This is the nitty-gritty.

The social sector is made up of all the entities engaging in social and economic activities for the primary purpose of benefiting society. It is a peer to and intersects with the public sector—government and its services—and private sector—economic industry not directly under government. 

The social sector is in and of itself a broad and interconnected tapestry. It contains Nonprofit Organizations (NPO) that may also be:

• International/Non-governmental Organizations (I/NGO)
• Community-based Organizations (CBO)
• Civil Society Organizations (CSO)
• Faith-based Organizations (FBO)
• Foundations or Donor Advised Funds (DAF)
• Social Welfare Nonprofits—501(c)(4) organizations or action funds
• Membership Nonprofits—501(c)(6) organizations
• Or another specialty designation

Social sector interests overlap with public and private in areas such as government funding for socio-economic development, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG). 

These spaces comprise the fourth sector—a dynamic "for benefit" category where social, government, business, and environmental interests advance together. Social innovation and enterprise, venture philanthropy, and B- ("benefit for all") corporations fall here.

Impact at a significant scale requires the involvement of multiple social sector entities and cross-sector collaboration.

Social impact is the net effect of programs and activities that respond to inequalities and injustices. Its pursuit is the ultimate objective and reason for the social sector's existence. And it's a leading objective for the fourth sector. 

We do not aspire to be experts in the entire social sector. However, we will continue to grow our knowledge and expertise in the competencies to achieve impact today and in the future. 

This includes ongoing specialization in:

• The processes for envisioning, planning, measuring, and attributing change to an entity's work—impact strategy.
• What it takes for an organization to do what it says it does and achieve goals—organizational effectiveness.

And we continuously study the environment and trends impacting this work.

From research, as well as lived experience, consistent themes impacting social sector work today are:

• Evolving demographics
• Impending generational shifts 
• Rising costs and changes in giving
• Declining engagement, with talent turnover
• Rapidly changing environments and technologies
• And increasing leader burnout and decision fatigue

We know what it's like to lead in the continuous flow of change and challenge. 

That's why we offer surgical and surge capacity to both help you advance today and work on future-proofing your mission.

We offer services to forward-thinking social impact leaders of startup, early-stage, and scaleup efforts based on this premise:

IF social impact leaders have timely access to experienced thought partnership for strategy and effectiveness work and can expediently engage proven leadership to build related functions and initiatives,

THEN, they will more successfully and sustainably lead over the long term and better navigate the continuous flow of challenges that come their way.