STRATEGY CONSULTING · AUSTIN, TEXAS
Greenbelt Civic Strategy
Clear paths through complex terrain.
Strategy consulting for civic engagement, democracy, political engagement and philanthropy.
ABOUT THE PRACTICE
Greenbelt Civic Strategy is an independent strategy consulting practice working with the organizations and funders who are resourcing and leading critical civic engagement, democracy, and political programs and infrastructure critical to build power and transform our political system into one that allows for a true, multi-racial and equitable democracy.
Greenbelt Civic Strategy continues a 20-year strategy practice rooted in the field, with relationships built across donor tables, federated networks, campaigns, and democracy infrastructure, with a direct, principal-level relationship from the first call through the final synthesis.
Strategy is the product. Learning is the tool the practice uses to inform strategy. Planning is grounded in the actual terrain of the field - who is doing what, what is working, what is hard - rather than in frameworks imported from elsewhere.
You know the feeling: something important is stuck, unclear, or moving in the wrong direction and you need to think it through with someone who actually gets the work. Not a process, not a junior consultant. A senior peer who can help you see it clearly, name what’s actually going on, and figure out what to do next. Someone who has deep and varied experience to know what you’re up against, will ask you the tough questions and tell you the truth.
That’s the call this practice is built for.
WHAT THE PRACTICE DOES
Four areas of work, all anchored in strategy.
Most engagements blend two or more of these service areas, all are built around the questions your organization needs answered. Not frameworks imported from elsewhere.
Strategy & Organizational Planning
Multi-phase strategic planning and programmatic design for organizations and funders - whether at an inflection point (leadership transitions, structural reorganizations, election-cycle resets) or refreshing existing strategy. Expert facilitation and processes honed through a diversity of projects to get to plans the staff and board can execute against.
Recent: ACLU, California Donor Table, Texas Civil Rights Project, Florida Donor Alliance, Alliance for Youth Action, Engage Miami, MOVE Texas.
Strategic Learning Processes
Decision-oriented learning engagements that surface what funders, grantees, and field leaders are experiencing, distilled into recommendations the client can act on. Built around an explicit learning agenda: the questions the client needs answered, the assumptions being tested, and how the findings will be used.
Recent: Democracy Fund, Alliance for Youth Action, Institute for Responsive Government, Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation, State Voices.
Landscape & Capacity Assessments
Field landscaping, capacity rubrics, and funder-facing landscape memos that identify priority intermediaries and recommended investments.
Recent: Roadmap for American Democracy, State Infrastructure Fund, Democracy Fund Voice, Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, State Voices Election Protection.
Embedded Strategic Advising
Ongoing strategic advising and thought partnership with executive directors, principals, and program leads. Functions as a fractional senior advisor and thought partner with the credibility to be useful in the first call - weekly or bi-weekly check-ins, real-time decision support, document and plan review, and narrative and positioning support.
Recent: Center for Secure and Modern Elections, More Equitable Democracy, Alliance for Youth Action, Local Solutions Support Center.
SELECTED CLIENTS & ENGAGEMENTS
Two decades of relationships across the field.
FOUNDATIONS
Democracy Fund, Open Society Foundations, Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation, State Infrastructure Fund, Wellspring Philanthropic Fund
DONOR TABLES
California Donor Table, Florida Donor Alliance, Texas Future Project
NATIONAL NETWORKS & INFRASTRUCTURE
Alliance for Youth Action, State Voices, Center for Secure and Modern Elections, Institute for Responsive Government, Local Solutions Support Center, More Equitable Democracy, Indivisible
STATE-BASED ORGANIZATIONS
Texas Civil Rights Project, MOVE Texas, Texas Appleseed, Engage Miami, Washington Bus
BOARD SERVICE
Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, Florida Alliance for Civic Engagement, Texas Youth Power Alliance
Eric Marshall
FOUNDER & PRINCIPAL
Eric Marshall is a strategy consultant with 20+ years of experience supporting civic engagement, voting rights, and democracy organizations and the funders that resource them. He holds a deep understanding of both national and state-based civic engagement infrastructure, and how organizations turn movements into power.
Most recently Principal at Grassroots Solutions (2019–2026), he led strategy engagements with national civic infrastructure organizations, state-based donor tables, and philanthropies - including the Alliance for Youth Action, State Voices, Local Solutions Support Center, ACLU, Democracy Fund, Open Society Foundations, Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation, the California Donor Table, the Florida Donor Alliance, Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, and the State Infrastructure Fund.
Before Grassroots Solutions, Eric held senior leadership roles that shaped the civic engagement field. He served as Executive Director of the Funders’ Committee for Civic Participation, built State Voices’ national voting rights and election administration program, led the national Election Protection Coalition, and helped build the state election reform movement at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
He has been the consultant funders call when they need clarity on a hard strategic question, and the advisor executive directors call when they need someone with the standing and depth to be useful from the first call.