How we partner.
We are here for the first project and the next. Here is what working with Gemini Strategic Consultants LLC means day to day, where we work, and how it starts.
Seven things that hold on every piece of work.
The relationship outlasts the job.
The first piece of work is scoped and handed over. We expect there to be a second.
Terms are custom and written first.
There is no price list. Scope, timeline and cost are agreed in writing for your work before anything starts.
You keep what we build.
Plans, documents, systems and tools belong to you at the end, with notes on how they work and how to change them.
Everyone on the work is named to you.
There are no anonymous contributors on work we run.
Status is stated as it is.
We report what happened, including the parts that did not work.
Some partners share the upside instead.
In the Ventures lane we may take a stake rather than an invoice. That is agreed case by case, in writing.
We name partners in public only with their agreement.
Until then this site describes the work, not who it was for.
Nothing starts before we both sign.
Five steps, in this order, every time.
How the work runs.
We do not need to own every piece. We build the table. The sequence is the same whatever the subject.
Identify
Find the opportunity, and be specific about who it is worth something to.
Design
Turn it into a plan somebody could fund and staff.
Convene
Bring the partners who need to be at the table to the table.
Capitalize
Line up the money: public, private, philanthropic, or all three.
Build
Put in place the systems the plan runs on: the process, the numbers, the tools.
Execute
Run the plan, or hand it to whoever is best placed to run it.
Measure
Report what happened, including what did not work.
Where we work.
Six areas. Most real problems sit across two or three of them, which is why we work across all six. “What exists today” lists only work described on the work page, at the status given there. No organization is named.
Civic & Government
- Who we work with
- City departments, state offices and public authorities.
- What we bring
- The plan a department can put its name to, and the partners outside government it needs to deliver it.
- What exists today
- A strategy on turning city waste into value, drafted and not presented to the City. Work on getting small local suppliers into public and institutional purchasing, in development.
Anchor Institutions & Foundations
- Who we work with
- Hospitals and health systems, universities, large employers, and regional and national funders.
- What we bring
- Work on both ends at once: what the institution needs to see, and what a small supplier or a community group needs to meet it.
- What exists today
- The anchor procurement work, in development. A food-and-health pathway at concept stage, with no clinical partner committed.
Food Systems
- Who we work with
- Growers and operators, food-access organizations, institutional buyers, and the public offices that fund and regulate them.
- What we bring
- One case for food as an economy (production, purchasing, access, jobs and waste) instead of five separate problems.
- What exists today
- A food-economy framework in development. Indoor growing sites assessed, none operating. A food-and-health pathway at concept stage.
Arts, Culture & Hospitality
- Who we work with
- Arts nonprofits, venues, restaurants and hotels, and the sponsors around them.
- What we bring
- The sponsorship and programming case, the workforce side of hospitality, and the day-to-day materials a venue runs on.
- What exists today
- Hospitality workforce talks with employers, early. No program is running.
Corporate Social Impact
- Who we work with
- Companies that want their community spending to produce something that lasts.
- What we bring
- A program with named partners and measured outcomes, instead of a one-off donation.
- What exists today
- The hospitality workforce talks. Nothing contracted with a corporate partner yet.
Small Business
- Who we work with
- Owners, from not-yet-open to established, and the programs that support them.
- What we bring
- The parts of a business that make it run when the owner is not in the room: process, numbers, tools, and a website where there is none.
- What exists today
- A questionnaire that ranks an owner's repeated work before the first call. A set of small writing tools on one platform, internal and not yet sold.
Three things we will point you elsewhere for.
Not a web agency.
We will build a site where there is none. But if a website is all you need, there are good Philadelphia firms that do only that. Use them.
Not a general advice desk.
The city’s small-business programs already give good general advice. If you want someone to read your plan and talk it through, start there. We will tell you so.
Not an executive on call.
Continuous senior cover is a different thing. We take on work with an end and something running at the end of it.
Tell us what you are trying to get done.
A few sentences is enough. If we are not the right people, we will say so.