Human-Services Nonprofit

A regional nonprofit serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities wanted to launch a circular economy composting business that would create local jobs, reduce waste, and put a high-quality compost product into the hands of local farms and gardeners. To do it credibly, the organization needed to show grant funders and partners that the program was mission-driven, financially sound, and genuinely beneficial to the community it served.

I started by mapping the full ecosystem: the large-scale producers of food scraps and landscape trimmings that would feed the facility, and the farms, gardeners, and other buyers who would use the finished product. I interviewed producers and consumers extensively to understand real volumes and demand, then used that research to build the financial projections, business plan, and strategic partnership plan that would assemble the supply chain in the region. The result paired a compelling case for the project with the numbers to back it up, a document the organization could bring to its funders with confidence.