term action steps.
- Suggestions for additional support and resources for implementation.
We charge a single fee for our project work, plus reasonable out-of-pocket expenses whenever it is practical and feasible. We do not believe that a “meter” should be running, and we do not want to put clients in the position of making an investment decision every time our help may be required. Consequently, clients have unlimited access to us and our resources within the scope of the project for a single fee. In this manner, they know their investment from the outset.