Moving People and Systems Forward

As a rapidly evolving nonprofit, the Center for Inclusive Growth in New Haven (IGNH) was scaling quickly while bringing on new talent, expanding its programs, and preparing for major citywide initiatives. To support this momentum, the organization identified key areas for growth: strengthening communication across teams, building operational consistency, and equipping staff with the leadership skills and strategic tools needed to thrive in a fast-paced, mission-driven environment. The existing three-person leadership team needed to:

• Strengthen Communication: Reduce miscommunication, build trust, and establish clear operational consistency across all levels.

• Equip Staff for Leadership: Provide practical skills to manage up, down, and across, and thrive in a fast-paced, mission-driven environment.

• Strategic Talent Gap: The Executive Director needed data-driven insights to inform the ideal profile for a critical fourth role to complement the existing team.

In 2024, the Global Youth Economic Opportunities (GYEO) Summit launched several firsts: a new Youth Leadership Accelerator, flexible ticketing packages, multi-location programming, and limited livestream access to increase accessibility. With this year’s theme, Youth Driving the Green Economy, the summit needed an elevated communications strategy to match its bold vision. With speakers from organizations like the Bezos Earth Fund, UNICEF, and the Mastercard Foundation, GYEO needed to boost global visibility, deepen youth participation, and ensure cohesion across a multi-stakeholder, multi-day event.

Despite a historic surge in women launching businesses—163 million globally and over $1.6 trillion in U.S. revenue—women entrepreneurs remained significantly underrepresented in mainstream business media. Serious journalism covering their startups, growth strategies, and economic impact was nearly nonexistent. This lack of visibility compounded barriers such as underfunding, imposter syndrome, and the confidence gap. There was a critical need for a credible news platform dedicated to amplifying the voices and ventures of women founders building high-growth companies.

Tajikistan’s agricultural sector is central to the country’s economic future, yet it suffers from chronic underemployment, weak market access, and limited opportunity for women and youth, who comprise the majority of rural labor. As part of the USAID-funded Agribusiness Competitiveness Activity in Tajikistan (ACAT), Making Cents International was tasked with highlighting growth across the sector and ensuring women and youth were visible, empowered beneficiaries of the work.

After a half-century of matching community resources with the needs of the Springfield Public Schools, Springfield School Volunteers (SSV) struggles to raise awareness of its brand and achievements. The organization, while having a high volunteer retention rate, lacks a comprehensive marketing and communications strategy due to a limited staff. Although previous one-off marketing campaigns were successful, SSV has no consistent policies and procedures for branding, marketing, and volunteer recruitment.

Valley Venture Mentors (VVM) was expanding visibility for its startup accelerator programs and preparing for a high-profile White House announcement tied to the national entrepreneurship effort for investors to Diversify Access to Capital. They needed expert communications support to craft and disseminate messaging, coordinate media outreach, and position their CEO and programs to local and national press.