named programs · 2 · from sources
What they call their work
National Forum on Collective OA Funding
Series of facilitated focus groups held at professional conferences to gather input from diverse stakeholders on developing sustainable models for open access support.
OA in the Open: Community Needs and Perspectives
Research initiative conducting focus groups with academic librarians to understand barriers and opportunities for collective funding of open access content and infrastructure.
activities · 5 groups
What they do
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Nonprofit Capacity Building Services 2 activities
- Grant proposal and funding strategy supportSupports clients in identifying funding sources and developing grant proposals for innovative academic and scholarly projects, including assistance with strategic framing and operational planning.
- Providing strategic consulting to academic and scholarly organizationsOffers strategic planning, operational consultation, leadership coaching, and team-building support to academic institutions, university presses, libraries, scholarly societies, and other mission-driven organizations in the scholarly sector to improve organizational effectiveness and research infrastructure.
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Open Research Infrastructure & Publishing 1 activity
- Advancing open access publishing modelsAdvocates for sustainable open access systems in the humanities and social sciences by promoting institutional funding models that replace article-processing charges, recommending expanded roles for academic libraries in digital curation, and providing roadmaps to ensure equitable participation and prevent free-riding in open publishing ecosystems.
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International Student Recruitment & Academic Partnerships 1 activity
- Building capacity in knowledge infrastructurePartners with academic institutions, libraries, scholarly societies, publishers, government agencies, and foundations to strengthen knowledge infrastructure and expand educational access for disadvantaged populations, including through travel scholarships to support participation in research activities.
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Library Staff Professional Development 1 activity
- Delivering workshops and training for scholarly professionalsProvides workshops, consultations, and training sessions for professional staff and graduate students to build strategic competencies in scholarly communication, research dissemination, and organizational development.
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Uncategorized 3 activities
- Conducting LIS Scholarly Archives (LISSA) research projectPublished and archived a white paper with supporting materials—including data analysis and redacted focus group transcripts—on the LIS Scholarly Archives (LISSA), supported in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, based on six focus group sessions hosted at three professional conferences in 2019 with 8–12 participants each.
- Conducting research on open and equitable scholarly communicationsAuthored Appendix 1 in the Association of College and Research Libraries’ report on open and equitable scholarly communications, with a focus on social justice, and contributed research on barriers and opportunities for inclusive knowledge dissemination.
- Researching altmetrics in humanities and social sciencesConducted a study on the use and acceptance of altmetrics in research assessment within the humanities and social sciences, including an international online survey and analysis of faculty and administrator perceptions, culminating in a co-authored publication on 30 October 2017.
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financials · form 990 · fy2024
revenue
Total revenue$47K
Contributions & grants$47K100%
Program service revenue$00%
Investment income$00%
Other revenue$0
expenses
Total expenses$66K
Program expenses72%
Admin / overhead28%
Fundraising0%
Salaries & benefits$13K
Grants paid out$0
Largest expense lineProfessional Fees
balance sheet
Total assets$621K
Cash$621K
Investments$0
Liabilities$553K
Net assets$68K
Liquid reserves113.6 mo
5 years on record · 2020–2024 · YoY revenue -36.5%
leadership · form 990 part vii · fy2024
Who runs it
paid leadership · 2
| Name | Title | Hours/wk | Compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheryl Ball | Secretary & Treasurer | 20 | $29K |
| Rebecca Kennison | Executive Director | 10 | $12K |
board members · 3
- Christopher Long — Director
- Polly Thistlewaite — Board Chair
- Robert Hilliker — Director
relationships · 24
Who they work with
- ASEEES Partner — Collaborates with ASEEES to analyze affiliates and publications as part of open access research.
- Academic Commons Partner — Robert Hilliker previously managed Academic Commons at Columbia University, a project aligned with K|N Consultants’ focus on open scholarship infrastructure.
- Association of College and Research Libraries Partner — Collaborated on research related to open and equitable scholarly communications, with K|N’s work included as Appendix 1 in ACRL’s publication.
- Association of College and Research Libraries Partner — Collaborated with ACRL to produce research on open and equitable scholarly communications, contributing Appendix 1 to their 2019 publication.
- Association of Research Libraries Partner — Judy Ruttenberg serves as Senior Director of Scholarship, Policy, and Engagement Strategy and collaborates with K|N Consultants through shared leadership.
- Center for Engaged Learning and Justice (CELJ) Partner — Client organization collaborating with K|N Consultants on scholarly initiatives.
- Centre for Science and Technology Studies at Leiden University Network — Cited for its literature review on evaluation practices and metric use, which informed the decision not to conduct a full literature review and shaped the study’s thematic focus.
- Council of Editors of Learned Journals Partner — Cheryl Ball serves as Executive Director and collaborates with K|N Consultants through shared leadership.
- Higher Education Funding Council for England Network — Referenced as a source of prior research on metrics in research evaluation, whose findings informed the methodological approach of this study.
- HuMetricsHSS Partner — Christopher Long leads this initiative to align academic excellence metrics with core personal and institutional values, supported by the Mellon Foundation.
- HuMetricsHSS Partner — Client organization focused on humanistic metrics in scholarly communication, partnered with K|N Consultants.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services Funder — Provided partial funding for the "OA in the Open" project through grant LG-73-18-0226-18.
- Institute of Museum and Library Services Government — Funded a project through grant number LG-73-18-0226-18.
- Kairos Partner — Client organization in digital rhetoric and composition, receiving consulting services from K|N Consultants.
- Less Commonly Taught and Indigenous Languages Partnership Partner — Christopher Long leads this Mellon Foundation-funded initiative in partnership with the Big 10 Academic Alliance, focused on reciprocal collaboration with Indigenous communities.
- Open Access Network Network — K|N Consultants legally does business as the Open Access Network.
- Public Philosophy Journal Partner — Christopher Long leads this online publication for accessible scholarship on publicly relevant issues, supported by the Mellon Foundation.
- Rebecca Kennison Partner — Researcher and writer at K|N Consultants who authored the social justice appendix for the ACRL publication.
- Rowan University Partner — Robert Hilliker serves as Associate Provost for Library Information Services and collaborates with K|N Consultants through shared leadership.
- SocArXiv Partner — Open-access repository for social sciences, partnered with K|N Consultants for scholarly infrastructure development.
- University of Oregon Partner — Christopher Long serves as Provost and Senior Vice President and collaborates with K|N Consultants through shared leadership.
- VALE Partner — Robert Hilliker serves as Vice Chair of VALE, New Jersey’s academic library consortium, and connects it to K|N Consultants through shared leadership.
- academic institutions Partner — Collaborates with academic institutions to enhance information dissemination infrastructure for disadvantaged populations.
- related scholarly organizations Partner — Works with scholarly organizations to support efficient information dissemination infrastructure for disadvantaged populations.
strategies · 5
How they approach the work
Named approaches extracted from this org’s sources. Where others share an approach, follow it to see the full set of orgs running it.
- Collaborative Knowledge Infrastructure Transformationmethodology: collaborative_knowledge_infrastructure_transformationBy partnering with mission-driven organizations across academic and public sectors, the organization produces systemic change in scholarly communication because collaborative innovation enables more equitable and sustainable knowledge systems than isolated interventions.
- Equitable Open Access Funding through Institutional Subsidymethodology: institutional-subsidy-modelBy shifting financial responsibility for open access from individual researchers to tertiary institutions, the organization creates a more equitable and sustainable system because it removes economic barriers that disproportionately affect early-career and underfunded scholars.
- Institutional Capacity Building for Information Equitymethodology: institutional_capacity_building_for_information_equityBy strengthening information dissemination systems through collaboration with academic institutions, the organization improves access to knowledge for disadvantaged populations because systemic capacity development addresses root causes of information inequality more effectively than ad hoc access programs.
- Perception-Informed Research Impact Assessmentmethodology: perception-informed_metric_developmentBy developing metrics informed by stakeholder perceptions of altmetrics, the organization improves research impact articulation in humanities and social sciences because current quantitative tools fail to capture the diverse ways scholarship circulates in these fields.
- Systems-Focused Equity in Scholarly Communicationmethodology: systems-focused_equityBy focusing on transforming systems rather than promoting individual inclusion, the organization advances social justice in scholarly communications because equitable distribution of opportunities and privileges requires structural change across the entire knowledge ecosystem.