Keneta
Anderson consulting
INVENTIVE STRATEGIES AND FOCUSED COMMUNICATION WITH A FRESH POINT OF VIEW
Keneta Anderson looks past the obvious to
capture your vision, purpose and brand identity in nuanced frames. Her work reflects who you are with clarity, simplicity, and an intelligent depth of focus.
01 IMAGINATION PLAYS WELL WITH GOOD SENSE
Whether your business is philanthropy, products
or services, Keneta draws on 30 years' experience
to create inspired strategies and the practical tools
to support them. Services range from one-time
projects to long-term strategic counsel.
A custom scope of work is developed for each client.
02 SHOW THE WORLD YOUR DISTINCTIVE GENIUS
ALBEDO ONE IS AN ASTRONOMICAL TERM FOR LIGHT
THAT REFLECTS PERFECTLY OFF A PLANET'S SURFACE.
MY GOAL IS A PURE EXPRESSION OF YOUR WORLD VIEW THROUGH WORDS, IMAGES, ACTIONS AND IDEAS.
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MY WORK INCLUDES THESE SPECIALTIES
03 DIVERSE ExperiencE LEADS TO LIVELY IDEAS
1997-2001 <
RUNNING A FOUNDATION
Executive Director
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While leading Washington Software Foundation I learned how to help foster practical and cultural change within complicated systems. WSF had been giving software to under-resourced schools without the supports needed to make those contributions meaningful. After listening carefully to stakeholders, I developed new teacher-centered grantmaking strategies that worked from the classroom level outward. I raised money to give project grants and teaching fellowships, shared decision-making power with educators via board seats and other positions, and worked with a team to rebrand the organization as Digital Blackboard Foundation: no longer focused on technology itself, but on the role technology tools can play in promoting equity, transforming educational access, and supporting teaching and learning.
1989-1992 <
FUNDING UNIVERSITY PROGRESS
Director of Foundation
& Corporate Relations
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After graduating I joined the University of Puget Sound staff as a ghost writer/content contributor for the president along with the development, PR and alumni relations departments. My role soon expanded and I was fast-tracked into a senior director's position, responsible for generating public and private grants and sustaining healthy relationships with funders. Along with these duties, the president charged me with interviewing faculty members to assess campus-wide priorities for the 1990s. This project was my first feasibility study (before I knew that was "a thing") and served as the first step toward planning for a series of successful capital campaigns.
1984-1987 <
SERVING WITH COMPASSION
Jury/Small Claims/Acting Civil Clerk
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The closest "faraway place" I could find to flee the shock of returning to the USA was Ketchikan, where I took a job with the Alaska Court System. I began my work by managing jury selection for the biggest murder trial the court had ever seen. Later, I created "how to" guides to make small claims and domestic violence resources more accessible at every educational level. Along the way, I identified and redesigned systems that had been illegally inflating restitution payments. All begun out of common sense, these efforts taught me how discrimination that might seem subtle on the surface can have a life-changing impact. Overt discrimination opened my eyes too. After a judge joked with a clerk in definitively racist terms about the outsized sentence he'd just handed an African American woman, I naively thought his obvious prejudice would disqualify him. Events that followed were an education in political coverage, power dynamics and intimidation. I decided it was time to go back to school so I could back my values with formal education.
> 2001-Now
CONSULTING
Founder
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A project meant to last just one winter season 19 years ago turned into Keneta Anderson Consulting and a dynamic career more rewarding than I could have imagined. Working from a tiny community just outside Mt. Rainier National Park, I've consulted with philanthropic, corporate, academic, government and nonprofit organizations all over the USA. My challenging profession and mountain lifestyle ground me in perspectives different than my own, and I've been lucky to learn from and collaborate with spectacular national leaders and creative colleagues whose values I share. This wide-ranging input shapes how I approach my work on the daily. I've also skied, hiked, biked and waved "Hello" at the elk wandering by my office window more times than I can count. The stunning local environment enables professional clarity and creativity too.
> 1992-1997
GUIDING CAPITAL CAMPAIGNS
Principal
At The Collins Group I researched and assessed project feasibility for some 17 capital campaigns and other projects. This process included hundreds of individual interviews and focus groups with regional business, philanthropic and nonprofit leaders. As part of a team, I advised on public and private funding strategies for eight capital campaigns of $1,000,000 and above, playing the lead consultant role in several of these projects. Over time I became the firm's "go-to" person for copywriting, branding and communication, shaping messages and materials for clients' campaigns and working with the CEO to market our firm's services.
> 1988-1989
COMPLETING FORMAL EDUCATION
Bachelor's Degree
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I returned to the University of Puget Sound from Thailand and Alaska with life experiences that inspired me to absorb as much as I could about every subject. I graduated with a major in experimental and behavioral psychology and a minor in English literature. Both interests have been incredibly useful for my work. Psychology taught me how to craft unbiased questions, listen objectively and analyze findings critically. Literature taught me how to look more deeply, letting experience, intuition and interaction reveal the more nuanced storylines behind data and surface communication.
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> 1983-1984
SEEING A NEW WORLD
Social Worker
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Taking a break from college, I worked in Ban Vinai refugee camp in Thailand and was exposed to realities and world views that still shape who I am. The camp housed about 30,000 displaced Hmong people, some of whom had been in limbo for more than ten years. By example, the refugees I met taught me the meaning of undefeatable joy. Colleagues from Thailand, Laos, the Netherlands, the Philippines and India introduced new perspectives (and sleepless nights, thanks to strong Dutch coffee arriving in care packages). I benefited from this experience far more than I could ever give.
Current and recent clients include the Susan Poorman Blackie Ovarian Cancer Foundation/Steps Through OC, The Russell Family Foundation, the Lutgendorf Lab at the University of Iowa, Quixote Foundation, Election Verification Network, John M. Lloyd Foundation and General Service Foundation. While my philanthropic advisory roles with these clients are confidential, I'm happy to describe the kinds of counsel I've provided in general terms.
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For the past dozen years, much of my branding and strategic communication work for these clients has been a collaboration with creative and technical director Bryan Jeffrey Graham. See visual examples from our partnership
at Big Tada.
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I travel worldwide and am open to inquiries, projects and speaking
engagements in any location. Keneta Anderson Consulting is federally certified as a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise and Washington state certified as a Women's Business Enterprise. Use this form to get in touch or email keneta@kenetaanderson.com.
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