Founded in 1906, Jewelers of America (JA), is the leading and oldest nonprofit association in the American jewelry industry, connecting and serving more than 3,000 businesses in the gem and precious metal trade as well as the jewelry design and sales industries. Following a decline in membership growth in recent years, JA engaged a team to evaluate member satisfaction and recommend a strategy to increase the value and usage of member benefit offerings. The team conducted industry research, surveys, and interviews of active, former, and prospective members to understand their perceptions of the value of JA membership. Based on its research, the team developed strategic recommendations to refine benefits, revamp the member experience, and restore satisfaction and confidence in the association.

IMPACCT Brooklyn, also known as the Pratt Area Community Council, is a community development corporation that owns over 1,000 units of affordable or supportive housing. Since 1964, IMPACCT Brooklyn has advocated for Central Brooklyn residents and entrepreneurs on issues including affordable housing, tenant rights, small businesses, and homeownership. In 2015, the organization contracted out its property management services, resulting in a degree of separation between IMPACCT Brooklyn and its tenants. A team was engaged to conduct external research—on the community district, housing legislation, local and state representatives, and the 2021 NYC Mayoral race—and stakeholder interviews—of staff members, business affiliates, tenant associations, and board members. The team designed a pilot survey for IMPACCT Brooklyn to use to assess its residents’ satisfaction with their housing, awareness of their tenant rights, and wellbeing during the pandemic. The team created a final report containing a toolkit of recommendations for strengthening the organization's tenant engagement and rights advocacy efforts.

One Fair Wage (OFW) is a national coalition, campaign, and organization working to ensure that all tipped workers are guaranteed a livable minimum wage. The organization seeks to accomplish its goal through state and federal campaigns, including legislative relationship building, policy advocacy, voter engagement, and community organizing. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated preexisting wage inequality and increased the urgency for legislative change, and the new political landscape has shifted OFW’s legislative focus from the state to the federal level. OFW engaged a team to conduct research and produce political analysis on the legislative support needed to pass fair wage legislation. The team delivered three legislative reports—two providing state-level analyses and the third analyzing the behavior of US Senators from select states. The team’s final report also includes a state case study containing best practices for OFW’s use in future research efforts.

Broadway for Arts Education (BAE) is a nonprofit organization that provides arts education to underserved youth by engaging volunteers from the Broadway community. BAE strives to shape a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive community for its students and volunteers. BAE enlisted a team to develop a method for assessing the impact of its Urban Assembly program in NYC, with the objective of creating and implementing a sustainable measurement system of student-oriented key performance indicators, including racial sensitivity, confidence, program enjoyment, and teacher effectiveness. This system will allow BAE to evaluate its impact and articulate its value to prospective donors and grantmaking institutions. The team undertook a literature review, case study analysis of similar organizations, and extensive interviews with students and staff. With this research, the team helped develop performance goals and pilot a pre- and post-survey system, which it linked to a live dashboard that visualizes key results in relation to BAE’s mission.

Founded in 2010, The Children’s Arts Guild is a New York-based nonprofit organization that partners with parents, educators, and students to build supportive and creative learning spaces where children in grades K-12 can become socially engaged, emotionally intelligent, and productive citizens of the world. The organization enlisted a team to provide recommendations as its Authenticity in the Classroom program undergoes a period of strategic growth and endeavors to enter new domestic markets in 2022. The team completed case studies of potential school partnerships, conducted interviews with teachers, and attended an Authenticity in the Classroom day-long session. The team then produced a presentation and a final report that included a research tool for the client to use and recommendations on marketing and market entry and expansion.

Futures and Options is a NYC-based youth workforce development nonprofit organization that aims to empower underserved youth by providing paid internship opportunities to high school students. Since 1995, Futures and Options has worked with over 7,000 students and 500 businesses. The organization has expanded to provide additional programming that includes career essentials and college counseling. The organization partnered with a team to create a strategic plan that reduces employee turnover and equitably recruits, retains, and develops employee talent. The team conducted market research and an environmental scan on current competitors, mapped the trajectory of former employees, researched talent retention best practices, developed and implemented a survey, and conducted interviews with current employees. Using this data, the team produced a report outlining recommendations for strengthening Futures and Options’ talent pipeline by creating consistent and transparent organizational processes.

Opening Act is committed to advancing arts equity in New York City and beyond by providing free, high-quality theater programming to the city’s highest need schools. The organization works in 57 schools throughout NYC and has served over 5,000 young people over its 20 year history. Opening Act engaged a team to explore new service models and revenue streams, and identify its potential impacts on the organization. The team evaluated the adoption of a fee-for-service model and new earned income opportunities. It conducted staff and alumni interviews, school partner surveys, desktop research, and a competitive analysis. The team’s recommendations and resources include insights into fundraising trends, feedback from stakeholders, an actionable guide to the NYC Department of Education contracting process, and market research on professional development classes and online education platforms.

Make the Road New York is the largest community-based membership organization representing immigrants and working-class people of color in New York State. Through its Workplace Justice team, the organization fights for the rights of all workers by organizing for workers’ rights, providing health and safety education and support, and advocating for policy and systems change. In the context of COVID-19 and forthcoming recovery efforts, Make the Road New York enlisted a team to evaluate the impact of Amazon’s NYC expansion on local communities and the climate. Since opening its first warehouse in Staten Island three years ago, Amazon has grown and spread its operations throughout the greater New York City area. The team engaged the impacted communities, investigated the felt impact of Amazon’s growth, and developed policy recommendations to inform a forward-looking legislative campaign.

The Partnership to End Addiction provides services to families impacted by substance use and addiction through its helpline, educational resources, and toolkit of training sessions. With the help of a Capstone team, the organization sought to deliver fee-based substance use programs for parents and caregivers through schools. The team conducted a needs assessment to identify potential barriers to successful implementation and a competitor analysis of the landscape of existing substance use and prevention programs. The team worked with the client to develop strategies for financial sustainability through mixed revenue sources, program implementation, toolkit marketing, and increased accessibility. The team also provided a framework to measure program success and effectiveness.

The Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) is a national nonprofit organization focused on the workforce reentry process of individuals returning home from prison. CEO operates in 28 cities and has achieved over 34,000 total placements into full-time employment. Serving a large number of participants from marginalized communities, CEO recently established a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) program. CEO enlisted a team to research supplier diversity and the impact of employer adoption of DEI principles on participants' sense of belonging in the workplace. The team conducted a literature review on workplace DEI and the reentry process, surveyed and interviewed staff and participants, and analyzed employer diversity metrics, participant satisfaction surveys, and public data on Minority- and Women-owned Business Enterprises (MWBEs). The team’s recommendations include the development of a DEI training program, guidelines to prevent discrimination and enhance support for participants, and a supplier diversity framework for the recruitment of MWBEs and employers that embrace DEI principles and best practices.

DAYLIGHT was founded in 2013 to build intersectional racial justice across disciplines, sectors, and geographies through a range of activities, including research, advocacy, and client-specific interventions. DAYLIGHT’s founder enlisted a team to help move the organization forward into its next phase by expanding the enterprise and securing sustainable funding sources. The team outlined potential scaling options and researched and analyzed several sustainable funding pathways for DAYLIGHT’s consideration, including the pros and cons, action steps, and examples of potential partners for each pathway. The team delivered a report and companion slide deck on DAYLIGHT’s model, program offerings, and work to-date to clarify its message and offerings for potential partners and stakeholders.