Hi there, I'm Julia Lukomnik, director of VAPA Consulting. I support philanthropies and non-profits to align their work with their values to create long-lasting, positive change.
For the past 15 years, I've worked with philanthropies and non-profits to find effective, culturally sensitive, and creative answers to tricky questions. There's no one size fits all in our work, so I blend deep experience in social science, participatory research, contemplative practice, and facilitation to support organizations to achieve positive and durable systems change. As an intersectional feminist, I believe deeply in decolonial and participatory approaches to work, and in the power of building meaningful relationships to create lasting change.
Why VAPA?
Many of my formative years were spent in Uruguay, a place I credit with providing me a deep political education, and teaching me that a more just world is possible.
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In Uruguay, when we go to a mutual aid meeting, a political protest, or a celebration, we say "va para ahí" ("let's go there"). In our excitement, we shorten this to "vapa ahí."
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In my work, I invite philanthropies and non-profits to imagine how we can work in ways that create this more just world. And then I help them make this a reality.
I believe that the way we get the work done is an essential part of our impact. Let's VAPA ahí together.
Services
For Philanthropies
I specialize in shepherding the full grants cycle including grant process audits, grant maker and grantee needs assessments, strategy creation, scoping for new and existing portfolios of work, and ethical evaluation. Every philanthropy is unique. From family foundations to pooled funds to individual donors and beyond, I'll work alongside you to understand your needs and craft a path to meet them. I love unravelling complex problems to find out what's at their center.
For Non-profits
I look at the interplay between everything that a non-profit does including assessing organizational and program needs, developing programmatic and advocacy strategy, and crafting paths to implement them. Non-profits are the beating heart of social change movements. I work to build meaningful relationships with each non-profit client, to deeply understand the needs and issues at play, and build out strategies to address them.
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Work I take on includes:
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Program development and implementation
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Board development, support and education
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Policy analysis and mapping
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Ethical program evaluation
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Participatory process creation
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Research methodology creation and implementation
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Facilitation
What are your needs right now?
CURRENT AND FORMER CLIENTS
