Explore our case studies below
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ESG Finance Takes Root: Founding COO Drives 8x Growth for UN-backed Initiative
The United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) was just finding its feet. The nascent initiative lacked an operational foundation, a sustainable business model and a team to carry out its vital mission. A WhiteLabel partner was brought in as COO. Developing a scalable operational framework, a long-term strategic roadmap and a compelling go-to-market and global outreach campaign, which defined the value proposition around ESG and how the initiative was well-positioned to promote it, they were able to attract and engage potential members. The partner also identified and executed a transition to the initiative’s business model: moving it from voluntary donations to membership fees. Under his leadership, the firm tripled its membership, increased its revenues sevenfold and expanded staff by 12-fold. The UN PRI is one of the most powerful forces promoting responsible finance and ESG.
Grant Winners become Growth Engines: Helping Nonprofits Manage a New Paradigm
Three non-profit organizations faced a sudden influx of over $60 million in federal grants. While this is the kind of high-quality problem most organizations dream of having, it was anticipated that there might be operational challenges in managing these grants. The organizations turned to WhiteLabel to run an Operational Diagnostic. Over a three-month period, WhiteLabel investigated the firms to find strength and weaknesses in human capital, processes, and systems, interviewing stakeholders, combing through financial documents, and benchmarking the firms against best practices. Presented to the executive directors and boards, the diagnostics highlighted issues, and detailed remediations, necessary to effectively manage growth and the grants. For the largest grant winner, WhiteLabel stayed on to help the firm implement outlined recommendations, coach senior executives, and help redesign the finance department, which was already struggling trying to manage an organization that had more than a half-dozen non-profit and for-profit entities, and help and select an enterprise-wide risk management system. An added bonus: WhiteLabel was able to pay for itself by negotiating highly favorable terms on the ERP system.
From Standards to Success: Driving Program Growth for Impact Network
The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), the convening body for impact investing, was growing quickly. It needed to expand its membership base and fortify its operational capacity. Additionally, it aimed to become less reliant on grants by diversifying its funding model. A WhiteLabel partner stepped in to take charge of GIIN's membership programs. They supported staff in expanding programming and driving global membership growth. Further, the partner played a pivotal role in organizing GIIN's first global conference for impact investors. They also spearheaded a biannual update of the IRIS impact measurement standards. These efforts bolstered the GIIN's position, expanding its membership base and programs, thus diversifying its revenue streams, with non-grant resources delivering a third of the annual organizational budget.
Reimaging Relevance: Turning the Tide at a Trade Association
Things were looking grim at a trade association focused on issues around housing. Despite a 25-year history, the firm was entering a classic doom-loop, with revenues dwindling, warring factions, staff exits, and a faltering brand. To stabilize and grow, the firm needed to reimagine itself. At the behest of the Board, a WhiteLabel partner joined in a senior leadership role. During their tenure, they led initiatives to develop strategic plans, rebranding and, most importantly, developing a research function that would define the issues, and support its core outreach function. As part of their work, they redesigned the firm’s key revenue-producing research product, and the process of putting it together, integrating greater member feedback and expanding the scope, but narrowing the focus, of the organization’s work. They also worked in member recruitment, and in advocacy, developing campaigns, and working with legislators to enact significant reforms. During their tenure, the firm significantly increased revenues, membership, and efficacy.
Using Art to Initiate Activism: Combatting the Climate Crisis
We all – well, most of us – know that the climate crisis is real. A WhiteLabel co-conspirator is turning science into art, creating data visualizations, that make it tangible, and undeniable. That art has come to the aid of science: for the past five years, the WhiteLabel co-conspirator has been working with the International Arctic Buoy Programme, deploying instruments that provide vital weather and climate impact data for the Arctic Ocean and tagging 50 icebergs along the coast of Greenland to improve predictive modeling. Their custom-designed sensors have contributed over 22,000 lines of data to the primary weather and climate repository for the Arctic Ocean. They also participated with Public Sediment, a team of landscape architects, designers, civil and coastal engineers, on a project funded by the Rockefeller Foundation to transform river sediment, usually a source of environmental degradation, into a solution for sea-level rise adaptation in the San Francisco Bay area. The team collaborated with local government agencies and public stakeholders to connect Alameda Creek with the San Francisco Baylands, providing a sustainable supply of sediment to Baylands for sea-level rise adaptation, reconnecting migratory fish with their historic spawning grounds, and introducing a network of community spaces to reclaim the creek as a place for people.