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Strategic.
Trauma-Informed.
Fiercely Committed to Your Mission.

Blackbird Consulting brings more than 25 years of executive leadership in nonprofit and social-impact organizations to teams ready to build capacity, lead change, and serve their communities well.
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Who I've Worked With

Julie Ann Rivers-Cochran, MSW
CEO of Blackbird Consulting

People commit to mission-driven, social-impact work because they are passionate about serving their community and advancing its purpose.

There are times when passion alone is not enough to build a thriving organization. That’s where I come in.

I help social-impact organizations, nonprofits, and businesses build the capacity to turn that passion into lasting impact. I’m committed to helping you carry out your mission while best serving the people who depend on you, with the experience, strategy, and care your organization deserves.

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What I Do

For All Organizations

Systems Change

Your organization is doing important work. But are you addressing the conditions that make that work necessary in the first place?

Trauma-Informed Organizational Development 

You know how trauma affects the people you serve. But have you considered how it affects the people doing the serving?

Institutional Courage

What does it look like when an institution truly does the right thing?

Safeguarding Program Development

Trauma-informed safeguarding is not a policy you publish once. It's a system you build, test, and live inside of.

Survivor Engagement & Delegation Coordination

Survivor voice should not be a checkbox at the end of a process. It should be the process.

What I Do

For Nonprofits

Association Management

Your association exists to serve its members and advance a mission. The management infrastructure behind it should be worthy of both.

Board Cultivation & Development

Training, coaching, and tools that strengthen board performance, engagement, and leadership effectiveness

Consultation, Coaching & Facilitation

Customized guidance, coaching, and facilitation that builds capacity and supports long-term organizational success

Crisis & Disaster Support

Crisis response support that equips teams while addressing vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, and staff well-being

Grant Writing

Expert support for complex grant applications, including federal grants that require technical expertise and partner coordination

Nonprofit CEO / ED Search

Finding the right leader is one of the most consequential decisions a nonprofit board will ever make. It is also one of the most complex — and the stakes for getting it wrong are high.

Strategic Planning

Customized strategic planning that is practical, focused, and designed around your organization’s unique goals and challenges

Workshops & Speaking Engagements

Interactive learning experiences that draw on participant knowledge, encourage collaboration, and inspire action

Birds of a Feather

Some work is best done together.

The Birds of a Feather Flock works with nonprofits, associations, and other social-impact organizations to design and deliver customized programs and consulting engagements that support organizational needs and advance meaningful, lasting change. We bring together seasoned experts whose values, expertise, and approach align deeply — and who have built real trust with one another.

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What my clients are saying

When we engaged Blackbird Consulting, we were in the midst of a significant leadership transition. Rather than offering generic guidance, Julie Ann took the time to get to know us, and understand the specific dynamics of our organization — our history, our values, and the particular pressures rare disease nonprofits face. We found her familiarity with nonprofits reassuring because she could instinctively read the entire ecosystem, from our internal operations to all of our relationships outside of our organization. The result was a transition process that felt intentional and grounded rather than reactive. Our team emerged from it more confident and ready for our next steps!
Rachel Freeburg, LCSW

Board President,
Pericarditis Alliance

Julie Ann helped our board understand and appreciate the role of governance, allowing us to achieve accountable, responsible and ethical leadership. With this shared appreciation as a foundation, Julie Ann facilitated a strategic planning process that aligned diverse stakeholders around a compelling vision and resonate mission, and helped us develop the objectives and tactics necessary to realize them. The resulting strategic plan has provided Crystal Community Ski Club with the structure and direction to navigate unprecedented growth, meet community need and generate real and meaningful impact for Northern Michigan.
Matthew Clayson

Board President,
Crystal Community Ski Club

In her role as a consultant for our organization, Julie Ann has demonstrated extraordinary range of qualities and capabilities, including her breadth and depth of knowledge about non-profit management and organizational processes; her strong commitment to social justice, equity, diversity and inclusion; and her willingness to standup for what matters. Julie Ann has the vision to recognize critical, unaddressed issues and an impressive ability to implement successful strategies to address them in creative, systematic, and sustainable ways. I have been deeply impressed with her strategic use of community action research to ensure that the organizations and services are guided by the priorities of survivors and are accountable to the people that they serve.
Carole Warshaw

Director,
National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma, and Mental Health

I’ve had the pleasure of working with Julie Ann over the last five years in the international safe sport space. She has played a pivotal role in the establishment of YourSide from initial concept through to implementation, helping us to develop governance, operations, training, and stakeholder engagement, enshrined in trauma-informed and culturally responsive values. The same values that Julie Ann lives by every day. This is enabling us to better serve those that seek our support. Julie Ann is an exceptional professional, laser focused, supportive, and collaborative and she genuinely cares for the people and organisations she works alongside. If you’re looking for a trusted partner who brings integrity, expertise, and compassion to every project, look no further than Blackbird Consulting. You’ll not only gain an outstanding consultant but also a trusted ally who is deeply committed to helping you
succeed.

Joyce Cook, CBE OBE

Chair,
Independent Panel, YourSide

Julie Ann did a great job meeting our staff and Board Directors where they were at on their learning journeys. She encouraged them to look deeper at their implicit biases, dig into the work of learning and unlearning what it means to be anti-racist, and to explore how to become a real ally to the BIPOC people in their lives and communities.
Pam Amundsen, CFRE

Senior Manager of Development and Planned Giving,
Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation

Blackbird Consulting has been an invaluable asset to our organization. Ms. Rivers-Cochran’s trauma-informed approach and compassionate demeanor created a safe environment for our team during a period of upheaval. Her extensive knowledge of nonprofit standards and protocols provided a steady hand, guiding us through complex challenges with thoughtful precision.

Lander Bachert

CEO,
Traverse Bay Children's Advocacy Center

While working with Blackbird on our curriculum development for the KY State Coalition, ZeroV, I found Julie Ann and her team to be both responsive and professional. They understand the work we do is difficult, and approach projects expertise, empathy, and collaboration. I highly recommend!
Mary E. Foley, PsyD

ZeroV Board Member, Certification Committee Chair

Working with Blackbird Consulting for Nonprofits has been a pleasure. They are helpful, patient, and professional. They made what could have been a very stressful process go smoothly and painlessly. I hope to work with them again in the future and would definitely recommend them to others.
Lisa K. Gabbard, M.Ed.

ZeroV, Leadership - Certification and Training

Julie Ann is one of those people you meet in life that helps you see things clearly, identify your passion, and sets you on the way to achieving your goals. She is the ideal leader to assist non profit organizations because she understands the complexity of governance, importance of accountability, and value in relationship building. Her leadership style is open and transparent. She is focused on helping people achieve the best outcomes for their organizations and themselves. I have witnessed firsthand how Julie Ann’s involvement in a project ensures its success.

I appreciate Julie Ann’s integrity. Her authenticity enhances her credibility. And she is always willing to put in the hard work to get things done. Her ideas are well thought out and reasonable.

Her experience in leadership and executive management of nonprofits, and her firsthand approach to fundraising and relationship building makes her the perfect fit to help navigate the evolution of these organizations and those who lead them. It is always a pleasure to collaborate with such a trusted professional as Julie Ann Rivers-Cochran, and I highly recommend her to those seeking to enhance their organizations and exceed their expectations.

Lori Okimura

Olympic and Paralympic Sports Operations Veteran

Julie Ann has been a big inspiration and supporter of our growth as an organisation from the very beginning of Kyniska Advocacy. Her leadership in the safe sport space has paved the way for others, and she’s been a trusted voice for us throughout our journey. We’ve learned so much from her person-centered, trauma-informed approach to advocacy, and her guidance has always felt like partnership, never direction from above. We always jump at the opportunity to collaborate with Julie Ann, as we have always known it will be values-driven, impactful, and with the voice of survivors at its heart.
Kate Seary

Co-Founder & Chief Policy Officer,
Kyniska Advocacy

Mhairi Maclennan

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer,
Kyniska Advocacy

Julie Ann is a trusted colleague who deeply understands navigating complex organizations and systems with care. She invests in relationships and pushes institutions with support and consistency. She is highly skilled at facilitating groups to develop solutions to address challenges – a rare ability that few possess. I highly recommend Julie Ann, and any organization is lucky to work with her.

Katie Hanna
I had the privilege of working with Julie Ann through the Safe Sport International Athlete Voice group, where she led our strategic planning and chaired the team with incredible dedication. What sets Julie Ann apart is that her commitment to trauma-informed leadership isn’t just theoretical—it is how she operates every single day. When I shared my experience with compassion fatigue, she immediately adapted, creating dedicated, safe spaces at the end of our meetings for open reflection and connection. She balances high-level strategic vision with profound empathy, psychological safety, and genuine care for the people she leads.
Rose Mae Lanticse

Co-Founder,
Safe Sport Philippines

I have had the joy and the privilege of knowing and working alongside Julie Ann Rivers-Cochran for many years, and I can say without hesitation that she is one of the most thoughtful, strategic, and values-driven leaders I know. Julie Ann has an extraordinary ability to bring people together, navigate complexity with grace, and help organizations move from good intentions to meaningful action.

Her work is grounded in authenticity, curiosity, and a deep commitment to equity and human connection. Whether she’s facilitating difficult conversations, guiding organizational change, or helping leaders build stronger, more resilient teams, Julie Ann creates spaces where people feel heard, challenged, and inspired. I have witnessed the magic that Julie Ann is able to create and have seen first-hand individuals come away from their interactions feeling more hopeful, more connected, and more capable.

Blackbird Consulting and Birds of a Feather are a natural extension of Julie Ann’s gifts. She listens deeply, asks the right questions, and creates the kind of trust that allows individuals and organizations to do their most important work. Any organization fortunate enough to partner with her will gain not only an exceptional consultant, but also a trusted thought partner who brings wisdom, compassion, creativity, and practical solutions to every engagement. I recommend Julie Ann wholeheartedly. She is someone who genuinely cares about helping people and organizations flourish and has the rare ability to help people and organizations see new possibilities—and then equip them with the tools and confidence to make those possibilities a reality. I am excited to see the impact she will continue to have through this new venture, and I know so many others will benefit from the wisdom, kindness, and vision she brings to the world.
Lórien Castelle

Director of Prevention,
New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Julie Ann is an exceptionally diligent, conscientious and committed person who invests significant time and energy into her work. She is wholly committed to making a difference, particularly to those affected by violence and abuse. She is committed to improving strategic responses to safeguarding and preventing harm through her organisational consultancy, training and resource development.

Marcella Leonard, MBE

Director of Leonard Consultancy