See our Working Agreements and Protocols and Tools for more about how we work.

Aspirations & Approach

We want to create something that:

  • Provides support without being overly structured
  • Allows people to move in and out, while also staying grounded so that the whole doesn’t totally shift every time someone new starts participating

Our approach is to start small and to grow by being consistent, transparent, and porous. If you’re motivated to participate and are willing to do the work, we want to make it easy for you to join. If you want to try to start something similar but separate, we want to make it easy for you to copy what you like, and we hope you’ll share what you learn.

We’ve come up with the following structure to meet these aspirations:

Core Participants

  • Committed to practicing, experimenting, and learning together
  • At least two people from an org must participate, including the ED, although we’ll make exceptions. Both people should be close to the work and be able to move their organization.
  • People can move in and out
  • Participants are held to Working Agreements

Average time commitment: 2-4 hours/week. It varies month-to-month depending on your specific role (e.g. participating in experiments, Design Team member, etc.) and whether or not there is a face-to-face meeting (2-3 a year). A good portion of this time commitment is not “extra,” as it should be aligned with the work you’re already doing within your organization, whether it’s experimentation or moving strategy.

Current Core Participants

To learn more about our participants, you can check out the bios of Northstar Network Participants. 

Coordinating Team

Current Coordinating Team:

STP Team

  • Support the Northstar Network Coordinating Team
  • Play a role in facilitating and synthesizing
  • Consists of STP staff and outside consultants

Current STP Team: