Group Created with Sketch. MENU Group 3 Created with Sketch. CLOSE

I’d love to help you find your voice, craft your strategies, and protect your good name.

Let's Talk.

Shaun@AdamecCommunications.com 617-888-2213

Get Updates

  • Case Studies/
  • Changing the Narrative through Prize Philanthropy
The Henry P. Kendall Foundation

Changing the Narrative through Prize Philanthropy

The Henry P. Kendall Foundation is a regional philanthropic organization focused on building a healthier and more sustainable food system in New England. After five years of food system-focused investments, the Foundation wanted to report to its Board on their progress. This began a long-standing relationship with Adamec Communications and a dramatic shift in its grantmaking strategy.
What We Did

Grant Strategy
Strategic Positioning

Challenge

Five years into its current philanthropic focus, the Henry P. Kendall Foundation sought guidance from its Board on where to go next. They knew that small, programmatic grants would not ultimately amount to the kind of regional movement they knew was necessary to turn the tides on the local food system. So they turned to Adamec Communications for support.

Solution

Adamec Communications asked the tough but necessary questions that guided the organization and its Board towards its current strategy. What quantitative results can we point to from the last five years? What stories can we share that illustrate those results? What pieces are missing from the game-changing improvements we seek? In the end, the Board relied on the entrepreneurial instincts the Foundation was founded on – identify the leverage points in the market and press on them until you achieve the balance you seek. The Foundation wanted to focus on large-scale food buyers and incentivize them into shifting more of their purchases to local food. Enter: Prize Philanthropy.

Results

Adamec Communications introduced the concept of Prize Philanthropy to the Foundation after having established similar funds and programs at other Foundations. In 2018, the New England Food Vision Prize was launched, inviting teams of college and university dining services programs to vie for up to six prizes of $250,000 each to support innovative ideas that would result in more local food on campus menus. The Foundation committed more than $6 million over five years to the Prize program. Adamec Communications conceived of the program, creates all of the communications materials, devises its promotional strategy each year, and designed and facilitates the prize selection process in coordination with Northbound Ventures, a Massachusetts-based food system consultancy.

“Part of a multi-faceted team, Shaun has played an important role in helping the Foundation successfully launch a major new program. He has brought important experience, perspective, creativity, and leadership to our work.”

Andrew Kendall

Executive Director, Henry P. Kendall Foundation