Fundraising + stakeholder research and analysis
Raising and influencing the flow of money is grounded in strong communications: we either find the right combination of words and images that invite, orient, and activate potential funders and investors … or we don’t. Successful casemaking — and all effective communication — begins with a deep understanding of the audiences you seek to engage.
Discovery conversations with external and internal stakeholders uncover hidden gems and missing pieces, informing a positioning and a narrative that captures your Why and How, and presents them in a compelling and actionable way. Co-created empathy maps of key audiences paint a picture of what’s on hearts and minds, as you consider the clearest way of connecting through shared values.
Global Fund for a New Economy
The Global Fund for a New Economy is a startup effort with a bold goal: a 10-year commitment to connect, scale, and resource the movement that will make an inclusive, equitable, and sustainable economy unstoppable. Do Good Better works closely with the fundraising team to develop core language and assets to engage and activate donors to resource vital work in a range of countries facing increased authoritarianism and growing inequality.
Collaborating with a distributed global team, Do Good Better’s work evolved alongside organizational alignment on core values, informing a narrative strategy grounded in Stewardship — of relationships, power, and resources — to establish a Community fighting for and accelerating Collective Well-Being, taking on the villain of an Exploitative, Extractive Economy. Following a successful public launch at Skoll World Forum in April 2026, a suite of refreshed materials is rolling out to orient and engage new donors to the work unfolding in priority countries.
Collaborators: Tigist Kelkay, YolkWorks
Calvert Impact Capital: Ours To Own
Do Good Better worked with Calvert Impact Capital (then Calvert Foundation) on several initiatives over many years, including Age Strong with AARP Foundation and Capital Impact Partners, as well as focused efforts to engage small businesses.
At the time, Calvert was experimenting with ways to leverage their Community Investment Note and bring younger, smaller-dollar investors into their community, and simultaneously help people expand their thinking about what an investor looks and sounds like. One campaign came into focus as a place-based initiative, timed to launch with a new online platform welcoming investments starting at $20.
Do Good Better helped to name, launch, and iterate on a national place-based campaign, Ours To Own. Gatherings with key stakeholders (policy, philanthropy, NGOs) in Minneapolis, Denver, and Baltimore surfaced national and local narrative strategies. For example, Ours To Own Baltimore developed a narrative strategy that centered Love, Participation, and Community, taking on the challenges of under-resourced and fragile Infrastructure of all kinds.
Ours To Own launched with an announcement by Hillary Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative in June 2014. The campaign goal was $150 million across three cities; two cities exceeded their goal. Investment dollars went into affordable housing, small businesses, early childhood education, and other sectors.
Videos for Baltimore and the Twin Cities were developed with local partners to ensure community translation, resonance, and national alignment. We created a simple, high-value infographic illustrating how anyone can invest modest amounts and support access to affordable capital for small businesses and organizations in a community.