Clients

My clients create positive social impact in many ways. 

Some support high quality public education strategies that prepare students for the future. Some offer opportunities for community leaders to work on tough issues and across sectors and successfully mobilize. Others are investors, fund holders, major donors, and champions for particular issue areas and geographic regions. Many of my clients work towards improving health outcomes and inter-cultural understanding. 

Here are some project examples:

Achieve Foundation of South Orange & Maplewood

Achieve is an education foundation with the mission that all students in the public school system receive a high-quality education that prepares them for the future. Achieve does this by supporting educators, addressing resource inequities, 

and inspiring innovation throughout the school district. 

As Achieve welcomed new leadership and adapted to pandemic, I assisted the board and staff with developing a strategic plan. Gathering information and feedback from those within the foundation and those in their community, we worked together to clarify mission, vision and strategies and improve operations to ensure the foundation’s stability as well as planned growth. 

NAMI Kansas

I worked with NAMI Kansas to design and roll out a mini-grants program to engage allied organizations in small projects focused on implementing the Tobacco Guideline for Behavioral Health Care, which NAMI Kansas developed in close collaboration with other stakeholders. This project was built from the ground up and required an aggressive timeline to develop the RFP, solicit and review grant proposals, and execute grant agreements with a cadre of 14 mini-grantees. Through these mini-grants, partners prevent tobacco use, increase health provider capacity and integrate systems, and help those with mental health diagnoses quit smoking. 

Israel Education Center (IEC)

The IEC empowers the next generation to develop a meaningful relationship with Israel through high-school and college programming, civic engagement projects, and immersive travel experiences that build skills, knowledge, social emotional intelligence, and cultural understanding. I support the IEC with annual program planning and evaluation. Focused on learning and continuous improvement, our approach empowers team members and program participants to dream, experiment, and adjust efforts to meet dynamic local and global challenges and opportunities.

Kansas Health Foundation (KHF)

KHF invests in ideas for healthy people and stronger communities. 

I evaluated a number of their grant strategies: leadership, healthy behaviors, recognition grants, impact and capacity grants, among others. Working with the Programs Team, we gathered information and listened to community partners to co-develop community-centered and issue-driven philanthropic strategies.

I facilitated grantee cohort gatherings, where grantee leaders and teams 

discussed their challenges and accomplishments and identified mutually-beneficial opportunities for sharing resources, building field-specific best practices, and addressing systemic barriers. 

Also, we co-authored a publication.

Cornerstone Family Programs

Cornerstone Family Programs strengthen communities by helping people build better lives. They offer preschool, children and teen programs, parent and family programs, as well as veterans’ and senior programs. I worked with their strong leadership team to develop a strategic plan that honed in on empowering staff, 

resourcing signature programs, reducing some operating costs, and creating processes for ongoing growth and innovation.