The office of Downtown Revitalization and Transit-Oriented Development at the Suffolk County Department of Economic Development and Planning (SCEDP) promotes the development, growth, and retention of industry clusters that facilitate job opportunities, private capital investment, and tourism. To support the County’s efforts to retain and attract highly-skilled workers and young professionals, SCEDP works with municipalities to run technical and financing programs to promote transit-oriented development (TOD) around Long Island Railroad stations. The Capstone team worked with SCEDP to develop a plan for a Suffolk County TOD Index, an analytical tool to assess the location-based potential for TOD development and compare TOD suitability across locations. To develop the index, the team identified the key drivers of TOD success in Suffolk County by analyzing large amounts of public data and existing TODs through site visits, desktop research, and stakeholder interviews. Based on index-indicated TOD readiness, the team conducted several site-level analyses and provided high-level recommendations for future TODs.

New York City implemented an open enrollment policy for high school admissions in 2004, allowing schools to set their own admissions policies and students to apply to schools outside their geographic zone—leading to an increase in admissions screenings based on factors such as student attendance and past academic performance. The Capstone team explored the impact of this policy on public school fundraising, hypothesizing that families seek out “opportunity hoarding” within screened schools. The team examined fundraising by school-supporting organizations as one measure of opportunity hoarding, constructed an original dataset linking publicly available tax records to school-level data to identify the change in per-pupil fundraising by school, and conducted a difference-in-difference analysis comparing the NYC school system to zoned districts within Long Island’s Nassau County. While the team found that overall fundraising increased after the 2004 policy change, the small sample of available data limits the statistical significance of the findings. The final report presents a model for linking fundraising data to individual schools and suggestions for improving data availability.

Queens Public Library (QPL) is one of the largest public libraries in the country, providing over 8,000 programs and circulating over twelve million items per year to serve Queens’ two million residents. However, QPL lacks a diverse funding stream as most of its budget comes from New York City government funding. In an effort to expand upon its programs and services and improve its financial security, QPL enlisted a Capstone team to provide critical recommendations for increasing corporate fundraising efforts. The team conducted a literature review, expert interviews, an environmental scan, and case study profiles. Based on its research, the team developed a final report providing the client with the necessary tools to implement a successful corporate partnership strategy.

Established in 2014, RIP Medical Debt has eradicated over $5.6 billion in medical debt to date, providing financial and mental relief for over three million people. Despite significant legislative changes like the Affordable Care Act, the national medical debt crisis persists, often destroying the financial stability of America’s most vulnerable communities: the sick, the elderly, and the poor. RIP Medical Debt engaged a Capstone team to provide a comprehensive overview of the medical debt crisis, including extensive research to determine the scope of the crisis, how medical debt is created, why it persists, and who is most impacted. The team conducted a landscape analysis, interviewed key stakeholders, and surveyed existing efforts to decrease medical debt. The final report includes the team’s analysis of the current state of medical debt as well as specific recommendations to guide RIP Medical Debt’s emerging public policy agenda.

Global Dialogue is an independent, international platform for philanthropic partnership, enabling funders to work together to advance human rights and social change within countries in the European Union (EU). Fiscal host organizations offer incubation and operational support for grants and small funders. Global Dialogue engaged a Capstone team to help determine its strategic direction as a UK-based fiscal host following Brexit. The team was tasked with evaluating the potential costs and benefits of partnering with an EU entity, establishing its own operation in an EU jurisdiction, or maintaining its current status. Using information obtained from desktop research and stakeholder interviews, the team prepared a final report outlining strategic options for Global Dialogue in the context of broader trends within the philanthropy and fiscal host sector.

The Hunger Project (THP) is a nonprofit organization committed to ending hunger and poverty by pioneering sustainable, grassroots, women-centered strategies and advocating for their adoption worldwide. THP enlisted a team to examine barriers to successful fundraising in select countries in Africa. The team investigated global funding trends, interviewed THP country directors and fundraising teams, and analyzed the organization’s grant database. Based on its findings, the team recommended fundraising strategies for THP to adopt, including an emphasis on local fundraising opportunities, and designed strategies to improve communication among country offices, build technical capacity at the local level, and increase access to regional and local funding.

Sing for Hope is a nonprofit organization dedicated to harnessing the performing arts to transform lives. Each year, the Pianos Festival acts as a throughline for their programming in public spaces, schools, and hospitals, placing artist-designed pianos throughout NYC’s parks and public spaces for anyone and everyone to play. The Capstone team was tasked with helping the organization become more financially resilient by diversifying its revenue streams and decreasing its dependency on conventional fundraising methods. The team focused on leveraging the signature pianos program as an emblem of Sing for Hope’s organizational identity and visibility. They conducted a competitive landscape analysis as a means of distilling the organization’s unique value proposition among peer nonprofits to influence Sing for Hope’s communications with external stakeholders. Additionally, the team evaluated existing fee-for-service models and identified revenue-maximizing strategies. The project culminated in a final presentation and report summarizing the team’s insights and recommendations for a financial path forward.