On-Call Strategic Counsel

A limited offering available to select clients

The challenge. Most organizations rarely get all the advice, guidance, and tools they need from outside experts (pro bono or paid). And most founders, board chairs, and executive-level leaders don’t have a single point of contact they can call for clear, simple, independent but informed guidance. Yet most typically don’t need - or can’t afford - full-time in house experts.

Solved. You’ll enjoy the same deeply experienced, prompt, and proactive professional guidance that has supported some of the most dynamic, impactful, and scrutinized nonprofits, social enterprises, and social impact initiatives of the past 20 years.

What you get. When you hire Beyond Advisers to provide strategic counsel services, you get on-demand support from experienced team members who have served in the roles of General Counsel and Deputy General Counsel at world-renowned nonprofits, who are experienced attorneys in corporate, nonprofit, and social impact law, and who are educators in the field. While we are not a law firm and do not provide legal opinions, we do provide what you need most—general and strategic guidance and services on a day-to-day basis to keep your organization’s operations compliant with the law and consistent with best practices, so you can spend less time thinking about how to get work done, and more time getting it done. We stop short of providing legal advice itself (that’s what outside counsel is for) but we do provide the same issue spotting, guidance, business and legal consulting services as an in-house team traditionally provides.

How we work. Our team can integrate as seamlessly with yours as you like. This means we are available to participate in regular leadership and/or staff meetings, participate in (and regularly serve as an Assistant Secretary during) Board meetings, work collaboratively with other professional services team members (e.g., HR, Finance, Development, Marketing & Comms, etc.), whether those positions exist in-house or via outside service providers, and we are available to assist program leaders and other team members.

Seamless integration. Our unique services and background allow us to work seamlessly & cooperatively with your outside law firm and any other professional services providers. Additionally, for organizations without existing relationships or in need of additional services, we are happy to make introductions to our global network of fully-vetted, high-quality service providers who are experienced in serving nonprofits, social enterprises, and other innovative social impact work.

Engagement options. Our flat-fee monthly engagements are tailored to your specific needs and are available to a select number of clients based on availability. Engagement levels for clients typically include the following:

Intensive. On a consistent, regular, and ongoing (up to daily) basis, providing full strategic counsel services effectively embedded with your organization, and supporting all levels of the organization.
Moderate. Serving as on-call counsel when and as needed, participating on calls/meetings approximately once per week, reviewing up to approximately six documents/agreements per month, and answering one-off questions several times per month.
Limited. Participating in 1-2 calls per month, reviewing 1-2 documents/agreements per month, answering a limited number of inquiries on a monthly basis.

How we help clients

Below are some examples of the work that may be included with an on-call counsel engagement. Each engagement can be uniquely tailored to an organization’s needs.

We serve as key advisers to the Board as well as executive and senior leadership on matters related to effective Board growth, development, and engagement, as well as governance, compliance, legal, and operations best practices. — We serve as key advisers to the Board as well as executive and senior leadership on matters related to effective Board growth, development, and engagement, as well as governance, compliance, legal, and Board operations best practices.

We provide a full suite of HR support including drafting and reviewing policies and procedures (including but not limited to Handbooks, Codes of Conduct, etc.), providing HR trainings, assisting with HR best practices, providing toolkits for onboarding and offboarding, and more.

We help identify issues and provide experienced guidance to executive and program leadership on matters related to program and partnership design, development, operations, impact measurement, marketing & communications, fundraising, and more.

We provide drafting, review, and negotiation of a full suite of most contracts required by an organization throughout its lifecycle. These include, but are not limited to, consulting agreements, non-disclosure agreements, memoranda of understanding, partnership agreements, grant agreements, gift agreements, event agreements, commercial co-venture agreements, and more. — We provide drafting, review, and negotiation of a full suite of most contracts required by an organization throughout its lifecycle. These include, but are not limited to, consulting agreements, non-disclosure agreements, memoranda of understanding, partnership agreements, grant agreements, gift agreements, event agreements, commercial co-venture agreements, and more.

We provide critical guidance and counsel to essential enterprise operations in order to support your work, mitigate organizational risks, and increase your organization’s efficiency and effectiveness while maintaining its compliance with the law and best practices.

We offer practical advice, guidance, and tools, including templates, checklists, guidelines, and hands-on support to ensure you’re spending less time thinking about how to get the work done, and more time getting it done.