Lifting an NGO's Profile

“Take One brings a lot to the table, from strong writing to the hours they invested in understanding what we do, how we do it, and why our work matters. They are great storytellers with impressive expertise in the complicated and competitive landscape of nonprofit fundraising.”

—Kathleen James, Director of Communications, The BOMA Project

Client: The BOMA Project

Goal
A small, founder-driven nonprofit with an innovative and successful track record of economic development in northern Kenya, The BOMA Project wants to scale up. But potential funders operate within a complex matrix of competing approaches to poverty alleviation. BOMA’s staff and board needed compelling approaches and tools to convince donors that BOMA’s efforts are necessary, effective, and worth expanding.

Creative solution
Take One worked with BOMA to develop a clear message strategy, identifying the organization’s strongest points of distinction and best-foot-forward arguments. These included the powerful experiences of founder Kathleen Colson and operations director Kura Omar, which we showcased in the final materials. They also included BOMA’s high rates of success and unusual focus on local leadership. Working from the United States, we interviewed staff in the U.S. and Kenya extensively, seeking authentic stories and characters that would make BOMA’s work real and meaningful to U.S. funders, and married these to existing imagery in BOMA’s files.

The media kit is segmented into mix-and-match individual sheets that may be combined or stand alone. Individually and as a whole, the media kit elements offer a consistent, authentic story of human empowerment and success. Similarly, the live presentation, built in PowerPoint, is constructed around stories, with a careful emphasis on showing BOMA’s success rather than presenting Africans as victims. The presentation is modular and designed for a tag-team approach by Kathleen and Kura, playing to the strengths of each.