BOOST
A new way to support nonprofit communications and storytelling work
Nonprofits consistently do more with less and by necessity focus most of their attention on program development, fundraising and operations. Communications are often left languishing on the list of priorities after those, yet hold tremendous potential for impact.
In partnership with the Quimby Family Foundation, BOOST was developed by Adam Burk + Co and Craft as a response to this reality. During this four month program we act as a bolt-on agency, helping lean nonprofit teams identify ways to streamline, coordinate and amplify their communication efforts in service of their mission.
We are provocateurs, thoughtful listeners and champions of each organization and the individuals who make it run. We approach this work as true partners, offering an outside perspective and merging our collective experience to support a strategic review of both the stories that are being told and the way communications work gets done.
BOOST is available to Quimby Family Foundation grantees at the discretion of the Foundation.
BOOST requires up to 20 hours of a participating organization's time over the course of the four month program. If interested, please email info@quimbyfamilyfoundation.org
The Work of BOOST is Guided by 4 Core Principles
Immersive
We embed ourselves in the culture of each organization.
Interdisciplinary
We involve key stakeholders from leadership, development, program, and communications teams.
Co-created
We leverage the deep organizational and operating landscape knowledge of the nonprofit partners’ teams, developing content and strategies in collaboration.
Bold
We encourage each organization to lean into what makes them unique, and hold up a mirror to any discord or incongruence we hear so that it can be looked at together.
The Impact
The BOOST process facilitates vital conversations that allow teams to see their communications work holistically and share the deep motivations they each have to move the organization’s mission forward. Each organization leaves the BOOST process with a summary of our findings and prioritized recommendations to level up their communications efforts.
This report creates an opportunity for each organization to move forward with a communications strategy confident that they are making strategic use of any investments of time and money. We give a range of execution costs to move forward recommendations for their planning and recommend creative professionals on areas of interest. They also receive a suite of updated messaging content: Why, Mission, Vision, Values and Beliefs.
Key outcomes we have seen across participants merge the value of the process itself with its tangible results.
Creating a space for true organizational sharing, listening and resolution of areas of disconnect;
Building cohesion including a shared vision and shared language to talk about that vision;
Outside acknowledgement of the often unsung efforts of those on the communications front-lines;
Freedom to cut activities that may not be serving the mission to make room for those that do; and
A ready made stock of language to pull from for grant applications and other funding outreach.
FEATURED BOOST GRANTEE
Teens to Trails
Teens to Trails was established in 2006 to help make the outdoors accessible to teenagers in Maine in honor of Sara Leone, who died too soon in an accident at age 15. The Leone family had always prioritized being outside together, and they wanted to make sure more people had the chance to do so in Sara’s memory. The organization was transitioning leadership from the founder, Sara’s mother, Carol, to a new executive director. Founder transitions are tender, and all the more so when the organization is the living legacy of a loved one.
The staff, board, and volunteers of Teens to Trails were full of passion and strong evidence for the benefits of being outdoors. We found that this was being muted by outward-facing language that lacked emotion. We also heard that the people in the organization saw a mission that was more than just creating outing clubs, but so much of the messaging was tied up in them. Outing clubs weren’t the reason the organization existed, they are one way of the many ways it accomplishes its mission.
The organization had always gotten a lot done with little resources, and this meant an outdated logo that was part of a confusing brand, as the logo was T3, which was often used synonymously for Teens to Trails.
Our recommendations started with updating their core brand messaging, making a decision on the organization’s name and refreshing the tagline so that the bigger purpose of the organization could shine through. We worked with them to develop new, values based messaging and a new tagline. Soon after this messaging was completed, Teens to Trails went through a leadership transition. The new executive director found it clarifying and exciting to have this new messaging in hand on day one. She then brought the messaging to Toderico Creative to create a new visual brand identity. With these assets in hand they took off, updating their communications across channels - website, social media, newsletter - all grounded in a refined strategy.
We also planted a seed that there may be an advocacy role for them to lean into championing the value of outdoor time for healthy people of all ages, and specifically teens. We have been thrilled to see the way they have really leaned into this idea and made it their own.
“My greatest asset when starting as the Executive Director of Teens to Trails was our BOOST report and strategic messaging statements. I could not have asked for a better tool [than these] to get me started. The BOOST report became our backbone; the recommendations launched an important rebranding effort, and the messaging wove through my communications to donors, the media and our program participants.”
— Alicia Heyburn, Executive Director
Messaging Refresh
Former Mission
Teens To Trails is dedicated to increasing the opportunities for teens to experience the outdoors through our systematic creation of and support for high school Outing Clubs.
New Mission and Vision
MISSION: To connect high school students to life-changing outdoor experiences.
VISION: All teens have the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors, together.
Logo Refresh
Former Logo
New Logo
FEATURED BOOST GRANTEE
Hills to Sea
Hills to Sea Trail is a 47-mile continuous trail winding through Waldo County from Unity to Belfast, Maine. It is run by a passionate and soulful group of volunteers and one part-time Coordinator. In our conversations, we heard deep connection to the power of slowing down in nature, yet little of this was reflected in their outward facing communications. They also had some simple inconsistencies that we recommended cleaning up to enhance brand recognition, along with a name change from The Waldo County Trails Coalition to the Hills to Sea Trail. We recommended in general centering the end user more as they were creating communications tools.
They took these recommendations into action and we worked together to update messaging and brought in India Menninghaus as a design partner to update their visual tools. We explored a new identity that centered on the trail experience, but landed on keeping the original logo with minor changes for brand recognition. The poster was updated to keep that trail experience front and center, and the brochure was updated to enhance usability not only as an info piece about the organization but to navigate the trail. They were able to secure additional funding to support these initiatives and launched a new website. The website created a home for their interpretative trail initiative.
“I enjoyed working with Adam and Leah. They are both personable and good at what they do. They took the time to get to know us and our flavor, and made pertinent and valuable recommendations for our organization.”
— Buck O'Herin
Messaging Refresh
Former Mission
Connecting Waldo County communities through trails to celebrate our heritage of natural and working landscapes.
New Mission and Vision
MISSION: To create and maintain trails in Waldo County where we can slow down and experience our place in nature.
VISION: A world that is more peaceful, appreciative, and connected to nature.
Poster Refresh
Former Design
New Design
We begin by getting to know each other. We walk through the Boost process with the organization lead(s), begin to get to know the organization, their stakeholders, and gather communication, marketing, and development assets. We then immerse ourselves in the work and mission of the organization, through a working session, interviews and a community survey.
Building off this foundational knowledge, we review interviews, surveys, and communication and marketing materials to synthesize findings and recommendations for areas of development, growth, and expansion. We deliver these findings and recommendations in a report that we collaboratively review with each organization.
In the final Boost phase, we lead a deep dive into creating or refining foundational values-based messaging components for the organization (Why, Mission, Vision, Values, Beliefs), or complementary messaging tools in line with foundational recommendations from Boost report findings as capacity allows. This final step was added after the pilot, based on the experience that this work was needed or could benefit all organizations we had worked with, and to help advance the recommendations from the BOOST report.
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Adam works on the edges of many fields and specialties – storytelling, economic and community development, education, philanthropy, and more. With a knack for managing complex projects and for keeping information flowing, they help groups take action with clarity and confidence.
Adam has run a small non-profit, led new initiatives inside larger non-profits, consulted for Fortune 100 companies, mentored entrepreneurs and young leaders, and served on the Portland Board of Public Education. They proudly produced TEDxDirigo for ten years with a dream team of co-conspirators. Adam founded Adam Burk + Co in 2015 as a collaboration model to use everyone's collective skills to create more joy, justice, and hope in the world.
Clients over the years include: Island Institute, Natural Resources Council of Maine, The Nature Conservancy, Quimby Family Foundation, Gould Academy, Mount Desert Island Schools, University of Southern Maine, Thomas College, Liberty Mutual, L.L.Bean, and The VIA Agency.
Currently, they work with Intentional Philanthropy which provides strategic research and planning, foundation management, grant program development, and family engagement services to independent and family foundations. Through Intentional Philanthropy, Adam is the Senior Program Director at the Peter Alfond Foundation.
In addition to being a lifelong learner with an emphasis on learning by doing, Adam has earned a B.A. in psychology, B.A. in history, a M.A. in education, a permaculture design certificate, and is a Registered Maine Guide. They live in Portland, Maine, the homeland of the Aucocisco, as well as tribes of the Wabanaki and Abenaki, with their family, who are all happiest when playing outside.
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Leah is a communications consultant and coach with a focus on value-driven communication and social impact. Raised in a family of entrepreneurs and artists on the coast of Maine, she brings a love for the intersection of creativity and commerce to all of her work.
As the founder of Craft, a boutique communications practice launched in 2009, she works with businesses, organizations and entrepreneurs to amplify their impact through a marketing and communications lens. Her work centers on messaging and brand voice as well as communications strategy and process development.
Leah holds a BS (Honors) from Babson College in Business Management and leverages the discipline of Entrepreneurial Thought & Action® in her approach and outlook. She is a founding member of the Camden International Film Festival where she also served on the Board of Directors and as the Vice Chair, and served for 5 years on the Board of Directors for the Restorative Justice Institute of Maine. She has appeared on Greenlight Maine as a judge and mentor, served as an Entrepreneur in Residence at the Women’s Business Center at CEI, and has created content for DownEast Magazine, Maine Women’s Magazine, NPR’s Marketplace, and Documentary Magazine.
Having returned to Maine after 8 years living and working in NYC, Leah swears by year-round outdoor adventures and believes strongly in the power of media to effect positive change. She lives in Cumberland, Maine, the homeland of the Wabanaki and Abenaki, with her partner and two stepchildren who remind her to stay awake to the beauty of life unfolding around and through us.
2019
Hills to Sea Trail - Pilot
Maine School Garden Network - Pilot
Teens to Trails - Pilot
2020
2021
2022
2023