The Cause Collaborative

Contributing to Culture

Often there is nothing more critical to a positive work experience than the compatibility between an employee's and the company's values. At The Cause Collaborative, graphic reminders of the agency values greeted you on the walls. Each quarter, a vision meeting was held with the team to discuss the company culture, communication styles, and opportunities for improvement.

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While our agency was grounded in community-based work, I noticed that we did not have a formal employee volunteer program. So after a pitch to the boss, test run with a personal service opportunity, and some social media storytelling, Cause Collaborative Community Days was written into the employee handbook.
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This purpose-driven PTO supported employees' passions outside of work, allowed team members to serve in other communities around the world, and expanded the storytelling opportunities for The Cause Collaborative beyond client projects to include the character of its people.
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At The Cause Collaborative, I quickly became more involved in culture-building, operations, new business development, and company structuring through great transparency and trust with the founder and senior staff. Check out my full #CommunityDay Instagram Highlight.

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Shining A Spotlight on Our Story

When I wasn't pitching the next nonprofit fundraiser, community event, or local take on a national conversation to media outlets across the region for our clients, I had the opportunity to turn the spotlight on the agency through PR features, interviews, and awards.
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In the fall of 2018, ahead of the agency's annual client and community appreciation event, I pitched the story of Cause Collab's beginnings and growth led by Rebecca Delaney Johnson to the Rochester Business Journal (RBJ). This pitch landed a two-page spread as the featured profile in the October 12, 2018 print and e-edition. Readership and shares of the article across Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram saw exponentially increased social engagement with our audiences and inspired over a dozen prospective client inquiries and leads. Read the full piece online (with subscription) or download the article here.

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"We're not about an organization saying, 'Here's our marketing budget, spend it.' It's boots on the ground, it's building external partnerships, it's getting to know the client, and then spending minimal budgets to make a difference." - Rebecca Delaney Johnson

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To kick off the new year, The Cause Collaborative was invited to speak on women's leadership and more on ROC Image Radio show, broadcasting every Tuesday at noon on WAYO 104.3. Becca and I teamed up for the interview, joining several other self-made business women in the areas of sales, finance, education, and marketing for an engaging conversation and sharing of perspectives and resources.
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Inspired by the number of nonprofits and organizations that The Cause Collaborative has impacted over the years under Becca's leadership, I nominated her for the RBJ's 2019 Forty Under 40 award - recognizing men and women under the age of 40 for their professional success and significant contributions to the community. After completing the application, writing a compelling nomination letter, and collecting reference letters from our community partners and clients, Becca was selected as an award winner. She represented her leadership, impact, and The Cause Collaborative at the ceremony in November 2019.

Creating Client Portals

In 2019, a shift in the agency structure opened up an opportunity for me to build a new role at The Cause Collaborative. As the Engagement Manager, I sought to improve internal processes, communication systems, and agency workflow analysis.

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To sharpen up the client onboarding, updating, and offboarding process, I envisioned a one-stop dashboard accessible to clients that would host important contract details, milestone updates, reports, invoices, and final collateral files. A few internet searches, demos, and price negotiations led to the conclusion that we could use our own website to create secure, password-protected portals - at no additional cost to the agency.

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By February 2019, I began building and rolling out client portals for larger, long-term partnerships, including client training on logging in, navigation, and use. Early and continuing feedback on the dashboards have been positive, citing the ability to hop on and see the latest goals met or the ability to download final creative files without searching through past emails.