ABOUT CROSSCURRENT COLLECTIVE

Crosscurrent Collective is a planning, strategy and facilitation firm that supports communities to design, build and manage world-class outdoor recreation destinations.

WE EMPOWER COMMUNITIES TO DEVELOP AND MANAGE THEIR GOALS AS DESTINATIONS

OUR FOCUS
We focus on developing unique experiences, cultivating vibrant regional outdoor recreation and tourism economies, and helping leaders strike the delicate balance between visitation, preserving local values and maintaining healthy ecosystems.
HOW WE DO IT
We design processes that support inclusive, community-based decision-making and collaborative action to drive local solutions.
Crosscurrent
A current in a river or sea that flows across another. A process or tendency that is in conflict with another.
Collective
Done by people acting as a group. Common, shared, mutual, united, allied, collaborative, undivided. Taken as a whole; aggregate.

OUR FOUNDING VISION

Founder and CEO Kristin Dahl has brought together a high-powered network of professionals with unique skill sets who can help clients navigate the complex waters of destination development and management, to help unlock a region’s potential. The Collective is a team of guides, facilitators, innovative program designers and coaches who can help you find the right balance in your community. Our team is skilled at uniting diverse groups behind common goals, and supporting them to move from idea to implementation. You can count on us to cultivate high levels of trust between the people around the table, and produce tangible results with projects that will enhance your community or destination.
OUR TEAM

THE CROSSCURRENT COLLECTIVE

David Beurle

Building future intelligence and people's capacity for planning

Holly Macfee

Breakthrough destination branding and marketing

Chris Bernhardt

Sharing the outdoors with everyone

BUILDING COMMUNITY RESILIENCY THROUGH DESTINATION DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT

WHO WE SERVE
Crosscurrent Collective supports communities and destinations of all types as they preserve local culture, improve environmental sustainability and develop unique experiences by harnessing people’s passion for outdoor recreation and travel. We’re in service to local and regional governments, destination marketing organizations, nonprofits such as land trusts and trails organizations, and agencies responsible for land management, parks and open spaces, economic development and transportation – as well as anyone who wants to make a positive difference in their destination or community.
HOW WE WORK
Crosscurrent works as your guide to help navigate the complex and often turbulent waters of community tourism initiatives. It can be exasperating to see issues or opportunities in your community that aren’t being addressed because the conversation and goals are fragmented across jurisdictions. We get it. We use our on-the-ground experience in this specialized field to design tailored processes that will help you engage the right players, at the right scale, to fully unlock your destination’s potential.

OUR VALUES

PEOPLE AS POSSIBILITY
None of us is fixed in our abilities or knowledge. With imagination, space for creativity and hard work, we can achieve anything we envision – whether it’s for ourselves or the greater good. Crosscurrent creates an environment where professionals can push the bounds of what is possible.
INCLUSIVE GATHERINGS
No one can do this alone. We need each other to move forward in this rapidly changing world. By involving different backgrounds, perspectives and interests, we ultimately strengthen the outcome. We value the perspectives of black, indigenous and people of color in particular, and commit to ensuring those perspectives are at the table throughout our programs and processes. Gathering is how we can build trust and develop a deeper understanding of each other’s interests.
A BETTER WORLD
In our work to support communities, we start from a foundation of sustainable tourism -- tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment, and host communities (U.N. World Tourism Organization, 2002).
As an Oregon Benefit company, we’re committed to positively contributing to environmental health, social well-being and economic vitality through our work and as individuals in our own communities. We’re committed to completing the B-Corp Assessment each year, in order to measure our progress and articulate our core strategies for accomplishing these objectives.

Our company is founded on the notion that we can accomplish so much more collectively than alone.

“Do what you love, and don’t stop until you get what you love. Work as hard as you can, imagine immensities…”

~ DEBBIE MILLMAN, DESIGN MATTERS

Our collective experience and work centers equity and inclusion to support a future for destinations where residents feel respected and all may visit safely.

JUSTICE, EQUITY, DIVERSITY, INCLUSION
Crosscurrent Collective is a diverse collaboration of thought leaders, destination stewards and community development professionals. We connect human potential with equitable outcomes in placemaking. Our team applies an equity lens to strategic planning, stakeholder engagement and visioning for our clients. We imagine a world where destinations, travel and visitor experiences create a virtuous cycle of inclusion, dignity and interconnectedness.
By authentically engaging with diverse voices in local communities, we seek to amplify the voices of underrepresented communities – to ensure equitable outcomes that address past oppressions and create a positive human connection to place. The future of place is where travel highlights the dignity of all voices in a community, supports economic prosperity and heals the soul. Our collaboration reflects diversity of race, gender and thought.

Oregon Benefit Company

Crosscurrent Collective is an Oregon benefit company registered with the Oregon Secretary of State. As such, we direct company value to support the good of society. Each year we will evaluate how our company’s operations and business model impact our workers, community, environment and clients, and identify strategic actions to generate good.
What is an Oregon benefit company?
An Oregon benefit company is a type of corporation or limited liability company that considers its impact on society and the environment in the business decision-making process, in addition to earning a profit.

Benefit companies differ from traditional corporations and LLCs with regard to their purpose, accountability and transparency. The purpose is to create a general public benefit, which is defined as “a material positive impact on society and the environment, taken as a whole, from the business and operations of the company.”

Source: Oregon Secretary of State
How does a company become an Oregon benefit company?
To become a benefit company, an Oregon corporation or LLC must do the following: ​
  • Include a statement in the articles of incorporation or organization that says the corporation or LLC is a benefit company subject to ORS 60.750 - ORS 60.770​​.
  • Adopt a third-party standard.
  • Prepare an annual benefit report identifying:
    • The actions and methods used to provide a general or specific public benefit.
    • Any circumstances that hindered or prevented a benefit.
    • How well the benefit company met or exceeded the third-party standard.
  • ​Distribute the annual benefit report to the owners and post it on the company’s website.
Source: Oregon Secretary of State
What third-party standard is Crosscurrent Collective using?
Crosscurrent is using the B Corp Certification’s Impact Assessment to evaluate how our company’s operations and business model impact our workers, community, environment and clients. We will be completing the assessment each year and use it as a tool to guide our strategic actions in the following year.
How does Crosscurrent measure up on the B-Corp Certification’s Impact Assessment?
Crosscurrent will be conducting its first assessment in Q2 of 2021, during the third quarter of our first year in business. Sign up for our newsletter if you’d like to learn about our results and our strategic actions moving forward.

Crosscurrent makes the complex simple.

  • 01
    Set Up a Discovery Session
    Contact us to schedule a free 30-minute discovery session.
  • 02
    Create a Road Map
    Together we’ll sketch a road map to get a feel for the investment required.
  • 03
    Get to Work
    Once the road map is clear and the details agreed on, we’ll get right to work!