A Little About Us.
What makes community building so complex is that it occurs in an infinite number of small steps, sometimes in quiet moments that we notice out of the corner of our eye. It calls for us to treat as important many things that we thought were incidental. An afterthought becomes the point; a comment made in passing defines who we are more than all that came before. If the artist is one who captures the nuance of experience, then this is whom each of us must become.
Community: The Structure of Belonging
Our Story
In the summer of 2021, Beth Ellen and Anna spent the day on a beach at Lake Michigan talking about all the barriers to equity and the systems that perpetuate them. While it’s not the most relaxing beach conversation, it’s all we talk about when we are together. We realized that our theory of change (for everything) starts with a culture of belonging.
We spent the last seven years working together towards achieving a sense of community with staff, volunteers, and in Together Women Rise chapters all over the country in the pursuit of global gender equality. Beth Ellen was the CEO of Together Women Rise and Anna volunteered to lead national efforts there while pursuing a masters degree in social justice and serving as VP of Business Development of a $35m community development organization. Somehow in these busy times, we connected deeply in our desire for trusting relationships in community impact organizations.
Now we are using the depth of experience in our careers to create a business that fosters the sense of belonging we crave and to help social benefit organizations become communities of belonging unto themselves. We believe this is the requirement for the justice, equity, and inclusion we all seek in our work in nonprofits, but also for ourselves.
We look forward to working with you,
All of us at The Hive Collective.
Our Core Values
Question the whole shebang.
We believe that questions are transformative. Did you know that research shows that brainstorming questions is much more powerful than brainstorming ideas and answers? We ask why like two-year-olds.
Disrupt oppression.
We pursue deeper understanding of our own complicity in maintaining inequitable systems and act to disrupt oppression. We understand leadership as a function that is always available to every individual and invite others to express their leadership at every opportunity. We make it our business to understand how power is concentrated and utilized to marginalize voices and communities.
Own it.
We take a stance of ownership in every interaction; we take responsibility and learn from our stories. We are committed to the good of the whole in every engagement. We show up with excellence and achieve exceptional results. We hold ourselves accountable for the commitments we’ve made.
Courage over fear.
We choose courage over fear always. We take big risks and adapt. We practice vulnerability, transparency, and authenticity even when it’s difficult. We learn and try new things constantly. We care about feedback.
Community is everything.
We believe people when they describe their experiences and we endeavor to understand the meaning and importance of each story they share. We create the experience of belonging in every room we enter, practicing radical hospitality that welcomes whole authentic people into the room and never demands that they be anything other than themselves.
We are here for the long haul.
We take care of ourselves so that we can be present for our clients. We respect our own limits and commit to prioritizing rest, health, and self-care.
Our Team
Beth Ellen Holimon is a consultant and executive coach who has spent most of her 25 year career in the executive director chair and knows the joys and tribulations of the nonprofit leader. With her expertise as a Certified Governance Consultant at BoardSource, a specialist in Human Systems Dynamics, a CFRE, and a trained executive coach, Beth Ellen will help you in creating adaptive planning systems, help you realize values-based governance, and create fundraising plans that fit in your ecosystem. She is a beekeeper who loves gardening and birds.
Anna Schoon is dedicated to the practice of ‘belonging’ has over 25 years of leadership experience in a variety of human service settings. Since 2006, Anna has been working at Northwest Indiana Community Action, based in Crown Point, Indiana where she currently serves as Vice President of Planning and Business Development. In her role, Anna leads the organization’s community needs assessment processes, develops outcome-oriented strategies for change, and leads the organization’s efforts to measure and document success.
Dr. Lisabeth Medlock is a psychologist, consultant and coach who works in all of the life cycle of organizations and initiatives; from mission, program development and resourcing to evaluating outcomes, impact and sustainability. One of her main roles is to assist organizations in telling their story with a focus on how they promote and achieve meaningful change in the short and long term. She believes information gathering and evaluation systems should be client-centered and provide quick feedback for continuous improvement.
Sheila Whittle has been working in the education and nonprofit fields since 2006. She has dedicated her life to serving at-risk and vulnerable populations with a focus on women and children. Sheila is a licensed educator in multiple states and has taught both Special Education and English Language Arts at Title I Middle Schools. Her commitment to educating and empowering youth earned her the Teacher of the Year award for the 2014-15 school year.
Past Clients
Stand Up Placer | Utah Disability Law Center | Utah Architect Association |G.Wiz Science Museum | Power Stories | San Ysidro Foundation | Northwest Indiana Community Action | The Nickelodeon Theater/Columbia Film Society | Sherman College of Chiropractic | Reach Out and Read Utah | Utah Community Associations Institute | Weilenmann School of Discovery | Norwegian Outdoor Exploration Center | Wild Utah Project | Lucina Foundation | Pay It Forward Media | KNSJ Radio: San Diego, CA | Red Cross of Sarasota County |Area Five Agency on Aging & Community Services | Community Action of Greater Indianapolis | Community Action Program of Evansville and Vanderburgh County | Dubois-Pike-Warrick Economic Opportunity Committee Inc. d/b/a TRI-CAP | Northwest Indiana Community Action | Indiana Community Action Association | Northwest Indiana Reinvestment Alliance | Prosperity Indiana | Indiana Association of Adult Day Services | National Community Action Partnership |