Part 3: Mission Service Allies: A New Roadmap for Nonprofit Sustainability

We now come to the end of our three-part series about the three-year research project we did for the Nonprofit Association of Oregon (NAO). If you need a refresher on the previous two posts:

• Part 1: The Burnout Crisis: Why “Mission First” is Failing the Nonprofit Workforce explains how nonprofits are serving their missions at the expense of their workforce.

• Part 2: The “Why” Behind the Walls: Navigating the Insurance Maze exposed how the demographics of the nonprofit workforce uniquely set the industry up for denial.

And now, after three years of research, countless carrier rejections, and a feasibility study that exposed the "risk-averse" nature of the insurance market, we finally found a path forward for NAO.

We didn't just want to find a vendor; we wanted to find a partner with the "appetite" to serve the unique demographics of Oregon’s nonprofits.

The Breakthrough: Finding Amplify HR

After investigating several national and local PEO companies, one partner finally emerged that was willing to look beyond the typical: Amplify HR.

Unlike the massive corporate PEOs that prioritize low-risk master plans, Amplify is a mid-size, privately held firm with the flexibility to adapt. They didn’t see a "risky" workforce; they saw a massive, underserved sector of 245,000 workers in Oregon who deserve top-tier benefits.

We officially announced this partnership at the Nonprofit Impact Conference in October 2025. Together, we’ve created a custom package with pricing and features that simply didn't exist in the market before.

More Than Just a PEO: Introducing Mission Service Allies (MSA)

The PEO is just the beginning. To house this work, North Starr Consulting is continuing to support NAO in its development of a new charitable LLC: Mission Service Allies (MSA).

The vision for MSA is to be a comprehensive "back-office shop" for nonprofits. Over the coming years, MSA will expand to offer:

• Specialized Bookkeeping: To ensure nonprofits are audit-ready and grant-compliant.

• Technology Support: So, nonprofits can stop troubleshooting routers and start solving community problems.

• Fiscal Sponsorship: Providing a launching pad for new, innovative initiatives to get up and running quickly.

The North Starr Takeaways: 

o   If you are interested in learning more about PEO services. Visit NAO’s website.

o   If you are interested in learning more about how North Starr can help your organization, Contact Us.