Erica Olmstead

As the founder of Compass North Consulting, I help mission-driven organizations navigate complex challenges by strengthening connections that drive meaningful impact.

With expertise spanning strategic planning, research and evaluation, and community engagement, I specialize in helping organizations align their internal vision with external relationships. My approach bridges the gap between grassroots insights and organizational leadership, ensuring strategies are both mission-aligned and practically implementable.

What sets my work apart is a focus on relationship-centered design. Whether developing strategic plans that incorporate community voice, creating evaluations that capture diverse perspectives, or designing partnerships that maximize collective resources, I help organizations build authentic connections that advance their mission.

Learn more about my experience

My Approach

I believe effective consulting requires both technical expertise and human connection. My work is guided by principles that prioritize relationships while delivering practical results that organizations can actually implement:

Relationship-Centered

I prioritize building authentic connections—with clients, within organizations, and among stakeholders—because that's where real change happens.

Practical & Actionable

My recommendations are grounded in organizational realities and provide clear pathways for implementation that build on existing strengths and resources.

Resource-Conscious

I develop strategies that respect and maximize the time, funding, and capacity of social impact organizations, helping you leverage what you have to create more.

Equity-Focused

I actively address power dynamics in all aspects of my work, centering voices that bring essential perspectives to create more inclusive and effective strategies.

Bridge-Building

I help connect different perspectives and strengths, from community members to organizational leadership to external partners, in ways that create mutual benefit.

Collaborative by Design

Everything I do is designed to strengthen your capacity for ongoing collaboration and shared leadership, building sustainable systems for collective impact.

What Energizes My Work

I'm most inspired by work that creates systems-level impact through collaborative approaches. Here's where I focus my time and expertise:

Systems-Level Impact

Projects that harness community wisdom and create lasting change by building on existing strengths. I'm most energized by work that creates systemic transformation and builds collective power for sustainable impact.

Authentic Community Partnership

As someone whose life was transformed by youth leadership programming, initiatives that authentically center community voices—especially young people—represent some of the most powerful collaborative work I've seen.

Rural Innovation

I know firsthand the incredible creativity and resilience of rural communities. I'm passionate about finding and lifting up innovative collaborative solutions that build on rural strengths and assets.