Smart solutions to complex challenges
A trusted partner in financial strategy
Smart solutions to complex challenges
A trusted partner in financial strategy
About FortyTwoFifty
Our Mission
Founded by Ian Magee, FortyTwoFifty provides strategic consulting to nonprofit and other organizations. We bring a clear, insightful approach to each client, solving their most pressing financial and operational issues.
Our Expertise
- Financial strategy
- Business model transformation
- Financial systems architecture
- Strategic planning
Insights
What Should Organizations Do With a Large Unsolicited — and Unrestricted — One-Time Gift?
What Should Organizations Do With a Large Unsolicited — and Unrestricted — One-Time Gift?
What Should Organizations Do With a Large Unsolicited — and Unrestricted — One-Time Gift?
Why impact investing wins the prisoner's dilemma
What Should Organizations Do With a Large Unsolicited — and Unrestricted — One-Time Gift?
What Should Organizations Do With a Large Unsolicited — and Unrestricted — One-Time Gift?
Why the name FortyTwoFifty?
It’s personal on a few levels. FortyTwoFifty refers to the coordinates where the Titanic went down, 42° North and 50° West. The ship was built in my hometown of Belfast, where my great‑grandfather was a carpenter, and where generations of my family worked in the shipyard. It was a marvel of engineering and ambition, and also a painful lesson in what happens when systems fail.
I work with visionary leaders trying to change the world, and I see myself as the engineer who helps make sure their systems actually support the mission. Not only will they not hit the iceberg, they won’t get close to it. We’ll know where all the icebergs are, and we’ll have great visibility into the path of the ship.
There’s also a nod to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which cracked my mind open when I was young. In that story, 42 is the answer to the meaning of life, but no one knows the question. Turning 50 was the moment that pushed me to reflect on what I wanted to build next, and that reflection ultimately led to this work.
So FortyTwoFifty holds all of that. Ambition, systems, judgment, and meaning. And I thought it would be easy to remember too.