Explore our case studies below
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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.
Unlocking Growth: How Innovative Finance Can Fuel Ukraine's Small Farms
Smallholder farmers in Ukraine held massive potential, but their growth was stifled by limited access to innovative financing. To address this, Chemonics Ukraine sought WhiteLabel's expertise. We delved into global best practices in Innovative Agriculture Financing, conducting extensive research, interviews, and case study analysis. Our findings were distilled into a comprehensive primer, providing critical insights for tailored funding strategies designed specifically for lesser developed economies, equipping Chemonics with a strategic resource to identify and implement practical funding solutions. The impact: A USAID Head of Economic Growth, with over two decades of experience, lauded the primer as one of the best they'd encountered and how “strategic research and knowledge sharing can unlock growth and transformation for communities in need.”
Pre-Adapting a Global Industry to Disruptive Change to Bolster its Commitments to Safety
Responsible Care is the chemical industry's global voluntary initiative since 1985 under which companies, through their national associations, work together to continuously improve their health, safety, and environmental performance and communicate with stakeholders about their manufacture and supply of safe and affordable goods that bring real benefits to society. Twenty-five years after it was created, the framework of commitments needed a fundamental refresh to reflect social, economic, technology, and other trends that have reshaped the world. A WhiteLabel partner was brought in to lead research on the major drivers of change affecting the industry and work with leaders in signatory companies to develop ideas for new investments and other commitments that would enable the industry to continue improving its environmental protection, occupational safety and health, plant safety, product stewardship, and logistics performance in light of these change forces. The result was a proposed new vision, mandate, and standards for what one executive dubbed a “Responsible Care 2.0” fit for the future.
Creating the Future Leadership of a Federal Agency with a Critical Mission
The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) was facing a crisis. This U.S. Federal government agency provides women and men who have served in the armed forces with benefits including education (the G.I. Bill), disability compensation, life insurance, employment training, home loans, pensions, and more. And it was projected to lose upwards of 50% of its workforce, including more than 60% of its top leadership, over the next ten years to retirement or other causes. A WhiteLabel partner led a team to design and implement a succession planning system from scratch. In a six-month effort, we developed profiles of what background and experience should be for optimal candidates for every top leadership position in the agency, mapped those profiles to the then-current mid-level staff, and outlined career progression pathways for those staff members to grow into the VBA leadership cadre of the future. The head of the agency noted after project completion that the new system had reduced the risks of gaps in hundreds of top roles and reduced the costs associated with loss of high-potential employees.
Scenarios of Transformation for a Public Sector Environmental Organization
The Institute for Water Resources (IWR) is a US government agency dedicated to anticipating and analyzing changing water resources management conditions. As the impacts of climate change accelerated, the organization needed to reimagine its long-term future identity as one responsible for addressing complexly interrelated economic, social, institutional, and environmental needs in water resources planning and policy. One of WhiteLabel’s partners was engaged to design and facilitate a series of strategic dialogues built around alternative scenarios of IWR’s future. We facilitated IWR senior leaders and executives from key stakeholder groups through identifying essential choices with respect to anticipated challenges and opportunities. The outcome was a framework of actions (changes to staff composition, new partnerships, innovative new funding models, and more) to transition IWR to a future role that could deliver new forms of value to stakeholders across the range of scenarios.
Looking in Unexpected Places for New Ways to Innovate in the Food Industry
Heinz Foods (now part of KraftHeinz) saw both opportunity and challenge in the tremendous change it observed in its industry due to increasing regulatory standards, new labeling requirements, shifting consumer demographics and preferences, the emergence of nutraceuticals and functional foods, liability litigation risk stemming from the growing obesity epidemic, the vulnerability of the food supply chain to bioterrorism, and more. They wanted a process for looking outside the food industry for technologies they could adapt to capitalize on trends affecting their industry in ways their peers were not considering. A WhiteLabel partner was brought in to conduct a “technology migration assessment” identifying innovations extant or being developed in non-food industries that could be leveraged by Heinz. After extensive research, we developed a strategy for the company to incorporate “other people’s technologies” into its R&D and product development to increase growth in core product lines, improve quality and margins, and move into emerging markets. Among the results: new profit-generating partnerships with non-food companies and new product innovations in ingredients, packaging, food preservation, and testing.
Work Reimagined for a Philanthropic Organization’s Team to Sustain Their Pace as They Serve Communities in Need
The California Wellness Foundation (Cal Wellness) was struggling with an unsustainable workload. The situation was hindering the mission of protecting and improving the health and wellness of the people of California, as employees on the verge of burnout were at increasing risk of becoming less efficient, taking longer to complete work, struggling in making decisions, even potentially leaving in search of a more sustainable opportunity. A WhiteLabel partner was brought in to co-lead an effort to transform the working environment for staff and leadership. We developed a set of initiatives to create change under a three-part framework of Behaviors, Processes, and Environment and then worked side-by-side with staff members to implement the initiatives, moving forward in ways that ensured the change effort did not itself add to the unsustainable workload. One initiative was a staff-led reimagining of the Cal Wellness “return to office” hybrid work model that combined activities to name and change the root causes of workload overwhelm in the organization with activities to build team culture. At the end of the engagement leaders and staff recognized an increased employee engagement from new norms and processes in place that enabled a healthier work experience.
Economic Development Non-Profit: Aligning a Team Around Hallmarks of Organizational Effectiveness
The Washington DC Economic Partnership (WDCEP) is a non-profit public-private organization that drives inclusive economic growth and job creation, supports business, and promotes Washington, DC as a leading global city. The organization was struggling to perform its mission effectively but didn’t know why. A WhiteLabel partner was brought in to co-lead an organizational assessment. Employing a five-dimension framework – Clarity of Vision, Honesty and Trust, Healthy Work Experience, Structure for Sustained Growth, and Defined Accountability – we found the core issues in the latter two areas. To address them, we revised the roles and responsibilities for every position in the organization to clarify and codify the resources, and especially the decision authorities, that staff members needed to perform roles critical to WDCEP’s success. We also implemented a set of project management process improvements. The result: the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (WDCEP’s primary sponsor) found the organization measurably better at executing deliverables and serving the client base for the set of priorities established in the first year after our engagement.
Empowering Global Enterprise: Structuring a Financial Facility for Women Entrepreneurs
The Goldman Sachs Foundation's 10,000 Women Initiative needed a financial structure that would allow it to eventually recoup its investment in women entrepreneurs. Traditional financial returns were not a priority. A WhiteLabel partner proposed a then-novel "catalytic capital facility" using a layered investment structure. This structure placed the Goldman Sachs Foundation in the "first-loss" position, meaning they'd absorb initial losses, effectively subsidizing other investors with lower risk tolerances. The model allowed the Foundation to provide crucial funding for women entrepreneurs with the potential to recoup its investment while creating a compelling return stream to “crowd-in” more commercial investors. The success of this facility has become a benchmark within the world of innovative finance.
From Family Offices to Subscription Models: Launching, Commercializing and Managing Venture Investment Funds
Over our 30-years in the financial markets, WhiteLabel has had the opportunity to launch, transform, manage, and commercialize venture capital operations at about a dozen family offices, hedge funds and corporations. Indeed, WhiteLabel’s initial co-founders met while running investment operations for RoseTech Ventures during the halcyon days of “Silicon Alley.” Over five years, they evaluated thousands of investment opportunities, made 15 investments, sat on the Boards of more than a dozen companies, and helped portfolio companies raise more than $50 million in follow-on investment. The portfolio had multiple successful exits including one 30X return. A WhiteLabel partner was also part of the successful launch of Alumni Ventures Group’s Columbia-focused fund, developing the investment strategy, raising capital, vetting hundreds of investments, and, investing in, to date, two unicorns. Other clients have included setting up venture arms for a MedTech firm, and an extremely large hedge fund focused on global investments.
Innovating Around Finance: Propelling Entrepreneurship in the Eastern Caribbean
After decades of economic underperformance and high unemployment, the World Bank wanted to launch a program aimed at improving access to finance for women and youth entrepreneurs in the Eastern Caribbean. Looking to understand the nexus between the area’s entrepreneurs, what was regulatorily possible, the amount of capital this small market could absorb, and what would engage, and excite potential partners in the initiative, it turned to a WhiteLabel partner. On the ground, WhiteLabel met with women and youth entrepreneurs, executives from banks, Central Bank governors and finance ministers, and a cadre of foundations and impact investors coming up with a list of pain points, which informed the structuring of an initiative to address, and alleviate, the issues. They then worked with the Bank on implementation: structuring the initiative, including a financial facility and educational program aimed at informing, and elevating the entrepreneurs; developing a primer on best practices related to the chosen financial structure; creating materials for outreach, and leading a roadshow around the project. The result: an initiative launched with participation from several leading foundations, including a $50 million financial facility and an operational support program for entrepreneurs.
From Funding Crisis to Future-Proof: Using Finance as a Strategic Lens
An inclusive and sustainable development-focused global NGO faced a funding crisis: Two of its key donors changed course, leaving the firm with a fiscal gap. WhiteLabel stepped in, embedding financial expertise into the heart of strategic planning. Over a year, WhiteLabel acted as their CFO and thought partner to the organization’s Executive Director, using finance as a lens to identify areas for streamlining the organization's size and scope. This analysis helped focus efforts on the most impactful programs for the NGO and its stakeholders and right-size the organization to address its new funding reality. WhiteLabel guided the creation of a roadmap for financial recovery, alongside traditional CFO duties such as managing budgets, refining systems, and aiding ISLP's hiring of new accounting staff, saving the firm much-needed capital. This multi-faceted approach led to the NGO’s transformation, ensuring the 20+ year old organization could continue its vital work.