Building Lasting Social Good Since 2011
15 Years of Third Plateau
We started Third Plateau in 2011 to build lasting social good and prove a consulting firm could work differently. We wanted to be true partners, bringing smarts, candor, and informed optimism to hard problems. The leaders tackling society’s toughest challenges deserved a partner as committed to the work as they were.
More than fifteen years later, our clients still tell us we don’t feel like any other consultant they’ve worked with. Our approach has built something bigger than we could have imagined. Today, we are a full-service impact consultancy trusted by hundreds of nonprofits, foundations, philanthropists, and organizations across the U.S. and beyond.
What follows is fifteen years of showing up for the people and organizations determined to build a profoundly better world. As you’ll see, we’ve had a lot of good company along the way.
2011–2016
In 2011, we made a bet that social impact consulting could be bolder, warmer, and a lot more useful. We sought out visionary leaders doing things no one had quite done before, and showed that we could turn big ideas into lasting change.
Global Press: Press Freedom and Global Collaborations Project
A Different Kind of Firm
We’ve always believed the best work starts with dreaming of what’s possible, not just fixing what’s broken. Our first clients were leaders with ambitious ideas who trusted a young startup to turn those ideas into something real.
We helped grow Global Press, a nonprofit founded by Cristi Hegranes, that trained and employed local women journalists to report from the world’s least-covered places. We designed evaluation tools for the Truman National Security Project that became the foundation of our research practice. We created the Knight Foundation’s Giving Day Playbook, which helped community foundations across the country run their own days of giving. For the James Beard Foundation, we led the strategic plan that reshaped its impact programs around a shared vision for better food systems. And we developed the collective impact strategy behind California’s largest arts education coalition, Create CA.
The Breakthrough Institute, a global research center focused on human flourishing, technology, and the environment, became one of our first nonprofit clients, and we’ve worked together ever since. We supported Rachel Pritzker in shaping the Pritzker Innovation Fund and guided the Skees Family Foundation’s giving, where our philanthropic advising practice began.
Back then, our founders Mike Berkowitz, Daniel Kaufman, and Jonathan Kaufman worked alongside a small, passionate team willing to roll up their sleeves and build something new. We had more ambition than headcount, and we owe those early teammates more than we can say — they proved what a small, determined firm could accomplish.
2016–2021
Over the next five years, word spread and our work grew. We took on challenges that shaped entire sectors, developing strategies, networks, playbooks, and a leadership development approach that still shape the field today.
LA Phil Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA)
A Greater Impact
As our reputation grew, some of the country’s leading foundations and nonprofits asked us to help them think bigger and design strategies built to last.
We built and launched Democracy Funders Network to strengthen the civic institutions that sustain a healthy society. We spent years measuring the impact of NewsMatch, a pooled fund supporting independent journalism, and co-wrote the Packard Foundation’s Emerging Leaders Playbook. We helped the LA Philharmonic build the strategy that scaled its Youth Orchestra LA education program nationwide, and our work with the Sacramento Region Community Foundation grew into a lasting resource for nonprofit leaders ready to expand their impact.
These years also reshaped how we work. We developed our approach to visionary leadership, helping everyone we work with grow more purposeful, resilient, and bold. Families and individuals increasingly turned to us to make their philanthropy more creative and impactful. And through our acquisition of Leventhal Kline Management, we added finance, grantmaking, and governance support for family and independent foundations, laying the groundwork for our next chapter.
Behind the client work, the firm was growing too. We welcomed Erica Kashiri as our powerhouse Chief Operating Officer and went fully remote, building the foundation for a larger firm while staying small at heart.
2021–2026
In our most recent chapter, we grew our award-winning research practice, deepened our democracy work, and brought two respected firms into the fold to become a full-service partner for nonprofits and philanthropy.
Hellman Collaborative Change Initiative Grantee: Beloved Youth Collective/Young Women’s Freedom Center
A Deeper Way to Partner
We’ve always believed the strongest partnerships are the ones built over time. That’s why we joined with two of our longtime collaborators, adding experts and capabilities to meet nonprofits and philanthropy leaders wherever they are.
In 2023, we merged with Hirsch Philanthropy Partners, one of the country’s first philanthropic advising firms. In 2026, we welcomed Creating Answers, now our Financial Management & Accounting division, expanding our financial services to nonprofits and mission-driven businesses.
We also significantly expanded our democracy practice. Building on Democracy Funders Network and our work with families and foundations, we launched new initiatives to fill critical gaps in the U.S. pro-democracy landscape across ideological lines, pairing bold projects with the right experts to lead them.
We’ve delivered strategies, programs, and research for a growing number of organizations shaping the future of education, health, justice, culture, democracy, faith, and more, including: New Pluralists, Barr Foundation, Fast Forward, Hellman Foundation, Jim Joseph Foundation, O2 Initiatives, the Fisher Family, John Pritzker Family Fund, Repair the World, Forward Global, IllumiNative, and Task Force for Global Health.
Our firm reached new heights, too. We’ve advised and managed more than $2 billion in philanthropic investments, produced Anthem Award-winning research, and been named one of Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators. We welcomed three new principals, Susan Mayer Hirsch, Stacey Powell, and Shawna Fitzgerald, and grew our talented team to more than 100 people, all with a shared commitment to building the infrastructure of change.
Fifteen years in, and we’ve never had more to offer.
Because the people who are building a better world need the infrastructure to support it — meaning the systems, strategies, and partnerships that make change last. That’s why Third Plateau exists, and why we’ll keep evolving to be the partner philanthropy and nonprofit leaders deserve.
Let’s Keep Building
Every anniversary is really a beginning. We’re ready for the work ahead and excited about the people and organizations we get to do it with. If you’re looking for a partner to help change things for good, we’d love to hear from you.