About
Julia Classen
Julia Classen is Principal Consultant and co-founder of Aurora Consulting. She has conducted workshops and trainings, and facilitated meetings at the state, local and national level. She has been a leader on non-profit boards of directors for more than 30 years, serving organizations that are national, regional and local in scope. She currently serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota and is a member of the board of the New World Foundation located in New York City.
Julia has worked as a consultant in a variety of arenas, including board development, leadership development, research and assessment, facilitation, public policy formation, strategic management and planning, and performance management. In 2011, Julia served as Senior Fellow for the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits developing and leading the inaugural Performance Management Leadership Institute. Julia serves as the Public and Nonprofit Leadership Center’s Hubert Fellow in 2012 at the Humphrey School of Public Affair at the University of Minnesota.
Julia received her Master’s degree from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute, with a focus on Leadership and Nonprofit Management. In addition to her consulting, Julia is an adjunct faculty member at the University of MN, Humphrey Institute.
Allison Rojas
Allison Rojas is Principal Consultant with Aurora Consulting, a company specializing in providing performance management and evaluation, leadership and governance, and sustainability consulting to organizations. Allison has more than 20 years of experience assessing performance, strategic planning, creating organizational systems, developing programs, communicating with external audiences, and increasing resources.
Allison has consulted in a variety of fields, including extensive work with county, state, and national agencies. She has led national teams of consultants conducting organization assessments for nonprofit agencies and health care facilities. She has also developed a statewide quality management program, and has worked with numerous social services agencies to help them identify existing and emerging client needs and develop new programs to address them. As a consultant, Allison has worked at the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation, the Academy for Educational Development, and Community Consulting Group. She has also worked within nonprofit organizations including the American Red Cross and Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio.
Allison received her Master’s degree from the University of Minnesota Humphrey School with a focus on Nonprofit Management and Finance. She is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Minnesota Humphrey School and serves on the board of directors at Cookie Cart.
Julia Jackson
Julia Jackson is an Associate with Aurora Consulting, a company specializing in providing performance management and evaluation, leadership and governance, and sustainability consulting to organizations. Julia works with nonprofits in the areas of grant writing, program design and evaluation, and board development. She is adept at working with the particular strengths and challenges of emerging organizations, and has worked with numerous immigrant-led nonprofit organizations.
Julia currently serves as Board Chair of the Rainbow Rumpus board of directors, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit. She is also a member of the Twin Cities chapter of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network where she serves as a member of the Governance Committee and a blog editor. She recently wrote a three part series of blogs for YNPN on demystifying board service for young nonprofit professionals.
Julia received her Master of Public Policy degree from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School, with a focus on Public and Nonprofit Leadership and Management. Her areas of focus include nonprofit governance, capacity building, grant writing, program evaluation, strategic planning, and financial management.
