Strategy & leadership for moments of consequence
Crone & Current Collaborative partners with mission-driven organizations, women leaders, and global movements navigating crisis, transition, and bold strategic change.
Who we partner with
Clients come to Crone & Current when the stakes are high and the path is not yet clear. The practice brings nearly three decades of senior executive judgment, together with a collaborative and participatory way of working.
Financial shocks, leadership departures, threats to staff safety, or the outbreak of conflict. Stabilize the organization, protect people, and safeguard the mission.
A new chief executive, an interim gap, a restructure, or a board in need of a governance review. Move through change with clarity, care, and accountability.
A new strategy, a shift of power toward local leadership, or a campaign to change policy. Turn shared vision into accountable implementation.
Our vision
Crone & Current Collaborative envisions a more just, equitable, and peaceful world, one in which people protect one another and the planet we share. We believe this world will be imagined, built, and sustained by civil society: individuals, social movements, and mission-driven organizations working together for collective liberation. Crone & Current Collaborative exists to partner with them, strengthening the clarity, strategy, and collective power needed to bring this future into being.
Our mission
Crone & Current Collaborative exists to serve individuals, movements, and organizations striving to build a more equitable, just, and peaceful world, and to protect our shared planet.
With decades of experience working alongside social movements and global and national nonprofits, Crone & Current Collaborative partners with clients to surface vision, deepen insight, and design strategies, programs, and learning systems that move their missions forward with clarity and measurable impact.
Our values
We value the wisdom that resides in the people on the front lines of the world's greatest challenges, and in the individuals, organizations, and movements we serve.
It takes courage to challenge the status quo and build the future we envision.
We know from decades of experience that leading with empathy and a focus on inclusion makes us stronger and more accountable.
Core capabilities
Every engagement is tailored to the client and combines rigorous strategy with collaborative practice, so that solutions are both actionable and true to the organization's values.
Guiding organizations through crisis, transition, and ambitious strategic pivots: multi-year strategy, governance strengthening, complex restructures, and the structures needed for long-term strength.
Designing and scaling programs that move authority, resources, and decision-making closer to communities, including in fragile and conflict-affected contexts.
Supporting women and gender-expansive leaders navigating power, visibility, institutional change, and values-aligned leadership, including executive transition support and interim CEO placement.
Convening people across sectors, ideologies, and geographies to build shared strategy, navigate difference, and act with collective power.
Helping organizations translate evidence, lived experience, and coalition power into policy change, from national legislatures to multilateral institutions.
Helping organizations articulate their distinctive contribution, diversify funding, and build the revenue strategy needed to sustain mission and impact.
Our approach
The people at the front lines of the world's greatest challenges are the most affected, and they hold the most wisdom to generate solutions. Our role is to help channel that wisdom toward the goal.
We work alongside leaders, staff, boards, and communities. The organization owns the strategy, and the consultant never takes center stage.
We design structures that move authority, resources, and decision-making closer to the people most affected.
Leadership and organizational practice grounded in care, relational accountability, and shared power.
Clear roadmaps, measurable goals, and accountable implementation, so vision becomes durable impact.
Track record
Results from Marie Clarke's nearly three decades of executive leadership across humanitarian, development, and advocacy organizations.
years in senior executive and CEO roles across humanitarian, development, and advocacy organizations
times serving as interim or acting chief executive: twice at Africa Action, once at ActionAid USA, which then hired her as Executive Director, and once at Women for Women International
high-stakes crises managed and negotiations led, including threats to staff safety, office raids, and the outbreak of war, safeguarding both staff and mission
fragile and conflict-affected contexts across Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America
low-income countries won debt cancellation, advanced through Jubilee USA Network leadership and legislation Marie helped inform
organizations in the faith-based and civil society coalition she strengthened as Jubilee USA's National Coordinator
countries: a Conflict Response Fund scaled from pilot to rapid-response grantmaking
above revenue forecast during the 2025 aid crisis, the organization's highest revenue in five years
Marie dramatically strengthened revenue at two international NGOs: Women for Women International, where grant funding doubled, and ActionAid USA, where she reversed years of revenue decline.
About the founder
Marie created Crone & Current Collaborative after 29 years leading international humanitarian, development, and advocacy organizations through growth, crisis, and change.
Her leadership roles include Executive Director of ActionAid USA, program leadership and Acting CEO at Women for Women International, and National Coordinator of Jubilee USA Network, the US arm of the global movement for debt cancellation. She has stepped in as interim or acting chief executive four times: twice at Africa Action, once at ActionAid USA, which then hired her as Executive Director, and once at Women for Women International. She has steered organizations through financial crises and led teams through threats to staff safety, office raids, and the outbreak of war. She opened a new country office in Palestine under a locally led model and has worked with partners in Afghanistan, Sudan, Syria, Lebanon, Myanmar, Ethiopia, and Ukraine.
Her approach is rooted in intersectional feminist praxis and shaped by deep cross-cultural relationships across five continents.
Start a conversation
Every engagement begins with a conversation about where your organization is and where it needs to go. Reach out, and Marie will respond personally.
Share a few lines about your organization and what you're navigating. Marie will reply personally to arrange a conversation.
Email Marie