About ALK Consulting
ALK Consulting began in 2017 when a colleague encouraged founder Ali Kane to host an LGBTQIA+ inclusion workshop in preparation for Pride month. In the following months, Ali began offering similar workshops throughout the museum and public garden fields, incorporating best practices in workplace inclusion, authentic visitor engagement, and community-centric fundraising to create affirming spaces for queer people.
In 2022, Ali took the plunge to turn an extracurricular passion project into ALK Consulting. We offer LGBTQIA+ inclusion workshops and advising for companies, organizations, and community groups of all sizes, with a specialization in cultural nonprofits.
ALK Consulting is a Certified LGBT Enterprise with the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce.
Our Values
As a business, we value equity in our practices to make our expertise accessible to all members of our community. Our learning opportunities prioritize amplifying lived experience that is supported by research to prepare participants with comprehensive understanding of the intersectional diversity of our community. Most importantly, we foster learning environments that encourages compassionate curiosity to develop effective allies.
About Ali
Pronouns: she/they
Hometown: Worcester, MA
Queer Hero: Laura Jane Grace
Hey there!
I am a Queer nonprofit leader and lifelong learner working to assert the value of the unique role that cultural nonprofits play in the world of social justice. Through ALK Consulting, I further this mission by offering LGBTQIA+ inclusion workshops to cultural organizations to create more affirming spaces for staff, visitors, and the community at large.
In addition to ALK Consulting, I advocate for health equity as Grants Management Specialist at Family Health Center of Worcester. Previously, at New England Botanic Garden, I served as Manager of Corporate and Foundation Relations and founded the Garden’s Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) Committee. I was also appointed to the American Public Garden Association’s IDEA Committee, considering how gardens throughout the nation can be welcoming to all.
In 2020, upon discovering there was no public LGBTQ+ resource and support network for Queer professionals in the museum field, I founded the LGBTQ+ Museum Staff & Students with Sam Dinnie, which is hosted by the New England Museum Association, building queer community across the globe.
Previously, I have served as Treasurer of Love Your Labels and Founding Treasurer of Central MA Trans Visibility. I hold a Master’s in Nonprofit Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania, a Diversity & Inclusion Champion Certificate from the Bentley University Center for Women & Business, and is a graduate of the Boston’s Future Leaders program at Harvard Business School.
Aside from educating and community-building, I enjoy playing board games, supporting local drag artists, and sampling local eats with my partner and cats in Worcester, MA.
Press
How to Keep Momentum on LGBTQ+ Inclusion Year-Round
Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce
June 2023
Performative actions are nothing new, but this Pride Month major brands made national headlines because of rainbow-washing …
AFP Member Spotlight: Ali Kane
Association of Fundraising Professinoals
June 2023
Ali Kane (she/they) is a Queer nonprofit leader and lifelong learner committed to intersectional inclusion and equity …
Garden for All: A Year in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Journey of Tower Hill Botanic Garden
New England Museums Now
Summer 2018
At 2pm on a Tuesday, you don’t expect that an email about proofing marketing copy is going to make you cry …
Blog
Queer Resources for Neurodiversity Celebration Week
Many LGBTQIA+ people embrace a confluence of identities, including neurodivergence, an umbrella term to describe mental functioning that diverges from dominant societal norms or expectations.
Celebrating Black Queer Icons for Black History Month
Queer inclusion must always be intersectional.
These Black LGBTQIA+ icons were important trailblazers in their time, breaking the barriers of race, gender, and sexuality. Their legacies continue to inspire us all to live authentic lives and commit ourselves to creating a world where everyone can thrive.
2023 Museum Pride Month Roundup
Museums and cultural institutions can play an important role in making social change. People trust museums as authorities on history, art, culture, and science, as well as visit museums for inspiration, discovery, and informal learning. When I was growing up, I can’t...
Featured Speaking Engagements
"Can we sustain our intentions while expanding our profession?" (Panelist), CUT|FILL, virtual, January 2023
"Making Space: Museums Encouraging Community" (Panel Moderator), New England Museum Association Annual Conference, virtual, November 2021
"Creating a More Diversity, Equitable, and Inclusive Garden" (Presenter), American Public Gardens Association Annual Conference, Washington, D.C., June 2019
Meet Our Collaborators
Sam Dinnie
Associate Consultant
Pronouns: they/them
Hometown: East Longmeadow, MA
Queer Hero: Hayley Kiyoko
Sam Dinnie (they/them) is a PhD student at The George Washington University (GW) in Washington, DC. Their doctoral coursework and research is in early American history and focuses on colonial and Revolutionary-Era New England. Sam centers their work around historically underrepresented groups, historical memory, and construction of narratives. Their most recent essay, “‘The Burden of Proof’: Sex, Power, and Patriarchy in the Eighteenth-Century Connecticut River Valley,” has been accepted for publication in the New England Quarterly.
Sam has been active in the public history field for six years. They seek to promote the accessibility of historical information through interpretation, museum education, and digitization. Sam has applied this approach to the positions they have held at numerous institutions, including the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, the Peabody Essex Museum, the American Association for State and Local History, and the Newport Historical Society.
Sam is deeply committed to incorporating Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access initiatives into both their academic and public history work. At GW, Sam strives to foster an inclusive learning environment and present diverse histories in their teaching as a Graduate Assistant. Previously, they served as co-chair of the LGBTQ+ Museum Staff and Students Professional Affinity Group, an affiliate of the New England Museum Association, and Steering Committee Member for the Gender Equity in Museums Movement.
Sam’s
Articles & Blog Posts
The Labor behind the Learned: A Reexamination of Ezra Stiles, Newport Historical Society, September 2023
Ezra Stiles was born in North Haven, Connecticut, in 1727 to Reverend Isaac Stiles and Kezia Taylor Stiles. Stiles graduated from Yale in 1746 and was ordained as a minister three years later …
History Bytes: Politicizing the Personal in Revolutionary Newport, Newport Historical Society, August 2023
The typical understanding of political allegiance during the American Revolution as binary—Patriot or Loyalist, American or British—obscures the very real tribulations people experienced and dismisses fluctuations in loyalty as the Revolution evolved …
Freedom of the (Printing) Press: Reading Between the Lines of the Loyalist-Patriot Divide, Newport Historical Society, July 2023
The intricacies of loyalty and allegiance during the American Revolution are difficult to discern. From private correspondence to newspaper reports, written glimpses into the Revolutionary Era …
Sam’s
Featured Projects & Exhibitions
LGBTQ+ Inclusive Interpretation Resource Kit, American Association of State & Local History, Summer 2022
This LGBTQ+ Inclusive Interpretation Resource Kit is meant to help overcome the challenges of, provide an introduction to, and serve as a basic guide for LGBTQ+ interpretation …
Decolonization and the Road to Indigenization Resource Kit, American Association of State & Local History, Summer 2022
This Decolonization and the Road to Indigenization Resource Kit is intended to assist public history practitioners in the decolonization process …
Civic Education and Engagement Resource Kit, American Association of State & Local History, Summer 2022
… this Civic Education and Engagement Resource Kit includes AASLH conference sessions, History News articles, a technical leaflet, book recommendations, guides, award winners, and 250th anniversary materials, as well as outside organizations and readings …
Let None Be Excluded: The Origins of Equal School Rights in Salem, Peabody Essex Museum, Fall 2021-Summer 2022
This exhibition features documents reflecting the impassioned activism of young Black leaders, including Sarah Parker Remond and Robert Morris. These youth, as agents in their own education, sparked the national equal school rights movement …