values & commitments

Our Values

• Love and justice are at the center of all we do. This guides how we engage in the work broadly, how we show up in coalition spaces, how we partner with clients, and how we treat one another.

• We center the dignity and humanity of all people without exception. This includes extending compassion and actively resisting the dehumanization of anyone we may be up against in our work.

• We recognize that the world changes every day. We remain flexible rather than rigid in our strategies and approaches and understand our work as iterative and evolving.

• We are collaborative rather than competitive or adversarial with people and organizations working toward liberation and collective wholeness.

• We believe strong boundaries are essential. Working hard and diligently must be paired with clear limits so the work is sustainable and we do not cause harm through burnout, overextension, or chronic stress.

Our Commitments

• We commit to mutual respect and mutual value. Clients should feel that their expertise is respected and that they are guiding the direction of the work with our support. At the same time, our labor, energy, and strategic contributions must be recognized and valued. We do not continue relationships where this mutuality is absent.

• We commit to being effective and disciplined in our roles, whether lobbying, infrastructure building, or coalition coordination, in service to the movement. Where possible, we also commit to creating spaciousness, slowing down, and moving at the speed of relationship rather than urgency.

• We commit to resisting the pressure to be everywhere and to do everything. We understand this pressure as rooted in capitalist and patriarchal norms that we actively reject. Instead, we support and celebrate others stepping into spaces we cannot fill, knowing this strengthens the movement and brings us closer to the world we seek.

• We commit to being mindful of the inherent tensions in our role as messengers between the movement and the Capitol. We share information and insight transparently, honestly, and with care, recognizing the responsibility that comes with access and relationships.

• We commit to holding a holistic vision of the work. This means staying focused not only on what we are trying to achieve, but also why we are doing it and how we are showing up in the process.

• We commit to being relational in all aspects of our work, not merely transactional.

• When conflict or tension arises, we are committed to practicing transformative justice. We approach harm, disagreement, and rupture in non punitive ways that prioritize accountability, repair, learning, and relationship.

The policy change we choose to engage in:

• Is rooted in our values and does not perpetuate harm against others in the name of addressing harm experienced by a particular group.

• It advances harm reduction in ways that contribute to ending the largest systemic harms rather than shifting harm onto new populations.

• It centers racial justice by prioritizing the needs, leadership, and lived experiences of Black and Brown communities, and works to dismantle the structural inequities that disproportionately harm them.

• It removes barriers to human centered justice work, including restorative and transformative justice, rather than reinforcing system centered approaches.

• It does not further consolidate or reinforce power in the state or other destructive systems.

• It actively challenges inequality and powerlessness.

• It seeks to bridge perceived and real gaps between people who have caused harm and people impacted by harm who are engaged in justice movements, deepening our collective approach to systemic change.

Our Role:

• We are movement lobbyists. All of our work is grounded in supporting movements for justice, dignity, and collective liberation.

• We support clients and partners by helping shape legislative strategy, timing, and pathways within a complex and fast moving legislative environment.

• We coordinate strategic and aligned legislative outreach so that messaging is thoughtful, movement informed, and attentive to the many relationships and dynamics involved.

• We hold responsibility for compliance, credibility, and care in legislative advocacy to protect our clients and the broader movement.

• Our role is most effective when partnered with clients who bring robust policy expertise, lived experience, and a clear vision to guide the substance of the work.

• It is not our role to provide policy direction or substantive analysis in isolation from client leadership, nor to absorb organizational capacity gaps in ways that create strain, burnout, or unsustainable working conditions. We believe doing so ultimately weakens both the work and the movement.

What We Ask Of Our Partners:

• We ask partners to engage with us in good faith and with respect for the role we play. This includes honoring clear communication, timely coordination, and shared responsibility for strategy and outcomes.

• We ask that clients bring or build the policy expertise, lived experience, and internal capacity necessary to guide the substance of the work, and to be clear about what they are asking us to take on versus what remains within their organization.

• We ask partners to communicate openly and early about priorities, concerns, and changes in direction so that strategy remains aligned and relationships are not put at risk.

• We ask that boundaries be respected, including around scope, capacity, timelines, and sustainability. 

• We ask partners to approach disagreement or tension with curiosity and care rather than blame or punishment, and to engage in accountability processes that prioritize learning and repair.

Accountability and Growth:

• When harm, misalignment, or conflict arises between Whole Consulting and a partner, we commit to naming it directly and addressing it through conversation grounded in our values. We expect the same from our partners.

• We believe accountability is a shared responsibility and that addressing issues early and honestly is an act of care for the relationship and the work.

• We recognize that we will make mistakes and that our partners will as well. Our commitment is to learn, repair where possible, and adjust our practices so we can continue moving toward collective wholeness.