PENN Creative Strategy

Reviews

• CC

  Charlotte Cohen

  Mar 25, 2022
  5.0
  PENN Creative Strategy was hired to support the first formal collaboration amongst the 5 NYC borough arts councils by conducting a DEIA audit of our grantmaking practices. They not only helped us learn our relative strengths and weaknesses, but highlighted how we might support one another in strengthening our capacity and even helped us map out some longer term, large-scale collaborative initiatives as a result of this work. We would highly recommend the PCS team. It was a pleasure to work with them! Charlotte Cohen, Executive Director, Brooklyn Arts Council
• RR

  Renee Rubin Ross

  Dec 16, 2021
  5.0
  Molly did incredible work leading the strategic planning process for the Alliance for Nonprofit Management. Much appreciate our work together and learning from her.
• AC

  Ann Coffey

  Nov 15, 2020
  5.0
  Molly Penn helped our board and staff elevate our thinking and approach to strategic planning. She worked with leadership to co-create a high engagement approach that involved community stakeholders in all sectors to help us increase our impact and focus. Molly is a substantive creative thinking and she is a delight to work with. She brings decades of experience and national contacts and perspective to her work. She listens, she pays attention to who is around the table and who is not. We continue to work with Molly when we need help. Without hesitation I highly recommend Molly and Penn Creative Strategy. Ann Coffey, CEO, Center for Nonprofit Excellence
• JL

  Joseph Lichterman

  Nov 9, 2020
  5.0
  The Lenfest Institute worked with Molly Penn and the team from Penn Creative Strategies as part of our Lenfest News Philanthropy Network, a training program for fundraisers in journalism. Molly is leading three separate cohorts of journalists in workshops teaching the fundamentals of grant writing. Molly and her team have created thoughtful, compelling, and interactive workshops that have engaged a diverse array of participants. Molly has met all of our deadlines and been tremendously flexible with us as the scope of the project expanded. When we received unexpectedly high interest in the course, Molly responded quickly and effectively to accommodate additional participants. The grant writing course that Molly and the team have designed is comprehensive and nuanced, but accessible for beginners. It walks participants through every step of the grant writing process — from research and relationship building to stewardship and communication. In addition to demonstrating a deep understanding of the essential nonprofit funding models, Molly has created an interactive and participatory learning environment despite the limitations of a virtual environment. They’ve made sure the course is accessible to all participants, no matter their experience or technological capacity.
• AP

  Arthur Melville Pearson

  Oct 30, 2020
  5.0
  I've worked with lots of strategic planners -- Molly is among the very best. Whip smart. Flexible, adaptive and empathetic, but appropriately challenging when she needs to be. She excels at turning obstacles into creative opportunities. She kept us honest and on track. Beyond the strategic plan, itself, we are stronger as an organization for having worked with Molly. Ten stars.