The Wholesome Wave Case Study

Challenge:

Talented celebrity chef Michel Nishan led the Wholesome Wave team in the first phase of growth that brought $100 million worth of wholesome fresh produce to underserved populations via a ‘double your purchase’ food stamps program with the federal government. After a successful Phase 1, Phase 2 of Wholesome Wave required reaching larger populations in retail outlets to complement the farmers markets. This objective wasn’t as straightforward. This required a nuanced and creative initiative to maintain existing support while growing into new donor markets to support expansion.

Approach:

Sam Connor and his team worked closely with the Wholesome Wave leadership and board to understand their limitations. After assessing staff capacity and their ability to handle disruptive and non-traditional growth structures, we proposed a restructuring of the marketing, communications, and development functions to promote a more donor-centric philanthropic culture internally and externally. Managing Partner Chris Johnson built several new corporate relationships, leveraging the existing digital communications assets and program deliverables. Three months into the work, the team had begun to coalesce around the idea of integrating ALL team members in both Program delivery and Development and Marketing into the outreach and sales cycle for new business development. This made sense, as the accomplished program team at Wholesome Wave was already highly regarded in the ‘Good Food’ space, and thus their integration into the private donor relationships, new government outreach on state levels, and corporate engagement all encouraged organic growth.

Outcome & Impact:

After a year of planned growth, the restructured team:

• Raised 6 figures in their first general annual campaign 

• Developed new multi-million dollar relationships with government and industry 

• Was poised to sign with a leading retail chain to pilot ‘ double your purchase’  key markets in California and Texas.