GPS Consulting Services
Impact driven consulting for mission driven organizations
Gouri Prem Sadhwani, Founder and Principal
“I created GPS Consulting Services to support mission driven organizations to do their best work. I use my experience and expertise from leading nonprofits and in philanthropy to inform organizational strategies and help implement them. I work with you and your team long term to implement and revise strategies.
I collaborate with a network of peers who can provide additional services ranging from marketing to creation of media tools, to running large scale events. My goal is to tap into leaders who hold a wealth of experience and expertise and are invested in building movements and organizations and who, like me, are committed to building the next generation of leaders for social justice.”
Values and Approach:
•Systems Approaches: I believe in addressing complex challenges through a systemic lens, identifying root causes and developing innovative solutions that create lasting change at both the organizational and societal levels.
•Collaborative Partnership: I approach consulting as a collaborative partnership, working closely with your team to understand your unique needs, goals, and aspirations.
•Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion: All our work is centered around ensuring diversity, equity, and inclusion.
about Founder and Principal Gouri P. Sadhwani
Gouri is a leader in the philanthropic, human rights and social justice sectors with over 25 years of experience. Her policy expertise includes worker rights and economic justice, immigrant rights, education equity, racial and social justice, women’s rights, and environmental justice. She has successfully led and grown organizations of various sizes at the local, national and global arenas.
Prior to founding GPS Consulting Services, she led the School of Labor and Urban Studies Foundation at CUNY (City University of New York). As one of the largest university systems in the US, CUNY serves over 500,000 students most of whom are first generation immigrants, people of color and working class.
From 2013 to 2021 she served as Executive Director of the Akanksha Education Fund, a public charity in the U.S. that funds education initiatives in India. Under her leadership, the Fund increased funds and grant making by over 500%. She created innovative donor programs, events and corporate giving from firms including Bank of New York, McKinsey & Company, and Goldman Sachs. She helped initiate a national alliance of funders and organizations working in the US and India to share best practices, align programs, and collaborate vs compete with one another in fundraising and impact on the ground.
As Vice President of Campaigns at the BlueGreen Alliance (BGA), a coalition of environmental and labor organizations representing over 14 million members in the US, she led national mobilization and advocacy efforts that focused on union members and environmental justice.
She was Deputy Executive Director of Amnesty International USA. She led Amnesty’s human rights campaigns and activism for over 500,000 activists and over 2,000 local and student groups across the US. She oversaw five regional offices with over 70 staff members. She was also selected to serve on Amnesty International’s Global Campaigns Team where she collaborated with Amnesty Sections in the UK, France, Spain, Liberia, Sierre Leone, among others to develop campaigns.
She served as Special Advisor to the President of the Service Employees International Union, Local 32BJ, representing over 250,000 janitors, security guards and doormen along the Northeast. She led the union's work on grant making, social justice, membership engagement and strategic partnerships. As founding Executive Director of the New York Civic Participation Project, she brought together labor unions and community partners to promote immigrant rights and developed a national model for engaging union members in their communities.
During her time as Executive Director of the Hague Appeal for Peace she led a coalition of over 100 international organizations and UN agencies on peace and justice campaigns and oversaw teams in Europe, North and South America, Asia, and Africa. The culmination of this work resulted in the world’s largest global peace conference held in the Hague, Netherlands with over 10,000 attendees from around the world, two dozen heads of state and five Nobel Peace Prize winners.
Ms. Sadhwani is an Adjunct Professor at CUNY where she teaches at the graduate and undergraduate levels. She has also taught at Cornell University and at the State University of New York. Her courses include Nonprofit Leadership & Governance; Class, Race and Gender for Workers; and Community Organizing. In addition to leading nonprofits, she has created local nonprofits and serves as a board member and officer at the American India Foundation; Pure Legacee; Friends of Watsessing Park Conservancy; and the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies Foundation.
Gouri is a graduate of the Wagner School of Public Service at New York University where she earned a Master in Public Administration. Her B.A. in Political Science is from Montclair State University. She was born in Shillong, India and currently resides in Glen Ridge, NJ with her partner and two very unruly and misbehaved dogs.
From 2013 to 2021 she served as Executive Director of the Akanksha Education Fund, a public charity in the U.S. that funds education initiatives in India. Under her leadership, the Fund increased funds and grant making by over 500%. She created innovative donor programs, events and corporate giving from firms including Bank of New York, McKinsey & Company, and Goldman Sachs. She helped initiate a national alliance of funders and organizations working in the US and India to share best practices, align programs, and collaborate vs compete with one another in fundraising and impact on the ground.
As Vice President of Campaigns at the BlueGreen Alliance (BGA), a coalition of environmental and labor organizations representing over 14 million members in the US, she led national mobilization and advocacy efforts that focused on union members and environmental justice.
She was Deputy Executive Director of Amnesty International USA. She led Amnesty’s human rights campaigns and activism for over 500,000 activists and over 2,000 local and student groups across the US. She oversaw five regional offices with over 70 staff members. She was also selected to serve on Amnesty International’s Global Campaigns Team where she collaborated with Amnesty Sections in the UK, France, Spain, Liberia, Sierre Leone, among others to develop campaigns.
She served as Special Advisor to the President of the Service Employees International Union, Local 32BJ, representing over 250,000 janitors, security guards and doormen along the Northeast. She led the union's work on grant making, social justice, membership engagement and strategic partnerships. As founding Executive Director of the New York Civic Participation Project, she brought together labor unions and community partners to promote immigrant rights and developed a national model for engaging union members in their communities.
During her time as Executive Director of the Hague Appeal for Peace she led a coalition of over 100 international organizations and UN agencies on peace and justice campaigns and oversaw teams in Europe, North and South America, Asia, and Africa. The culmination of this work resulted in the world’s largest global peace conference held in the Hague, Netherlands with over 10,000 attendees from around the world, two dozen heads of state and five Nobel Peace Prize winners.
Ms. Sadhwani is an Adjunct Professor at CUNY where she teaches at the graduate and undergraduate levels. She has also taught at Cornell University and at the State University of New York. Her courses include Nonprofit Leadership & Governance; Class, Race and Gender for Workers; and Community Organizing. In addition to leading nonprofits, she has created local nonprofits and serves as a board member and officer at the American India Foundation; Pure Legacee; Friends of Watsessing Park Conservancy; and the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies Foundation.
Gouri is a graduate of the Wagner School of Public Service at New York University where she earned a Master in Public Administration. Her B.A. in Political Science is from Montclair State University. She was born in Shillong, India and currently resides in Glen Ridge, NJ with her partner and two very unruly and misbehaved dogs.