Michelle Whiting & Associates News
New Executive Placements at THINK Together
MW&A recently completed two executive searches for state-wide educational non-profit THINK Together. While many highly qualified candidates were considered for two posts, Tonia Collinske joined the team as Grants Administrator in January, and Susan Williamson (pictured) came on board in December as the Director of Development. Here’s what Susan says about her experience in the process: What a pleasure to work with Michelle Whiting, a master match-maker, to land my dream job! Michelle is disarming, engaging and a leading expert in the national nonprofit arena and working with her through this process was a fantastic growth experience for me. I am truly honored to join the amazing THINKers, carefully assembled by founder, CEO and visionary Randy Barth and Orange County fundraising legend and maverick, CDO, Tim Shaw. I’m already deeply engaged creating and implementing a statewide individual giving and event...
read moreCommon Threads Expands National Scope & Programs
Chicago-born Common Threads launched just over a decade ago as the brainchild of celebrity chef Art Smith. He wanted to teach low-income kids how to cook and eat nutritiously. He’s done a delicious job of it, and the successes mean a continuous expansion of the work. Here’s how they’ve done it. Under the guidance of Founding CEO, Linda Novick O’Keefe, Common Threads began growing impressively in Chicago, with solid partnerships between the city’s public schools and local chefs. Since 2007, MW&A has provided organizational development and foundation relations and grants development consulting to Common Threads, resulting in over $500,000 in new funders throughout the country. Most recently, a generous $1 million grant from WalMart Foundation has taken the program from 28 schools to now over 120 schools. The majority of these schools and program partners sites are in Chicago, but other Common Threads programs have been growing in four additional locales: Miami, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and Palo Alto. MW&A committed to leveraging relationships in every major US city where Common Threads is growing. Novick O’Keefe says Common Threads’ five-year plan includes strategies to extend the reach of the message and mission beyond the classroom. “With a goal to get 1 million kids cooking, we are ready to take the program into more schools, summer programs, and even into homes, with webcasts that show families how-to.” Making a strategic shift to a national scope is ambitious and the challenges are very real. We’re pleased to be a part of scaling these programs, honoring what matters most in each city where Common Threads is growing, and making authentic connections with local people and concerns to get kids cooking. In February of 2014, MW&A hosted CEO Linda Novick O’Keefe in Los Angeles for meetings with THINK Together, The Creative Artists Agency (CAA) Foundation and the Milken...
read moreMW&A 20th Anniversary! 1994-2004
An interview with one of MW&A’s first clients in 1994, Lynne Tsuda, Director of Institutional Giving at Girls Incorporated National. “When I was starting with Girls Inc., we crossed paths and just immediately clicked. Michelle is strategic minded, realistic and relationship oriented. She develops and cultivates relationships way beyond the traditional dynamics.” “Michelle is astute and zeros in on exactly what is needed. She simply has a great mind and is not driven by current trends, or how organizations feel they need to react to what the funders want. She assesses the client needs, works on that, and they are always grateful to her.” “Girls Inc. has been shaped with Michelle Whiting’s help in many ways. She was very influential in helping us grow, using her network of connections in Los Angeles when it was time to expand. Because of Michelle, we were welcomed there as a new organization, even in a crowded landscape. And when it was time to build our board, she knew how to do that, too.” “It always amazes me to see the relationships Michelle has kept. She likes linking clients and funders and figuring out how to maximize resources. I think for all of these reasons, Michelle has been well connected with the most cutting edge funders like, Orange County Community Foundation from the start, and there is on-going respect for her...
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