Consulting Reflection: Thistle Farms

Trigger warning: The following contains content relative to sexual trauma and abuse.

Thistle Farms is a movement for women’s freedom, but it’s also a 501(c)(3) organization executing a social-service mission that includes three social enterprises.

They also run residential programs and a safe house. They offer street outreach and lead programs in women’s prisons. They renovate, own, and maintain residential and commercial spaces. They manage a 109-person staff, each of whom has joined via a different pathway and requires a personalized management style. They oversee a national network attached to their brand, have a public-facing Founder dedicated to fundraising, a high-functioning board of directors, and a volunteer corps. They drive policy change. They are expanding a global collective to support women and changing business practices for women entrepreneurs. Thistle Farms is doing all of this—and managing growth.

Take that all in. If you are an Executive Director running an organization, or a passion-driven person determined to start an organization, take that all in. 

My research into Thistle Farms included time spent on site touring their programs as part of a two-day deep-dive education program about their organization. Attendees came from places as far flung as WA, UT, TX, OK, IN, TN, AL, LA, NJ, NY, and NH. They were there to learn about the residential program, in hopes of supporting women in their areas. I was the only consultant, and my fellow attendees were gracious as I asked question after question about operations.

 “HOW did you do that? HOW did you finance that? HOW do you manage that? WHICH line item is that in your budget? WHAT metrics are you using? WHAT are your funding sources? WHAT is done by staff and WHAT is done by volunteers, etc.” 

I dug into the weeds. I also spent time observing their programs, talking to community members, reading books they published, watching their documentary, listening to related podcasts, and examining their financials.

HERE ARE EIGHT GENERAL TAKE-AWAYS: 

• Thistle Farms is a mission with a business, not a business with a mission.

  Forbes Magazine included this observation in an article they did years ago, and it resonated with the Thistle Farms team.

  Everything, and I mean everything, is mission driven not business driven. This affects their strategic planning, how they solicit feedback, how they manage staff behavior and skill development, which funding they accept, and the risks they take as they grow.

  It also means they are not always generating the revenue they desire. Thistle Farms is well run and healthy, but they measure success by the mission first and the financials second. 

• Thistle Farms is intentional about everything they do.

  I don’t say this lightly. When you read books written by their Founder, Becca Stevens, like Snake Oil and The Way of Tea and Justice, you begin to understand the depth of intention behind why they began with body products that contain essential healing oils and why they have a cafe focused on tea.

  When you peel back the layers of all their programs, policies, and procedures, there is a clear mission-supporting reason for each of them. They do not model their programs nor their operational approach after other organizations. They use their programs, policies, and procedures to contribute to the healing of the women they serve. 

• Thistle Farms uses a trauma-informed approach in their residential work and in their general operations.

  Within their residential programs, how support staff are utilized and how “authority” is managed is highly considered. Their entire model of care is different from any other program in the country and is created from a desire to create time and space for healing.

  Their Benefits package, PTO policies, internal culture activities, and the entire way they manage the development of their staff are the most unique, human-centered, and generous I’ve seen in either the nonprofit or for-profit sector.

  And if a woman chooses to share her personal story, when and how she does so is guided by a highly structured process that values the woman’s recovery over the PR’s benefit. 

• Thistle Farms prioritizes freedom in their fundraising.

  “Not all money is good money,” is something often heard when the subject of fundraising arises. With the exception of operational funds taken during Covid, Thistle Farms does not pursue nor accept Federal funding nor funding that allows others to steer their operational ship.

  Individual giving, foundation gifts, and revenue from their three social enterprises comprise 70% of their funding. State grants that allow full flexibility are 30%.

  Thistle Farms has a rare model of care and full control over how it’s maintained and delivered. Donors know exactly what they are supporting and why, so they have an authentic attachment to the mission.

• Thistle Farms creates social enterprises to heal women not to generate revenue.

  Each of their social enterprises was created to support their mission.

  Most of the women Thistle Farms supports had lives that began with childhood abuse, which left them vulnerable to exploitation, addiction, and criminal activity/imprisonment. When no one would hire the women in their programs, Thistle Farms created their own places of employment and designed them with healing in mind.

  Two of their social enterprises were turning a profit pre-Covid, which took years to develop, and they are slowly making their way back to a profitable place.

  However, profit is not how they measure success. They measure success by how effectively their social enterprises support their mission. 

• Thistle Farms is successful because it values collaboration and community partnership.

  This is important. This organization used social currency from its founder, her network, and their networks to build a volunteer corps that supported the creation of Thistle Farms with physical labor, donated services, and fundraising.

  Once Thistle Farms won the hearts of the community, their programs grew, and they continue to this day in large part due to highly engaged volunteers. 

  Programmatically, Thistle Farms offers extensive healing support and case management and relies on community partners to provide many of these services. This helps them avoid mission creep and keeps costs down.

  They also offer weekly activities for the women in their programs—and their full staff. They are designed for healing, culture building, and to manage mental/physical health. These activities are mostly conducted by community partners.

  Thistle Farms expanded their reach beyond Nashville, TN and structured two networks.

  One is national, designed to create a place for information sharing, community building, and when needed, referrals for beds and services. The other is global, designed to function as a social enterprise for Thistle Farms, but was born from the desire to help women in other countries build economic independence. This is done by encouraging a global trade model that shortens the value chain.

  Both networks help unite people to support advocacy and policy change and offer space for community building and education.
  
  This is an organization steeped in collaboration, and when you learn any of their practices, you will quickly discover that most were co-created and designed with as much collaboration and emphasis on community as possible. They admit that it’s not always easy, but it’s always worth it.

• Thistle Farms harnesses the strengths of its Founder.

  Becca Stevens is the Founder of Thistle Farms and an Episcopalian priest. She has utilized her gifts in unique ways to help grow Thistle Farms, and she is a powerhouse fundraiser.

  A natural storyteller, Becca Stevens is the most recognizable voice for Thistle Farms. She has leveraged all her platforms professionally and personally to tell the story of Thistle Farms and expand its mission beyond Tennessee.

  She set out to build a movement for women’s freedom, and she does that with such compassion, conviction, and clarity that she has been recognized as a champion in many capacities, including as a White House Champion of Change.

• Thistle Farms is getting more strategic.

  Thistle Farms began in 1997. It grew organically with all the ups and downs and successes and failures one would expect of an organization with a big vision and a unique model.

  They made it through stages of significant growth, including the purchasing of residential and commercial spaces and the launch of a full-scale manufacturing facility.

  Now, they have clarified their Core Values and Guiding Practices and are using them to inform their next strategic plan.

  For years, they went fast. Now, they plan to go slow.

  They are tightening up their infrastructure; adding specialized talent where needed; examining policies and procedures; examining how the national network affects their brand and what needs to be in place to caretake that; and adding members to their board to pursue specific advocacy initiatives to move their work forward.

  Their team will be the first to tell you that this work is hard, but they are committed to building a movement for women’s freedom, and they are currently planning for their next step toward that goal.