Our Wins

We built the team and drove the strategy to pass a Marriage Equality Act and we rewrote the playbook on equality and fairness. When others said ratification of the ERA in Illinois was dead, we gave it new life and got it across the finish line. For us, legalizing cannabis wasn’t enough - so we worked to craft comprehensive, equity legislation that hadn’t been done yet, and took our learnings on the road to other states. Expanding mental health access? We've cracked open doors in states that were once nailed shut like Alabama, Colorado, Delaware, Montana, and New Jersey. We’re working with funders to strengthen and preserve our robust public education system for future generations, ensuring that civics education remains a bedrock of our democracy. And, we’re working across party lines to bring stakeholders together to ensure that our elections remain free, fair and trusted.

LAVA Strategies works with clients who want to make more than noise.

Together we make history.

We’re in the business of building campaigns to tackle the kind of big challenges that reshape landscapes for the long term.

Here are a few:

Achieving the Freedom to Marry

We built the campaign and served as the lead strategist to secure the freedom to marry for all Illinoisans.

Striving for a Cleaner Future

On behalf of a major funder, we worked with environmental and clean energy advocates to secure landmark legislation that increased renewables and energy efficiency investments. We developed a strategic plan for another client to increase political power across the Midwest.

Increasing Access to Mental
Health Care

We have overseen legislative campaigns in more than a dozen states to increase access to mental health coverage and services.

Legalizing Cannabis and Righting Previous Wrongs

We managed the first successful effort to legalize adult-use cannabis legislatively in the United States. As a result, hundreds of thousands of criminal records were expunged.

Advancing Gender Equity and Women’s Empowerment

We led the campaign's steering committee that finally pushed Illinois lawmakers to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. We’ve also advised a number of organizations and donors on how to safeguard and expand access to reproductive care.

Promoting Civility

On behalf of a major funder, we developed the strategy behind 50x2026, a campaign to return civics education to classrooms and promote ways for young people to develop the skills to work together in an increasingly polarized country.

Innovative Philanthropic Practices

We developed and executed the strategy to leverage philanthropic investments to secure public support for New York’s $53 million FDR Four Freedoms Park. We also developed and launched a foundation’s Central American archaeology program and have helped several funders develop their issues-focused philanthropic strategies.

Pioneering Policy-Enhanced Impact Investing

In partnership with a leading impact investor, we launched a pilot of the Policy-Enhanced Impact Investing Project. This innovative approach goes beyond traditional impact investing by integrating policy advocacy into investment strategies, aiming to achieve even greater societal impact by using strategic policy influence to drive long-term change and build political power in these critical areas. Through this initiative, we are helping to maximize the positive impact of investments on a sustainable and equitable future.