Social Impact Solutions

At Social Impact Solutions, we empower organizations to understand, measure, and communicate their social impact effectively. We collaborate with a diverse range of clients, including nonprofits, impact investors, and socially-minded corporations, to develop tailored strategies that align with their mission and goals.

Key Responsibilities:

Impact Measurement & Evaluation: We designed and implemented frameworks for measuring and evaluating the social and environmental impact of various programs and initiatives.

Data Analysis: We collected and analyzed quantitative and qualitative data to identify trends, assess outcomes, and inform strategic decision-making.

Impact Reporting: We developed compelling reports and presentations that effectively communicated the impact of our clients' work to stakeholders, donors, and the public. 

Marketing & Communications: We crafted targeted messaging and communications strategies to showcase social impact and engage key audiences. This included developing ideal donor profiles, creating effective donor funnels, and implementing strategic marketing plans to drive engagement and fundraising success.

Strategic Consulting: We advised clients on best practices for impact measurement, management, and communication, helping them integrate social impact into their core operations.

Skills & Expertise:

Impact Measurement & Evaluation
Data Analysis & Visualization
Impact Reporting & Communication
Marketing & Communications
Strategic Consulting
Stakeholder Engagement
Social Impact Strategy
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Donor Funnel Development
Strategic Marketing Planning
Ideal Donor Profile Creation

Co-Founder

Keowee Labs

Keowee Labs was a StoryBrand Marketing company that empowered businesses and organizations to clarify their message and connect with their target audience. We specialized in crafting compelling narratives that drove action, helping clients achieve tangible results like increased sales, successful fundraising campaigns, and enhanced brand awareness.

Key responsibilities included:

Guiding clients through the StoryBrand 7-Part Framework to develop clear and impactful brand stories.

Crafting persuasive marketing collateral, including pitch decks, sales funnels, lead magnets, and website copy.

Developing customized marketing plans aligned with client goals and objectives.

Building strong relationships with clients, providing strategic guidance and support throughout the marketing process.

Monitoring campaign performance, analyzing data, and providing data-driven recommendations for optimization.

We worked with a diverse clientele, ranging from startups and venture capital firms to nonprofits. I'm proud of the impact we made in helping these organizations refine their messaging and achieve their marketing objectives.

Skills & Expertise:

StoryBrand Certified Guide
Marketing Strategy Development
Content Creation (Pitch Decks, Sales Funnels, Lead Magnets)
Client Relationship Management
Data Analysis and Optimization

In 2021, we decided to focus exclusively on the Impact Sector and rebranded as Social Impact Solutions.

LiveBeyond

At LiveBeyond, a community development nonprofit based in Haiti, I was a part of a team that leveraged technology to enhance the organization's impact and streamline operations. 

My primary focus was creating mobile applications to increase patient health outcomes, including:

Electronic Health Record (EHR) App: Developed a custom EHR for LiveBeyond's rural clinic, community healthcare worker program, and maternal health program, improving patient care and data management.

Inventory Management Systems: Designed and implemented inventory systems for LiveBeyond's pharmacy in Haiti and their warehouses in Nashville, TN, and Dallas, TX, ensuring efficient distribution of critical supplies.

My fundraising responsibilities included LiveBeyond's major gifts fundraising team, assisting in donor cultivation and fundraising event execution.

Key Accomplishments:
Led the development and successful launch of the EHR app, resulting in improved healthcare outcomes for thousands of monthly patients.

Streamlined inventory management processes, ensuring timely access to medications and supplies.

Skills & Expertise:
Mobile App Development (AppSheet)
Database Design & Management
Major Gifts Fundraising
Donor Cultivation & Stewardship

Program Director 

Co-Founder, Social Impact Solutions | Accelerating Fundraising + Social Impact for Nonprofits & Mission-Driven Companies

Driven by a mission to help the impact sector thrive, we started Social Impact Solutions to empower nonprofits and mission-driven companies to measure and market their social impact.
We offer strategic guidance through tailored sessions focused on social impact measurement, funder acquisition, and growth strategy. 

Our goal? To equip organizations with the tools they need to not only make a measurable difference but to communicate their impact effectively.

If you want to learn insider tips and strategies for impact measurement and growth, join The Nonprofit Post.

Go here => https://mailchi.mp/socialimpactsolutions/nonprofit-post

If you want free tips on how to measure and market your impact, take our fundraising quiz. 

Go here => https://www.fundraisingquiz.org/

We surveyed over 1,200 #nonprofit leaders. The results are shocking:

 – 78% don’t have basic #impact measurement practices
 – 80% don’t know who their ideal #funders are
 – 88% don’t have a steady stream of new #donors

If any of these numbers feel familiar… you’re not alone. Most nonprofits are struggling with the exact same challenges. And it’s costing them grants, funders, and long-term stability.

That’s why we’re hosting a free webinar, Making Your Mission Measurable: Capturing Impact Data and Stories Funders Care About Most.
 
🕛 12:00 Central 
📅 September 12

We'll show you how to measure what matters—and finally capture the funding your mission deserves. 

👉 [Link in comments]

See you there!

#nonprofitleadership #socialimpact #fundraising #ImpactMeasurement

John Mark Vanderpool

Co-Founder | Social Impact Solutions | Helping Impact-Driven Organizations Thrive

If everyone is “your donor,” no one is.

Carly Berna from Virtuous said it well: “I’d rather have 50,000 active donors with high LTV than 200,000 with low engagement.”

Quality beats quantity. 

The work is to prove your impact clearly and focus on the donors who care most about those outcomes. That’s how you shorten gift cycles, improve renewals, and raise more with less noise.

Who are your ideal donors—and what proof do they need to see next?

Episode link in the first comment. 

I hope this helps!

 #NonprofitLeadership #Fundraising #DonorDevelopment #ImpactMeasurement

Many #nonprofits struggle to prove their impact.

Numbers alone don’t convince funders. Stories alone don’t either. You need both—presented the right way.

That's why we are excited to host a FREE webinar on September 12 at 12:00 CT.

Making Your Mission Measurable: How To Capture Impact Data & Stories To Drive Funding

You’ll learn:

✅ The 3 impact metrics every leader should track
✅ How to capture data and stories that resonate with funders
✅ A framework to align your mission with funder expectations

Seats are limited. Save yours today!

👉 Register with the link in comments!

See you live on Friday! 

#nonprofitleadership #fundraising #marketing #socialimpact

"When did the truth become insufficient?"

The fastest way to lose trust is to lie.

And in the #nonprofit world, #trust is everything.

- #Donors trust you to steward their resources well.
- Your #team trusts you to lead with integrity.
- Your #community trusts you to deliver on your promises.

A single lie — even an exaggeration — can undo years of trust-building.

So measure honestly. Report accurately. Communicate transparently.
Because the organizations that thrive aren’t just doing good work — they’re telling the truth about it.

Simply tell the truth.

#NonprofitLeadership #TrustBuilding #SocialImpact #NonprofitGrowth #DonorEngagement #ImpactMeasurement #MissionDriven

Donor retention drives growth. Easy to understand but hard to execute.

I recently spoke with Carly Berna about ways to increase donor lifetime value and insights from their new benchmark report. 

If anyone is looking for an incredible CRM to drive their growth, Virtuous is a solid tool for modeling LTV and automating the touches that lead to the next gift.

I hope this helps!

#DonorRetention #LTV #Fundraising #Virtuous

“No margin, no mission.”

That line came up in a conversation I had with one of the founding team members from The Bridgespan Group —and it’s the operating reality for nonprofits.

If you want more social impact for your #nonprofit, build financial breathing room:

- Increase donor lifetime value
- Know your donor acquisition costs
- Prioritise your most "profitable" marketing channels

Track the right metrics, double down on what's already working, and revenue gets more predictable. 

Margin funds the mission.

I hope this helps!

#NonprofitFinance #DonorRetention #LTV #RecurringGiving #Bridgespan

#DonorRetention improves when you fix one critical metric: 

the first-to-second gift

Carly Berna’s advice is spot on—focus on:

- the conversion rate from first to second gift
- the time between them

Here's her practical next step: 

- build (or audit) your new donor welcome series to shorten that gap and make the second ask clear and timely.

Pro tip: 

Be genuine. Be authentic. Share gratitude. Donors are going out of their way to fund your organization. Take time to explain how their donation is going to make a difference and how grateful your organization is for their gift. 

I hope this helps!

 #DonorRetention #Fundraising #DonorDevelopment #NonprofitMarketing

Pro Tip For #NonprofitLeaders

Personalized engagement drives retention.

Carly Berna’s advice is simple:  "Treat every donor like a major donor."

That means quick thank-yous, relevant updates, and one clear next step—every time. With Virtuous, you can scale this without losing the human feel. 

Keep the copy short, use real names, and make the next step obvious. The goal is to make every interaction feel like it was written for one person.

I hope this helps!

#nonprofittech #DonorEngagement #DonorRetention #NonprofitLeadership #Virtuous

"We're confusing experimentation with focused effort."

In the #nonprofit world, I see a common pattern.

Exciting projects get launched. Only to shut down before they have a chance to succeed.

Example. A new grant writing effort starts in April, then gets canceled by July.

Teams invest energy and resources. But walk away without enough data to know if it would have worked.

Hard truths:
- Anything worthwhile takes time.
- Anything worthwhile takes tons of work.

I’m not pointing fingers without including myself. I’ve made these mistakes too many times.

I’ve chased shiny ideas. Gotten excited. Poured in resources—only to stop before seeing results. Looking back, I regret how my impatience cost us. Those lessons fuel my passion for this now.

Before we launch a new initiative, we ask:
1) What’s our goal?
2) How many repetitions do we need to know if it’s working? (check industry averages)
3) How many consistent repetitions will we commit to?
4) What will it cost? (create a range from best case to worst case)
5) Are we willing to pay that cost to achieve the goal?

We've seen capital campaigns fail when the first big gift is hard to get. Volunteer drives end early if initial numbers are too low. Or monthly giving programs that never get the time they need to gain traction.

And here’s the truth: we still need to experiment. The key is to be deliberate about where we experiment.

Here’s what I mean:

- Experiment on the edges, not at the core. Protect the programs that drive most of your revenue or social impact.

- Test ideas where failure won’t cripple your mission. But success could give you a massive boost.

- Use proven channels as your base. And innovate in ways that strengthen, not replace, them.

Strategic experimentation means keeping your engine running. And finding ways to make it run faster.

Commit to the strategy. Innovate to make it extraordinary.

I hope this helps you win today!

#NonprofitLeadership #FundraisingStrategy #ImpactDriven #NonprofitGrowth #MissionFocused #StrategicPlanning #SocialImpact #Leadership #NonprofitSuccess

How do some #nonprofits grow so fast it feels wild?

So many organizations try to crack the code on how to scale. We’ve been fortunate to work with nonprofits that have done it. But there are many others still fighting for traction.

Harsh truth. Scaling a nonprofit is harder than scaling a for-profit.

From our experience, there are two flywheels every growing nonprofit must get right.

A flywheel is a system that builds momentum. As it turns more, it gets easier to spin. Helping you grow faster.

1.  Your Impact Flywheel
2. Your Funding Flywheel

1. Your Impact Flywheel

The social impact you create is the #reason your nonprofit exists. And it's the #1 reason why funders of all types give.
It’s the core of who you are, and it unites your team, volunteers, and supporters. 

Nothing matters more.

The more you measure and communicate your impact, the faster the flywheel turns — helping you:

- Serve your cause better
- Attract amazing team members and volunteers
- Raise more money from aligned funders

2. Your Funding Flywheel

Once you can prove the difference you make, it’s time to scale your #fundraising.

Here’s the problem: there’s a lot of bad fundraising advice out there.

Here's some of my favorite advice. 

The Bridgespan Group looked at the best fundraising orgs in 2008 and then again in 2024. 

The nonprofits that grew the fastest didn’t chase every funding idea. 

They:
- Identified their ideal funders
- Built a marketing machine to attract more of them

No gimmicks. Just focus.

This advice goes against conventional wisdom on diversifying your fundraising channels. But the data is clear. The more you focus on attracting and retaining ideal donors, the more effective your fundraising flywheel will be. 

--

When your Impact Flywheel and Funding Flywheel work together, they create momentum. This helps you scale effectively.

That’s exactly why we started Social Impact Solutions.  To help nonprofits measure and communicate their impact. So they can raise more money and do more good.

We’re fortunate to work with remarkable organizations. 

- Clarifying the impact they create. 
- Finding the right funders to team up with for years. 
- And scaling programs to solve enormous problems.

If you're a #nonprofitleader ready to grow, or a mission-driven professional eager to serve the social sector, let's connect!

I hope this helps!

#NonprofitLeadership #FundraisingStrategy #ImpactMeasurement #NonprofitGrowth #MissionDriven #StrategicPlanning #SocialImpact #Leadership #DonorEngagement #ScaleWithImpact #FundingStrategy #ImpactCommunication #NonprofitSuccess #FlywheelEffect

“I’d rather have 50,000 active donors with high LTV than 200,000 with low engagement.” — Carly Berna

Quality beats quantity. 

- define your ideal donor
- show proof of impact
- and stop chasing low-fit funders

I hope this helps!

 #NonprofitStrategy #DonorEngagement #LTV #QualityOverQuantity #Fundraising

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