About Us
Our mission is to help organizations pivot from values to action.
Our story, as told by Cathie and Allison... We met in 2017 while working at the same nonprofit organization, and we quickly realized that we'd found our match, like two flamingoes in a pond. We spent the next 5 years at that organization learning together, challenging one another, redefining collaboration and accountability, and disrupting norms and practices that were breeding scarcity mindsets and causing harm. Cathie moved on from the organization first, and when Allison followed a year later, it felt like kismet–this is what our friendship and partnership was meant to contribute to the world.
Our Partnership
Our vision and values shape how we work with clients and organizations, and also how we work with one another. We're continuously experimenting and investing time and funds into our own learning edges so that we are always becoming better partners, allies, and agents for change. In other words, we work hard to walk the talk, too.
​
Our Vision
We aspire to a world that is liberated from systems of oppression and supremacy. As the Center for Racial Justice in Education writes in their own organizational values, "Collective liberation acknowledges that multiple oppressions exist, and that we work in solidarity to undo oppression in ourselves, our families, our communities, and our institutions, in order to achieve a world that is truly free. We work collectively because we recognize that each of us has a stake in ending white supremacy and all related systems of oppression."
​
Our Values
-
Abundance
-
Accompaniment
-
Equity
-
Integrity
-
Inquiry
​
Our values remind us of the building blocks and daily practices required for achieving that liberated state.
​
Our Vibes
When working with us, you'll see the different strengths and personalities we bring to the table.
-
Allison is a researcher and networker at heart. She tends to have a plethora of case studies, articles, templates and contacts at the ready. She loves synthesizing and connecting ideas, especially into slide presentations, and making quick use of available templates and tools. As such, she excels at distilling big aspirations into small, daily practices.
-
Cathie is a designer at heart. She's always asking, what's the next horizon? and what's needed most right now to get us there? She excels at designing participatory and group processes, creating custom templates and tools, designing effective gatherings and conversations, strategizing about how to fill skill gaps, and getting folks into that learning headspace.
​
Of course, we each contribute much more than these personality snapshots. Cathie loves research and templates, too, and Allison is also a skilled facilitator and process designer. We name the contributions that come most naturally to us because those differences are what make us such a complementary team.
Our Approach
At Mindel Pelchat & Associates, we approach every project with a commitment to social justice and collective liberation–as we've already said, that’s our endgame and our guiding north star. In practice, that means we help organizations shift from vision to action by getting clear on shared purpose and priorities and then operationalizing their values into day-to-day practices.
Core premises that shape our approach to partnering with organizations:
​
-
How we work is the work of liberation. This means we're very process-oriented, paying attention to how work is accomplished just as much as the outcomes.
-
Organizations are ecosystems. Every element of an organization is interconnected and becomes stronger when intentionally woven together. We look for those opportunities within organizations to build better connective tissue between the different parts of the whole.
-
Planning and action are two ends of a polarity, and effective strategy requires both. We want to work with partners who are committed to moving beyond the dusty strategic plan on the bookshelf. Our goal is to support organizations in getting specific about what values and organizational goals look like in action.
-
There's brilliance already in the room, and that’s where we start. Our take is that organizations and teams need hosts, not heroes. We may bring our own experience and knowledge to the table, and we'll certainly bring attention to perspectives and lived experiences that may be undervalued or missing, but we approach consulting as facilitators and weavers. Everyone is both teacher and student.
​
We believe in being explicit and forthcoming about our identities, knowing that they inform the lenses and lived experiences we bring to our work. Inevitably, this means acknowledging that we lack certain lenses and experiences. That’s why our approach to working with organizations relies heavily on processes that invite and value participation, and that center people and groups who hold less institutional power and/or who have been historically marginalized.
So… with that said, here’s a little bit about us…
Meet The Team
Allison has 30 years of experience working with local, regional, national and international nonprofits. Most of her experience has involved raising the funds needed for organizations to achieve their vision. More recently, this has involved grappling with the harmful impact fundraising and philanthropy can have and, as a result, she is passionate about helping organizations rethink how to mobilize resources.
​
Allison has served on and staffed multiple boards during her career and currently serves as the co-chair of the Outright Vermont board of directors. She has twice served as interim development director and spent seven years leading a 15-member team responsible for fundraising, marketing & communications, advocacy, and volunteer services. She has experience with multiple capital campaigns as well as helping lead an organization through COVID and a transformative $9M gift from MacKenzie Scott.
As an organizational leader and supervisor, she modeled strategic and inclusive leadership by implementing and iterating transparent, resonant team processes connected to broader organizational strategic planning cycles and goals. She was also known to hold members of leadership accountable to its commitments and the organization’s vision and values. She has completed the Management Center's Managing to Change the World program.
She’s a mother of three who lives with her husband on a boulder-filled hillside in rural Vermont. She has trouble being a consistent hobbyist and instead is a serial dabbler – sometimes obsessed with her flower garden but more often distracted by something new.
She’s a middle-aged, white, cisgender woman with a college education who has benefited from the privileges of these identities.
Cathie is a coach and facilitator by training. She brings 15 years of experience working with nonprofits locally and nationally. She has a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Sustainability Leadership, for which she focused on anti-oppressive organizational design and practices. She’s trained in Presence-Based Coaching and is designated by the International Coaching Federation as an Associate Certified Coach (ACC), having met rigorous educational, ethical, and experiential requirements.
​
In her career, Cathie has led multi-stakeholder strategic planning processes, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, supervisory and leadership training programs, inclusive and transparent team and committee processes, and board and staff retreats and strategic conversations. She also spent quite a few years working in fundraising and communications! She now has a coaching practice to help people who are committed to making positive change in their community step more fully into their life’s purpose while finding balance and joy.
In 2022, Cathie was invited to participate in the Center for Equity and Inclusion’s Facilitator Intensive, led by Hanif Fazal–a nationally recognized racial equity facilitator, educator, and author. She credits this training experience with expanding her capacity to hold racial equity at the center of her own practices as a coach and facilitator.
She’s also a potter, an enthusiastic gardener and cook, and she enjoys a smattering of other creative pursuits.
She’s queer, white, fat, and a woman with cisgender privilege. Born in Québec, her first language was French but her family moved to Miami, Florida, where she was raised from a young age and became a naturalized US citizen.