What We Do
MilwayPLUS has applied expertise in organizational development, strategy, research, and communications to help foundations and nonprofits gain insight to set new sights, make plans to achieve goals, and create content to influence others. As of April 2024, we are a referral service. Founder and principal Katie Smith Milway has moved to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
About MilwayPLUS
MilwayPLUS is deeply collaborative, working with clients as partners,
with a focus on research, content development, and influence strategies for funders, and organizational change and innovation strategies for foundation programs and select nonprofits. Katie Smith Milway, founder and principal, has a background in journalism, sustainability, nonprofit management, strategy consulting, organizational development and governance. Her network of preferred providers bring skills in data-driven analysis, DEI, market research, media production, and design. She is a frequent speaker at convenings on research-related themes.
Milway is also a senior advisor at The Bridgespan Group, where for a decade she served as partner and head of the knowledge practice, leading research and multimedia content development in the US and India. And she serves as adjunct faculty at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Indiana University. Prior to Bridgespan, Katie spent 14 years at Bain & Company, consulting to clients in Canada, the U.S. and Europe, then as the firm’s founding editorial director and global publisher.
She began her journalism career at the Wall Street Journal, and her nonprofit service at Food for the Hungry. Her work in sustainable development across four continents includes program design and measurement, donor development and communications and organizational effectiveness.
About Our Collaborators
Shazeen
Virani
Shazeen Virani is a social sector strategist known for data-driven insights and their practical applications for nonprofits and funders. After eight years at The Bridgespan Group, she founded Virtue Strategic Advisors, sv@byvirtue.org, to build capacity and results for the sector.
Cheryl Stallworth
Cheryl Stallworth is a proven market research strategist, storyteller and trailblazer at organizations like Colgate-Palmolive, Kantar / Firefly, and now ShedLight.org.
Yonatan Araia
Yonatan Araia, an alumnus of The Bridgespan Group, is an independent researcher and analyst with experience in strategy consulting, grantmaking, and economic development policy
Patrick Rooney
Patrick Rooney is a philanthropy & policy strategist who studies DAF, HNWI & everyday givers. He is
Professor Emeritus of Economics and Philanthropic Studies, Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, IU, and cofounder of the Philanthropy Panel Study.
Evelyn Ontaneda
Evelyn Ontaneda helps organizations build cultures that value and practice racial equity, diversity, and inclusion to achieve greater social justice and organizational success. Her identity as an Indigenous Latinx, first-generation American woman deeply informs her approach. Learn more at OntanedaConsulting.com
Tteja Senthilnathan
Tteja Senthilnathan, a alumna of Cambridge and Columbia universities, is an independent researcher and analyst who has worked in youth and family philanthropy
Bill Littlefield
Bill Littlefield is an acclaimed interviewer, storyteller and three-decade veteran of National Public Radio.
Shelagh Leahy
Shelagh Leahy has worked as a producer, showrunner and executive at ABC News, CNN, MSNBC and PBS.
Sam Howe Verhovek
Sam Howe Verhovek is an author and veteran reporter/writer forThe New York Times, Los Angeles Times and National Geographic.
About MilwayPLUS Services
Thought Leadership
MilwayPLUS collaborates with leaders in philanthropy and nonprofit networks to develop research projects and shape them into opinions, cases, articles, white papers, books and digital formats that help shift thinking and behavior in the sector. Milway supports clients through publication to ensure content packages are edited, designed and placed strategically on websites and in leading external publications.
Case:
Funding Feedback. The case details how Fund for Shared Insight built the sub-field of feedback to complement program monitoring and evaluation.
White Paper & Case Collection:
Influencing Funder Practice. Research commissioned by Ford Foundation examined 12 multiyear initiatives aimed at spurring funders to give more effectively, and produced a framework for influencing the “how” of philanthropy, captured in a white paper and six practical cases.
Book (Editorial Direction):
Undercurrents: Channeling Outrage to Spark Practical Activism. Milway worked with author Steve Davis to structure his insights and experience into a proposal, pitch to publishers, contract the book and qualify a ghost writer.
Digital Playbook:
Playbook for Nonprofit Digital Transformation. Hopelab and Milway surveyed nonprofit digital practices and created a guide to the ‘how’ of digitizing service delivery for 21st Century constituents.
Article:
The Myth of Perpetuity in Foundation Strategy. An examination of founding articles of the top 50 private foundations and their endowment recoveries post 2009 recession found leeway to raise payouts.
Influence Campaigns
MilwayPLUS collaborates with leaders of fields and movements to create campaigns to engage and tip sector practice and public will on issues core to society, people and planet. Tools for the task include:
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Curating and producing multimedia series such as The Power of Feedback (promoting the what, why and how of feedback as a critical element of measuring social impact.)
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Auditing and transposing academic research into powerful, practitioner insights: e.g. Inclusive Philanthropy and The Eight Myths of US Philanthropy (promoting generosity for life)
Innovation & Growth
MilwayPLUS works with a handful of nonprofit content creators and leaders in community development on growth and innovation strategies, helping them to define their theories of change and goals for impact and develop funding models and outreach plans to raise resources to achieve them.
MilwayPLUS clients include:
Lilly Family School of Philanthropy
The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities
Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions, Arizona State University
MilwayPLUS has authored a number of articles on philanthropy and nonprofit strategy and management
Classic
Collection
Now on Sale
How Madam C.J. Walker Built Racial Equity Into Her Business
hbr.org
Services
Thought Leadership
MilwayPLUS collaborates with leaders in philanthropy and nonprofit networks to develop research projects and shape them into opinions, cases, articles, white papers, books and digital formats that help shift thinking and behavior in the sector. Milway supports clients through publication to ensure content packages are edited, designed and placed strategically on websites and in leading external publications. Examples:
Cases:
Funding Feedback. The case details how Fund for Shared Insight built the sub-field of feedback to complement program monitoring and evaluation.
Hard Virtues of Soft Program Measurement: Two cases show how feedback measures link to outcomes - even predict them.
White Papers:
Influencing Funder Practice. Research commissioned by Ford Foundation examined 12 multiyear initiatives aimed at spurring funders to give more effectively, and produced a framework for influencing the “how” of philanthropy, captured in a white paper and six practical cases.
Building Equitable Evidence of Social Impact. Research commissioned by Pace Center for Girls conducted focus groups with 15 nonprofits that involved participants in program evaluation, finding causal links to outcomes and ripple effects that built greater equity across operations. White paper influence strategy spun out articles for nonprofits, philanthropy, advocacy efforts and family foundations.
Book:
Undercurrents: Channeling Outrage to Spark Practical Activism. We distilled and structured author’s insights and experience into a book proposal, pitched it to publishers, contracted the manuscript, and qualified a collaborating writer.
Digital Toolkits:
Playbook for Nonprofit Digital Transformation. We co-developed a national survey of nonprofit digital practices and wove results together with client’s experience into a data-driven guide to the “why” and “how” of digitizing service delivery to 21st century constituents.
Accelerating Equitable Grantmaking: Commissioned by Ford Foundation, we created a research panel of 30 leaders of nonprofits and funders that had experienced a significant increase in multiyear, flexible funding in recent years (as grantmaker or grantee). Through interviews, a survey and focus groups we developed a short list of accelerators for and barriers to change, and distilled findings into a toolkit for foundation staff, hosted and promoted by Ariadne Edge Funder Alliance on fundingforrealchange.org
Articles:
The Myth of Perpetuity in Foundation Strategy. An examination of founding articles of the top 50 private foundations and their endowment recoveries post 2009 recession found leeway to raise payouts.
Five Accelerators of Equitable Grantmaking and How to Harness Them. This SSIR article conveys findings from the Ford-commissioned Accelerating Equitable Grantmaking study (see above) and raised awareness of the foundation staff toolkit.
How Madam C.J. Walker Built Racial Equity Into Her Business. A review of Prof. Tyrone McKinley Freeman's book manuscript on the philanthropy of African-American hair care product entrepreneur, Madam C.J. Walker surfaced approaches that could help any organization build racial equity into the way it works.
Influence Strategies
MilwayPLUS collaborates with leaders of fields and movements to create campaigns to engage and tip sector practice and public will on issues core to society and the planet. Tools for the task include:
-
Curating and producing multimedia series such as The Power of Feedback (promoting the what, why, and how of feedback as a critical element of measuring social impact).
-
Auditing and transposing academic research into powerful, practitioner insights: e.g. Inclusive Philanthropy and The Eight Myths of US Philanthropy (promoting generosity for life).
-
Creating and refreshing digital artifacts including explainer videos, websites, campaign launch materials such as press releases news alerts, and social media campaigns. e.g. the launch of OutcomesX.com social outcomes marketplace, with video, site rebuild & PR.
Foundation & Nonprofit Strategy & Implementation
MilwayPLUS works with select leaders at foundations and nonprofits to refresh their program and organizational strategies for growth or change. This work involves defining theories of change and goals for impact, and developing grantmaking strategies or funding models, and operational plans to achieve them. E.g.'s The Chronicle of Philanthropy's nonprofit transformation; New England Conservatory of Music's theory of change and funder landscape.
Clients
The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities
Center for Impact Sciences, Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago
Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions, Arizona State University
William + Flora Hewlett Foundation
The World Bank
Milway has co/authored a number of articles on philanthropy and nonprofit strategy and management
Inclusive Board Meetings, SSIR, Winter 2024
Hard Virtues of "Soft" Program Measurement, SSIR, Spring 2022
Accelerating Equitable Grantmaking Toolkit at www.fundingforrealchange, Spring 2022
Five Accelerators of Equitable Grantmaking and How to Harness Them, SSIR, Spring 2022
Building Equitable Evidence of Social Impact, Pacecenter.org, Summer 2021
The Myth of Perpetuity in Foundation Strategy, SSIR, Winter 2020
How Madam C.J. Walker Built Racial Equity Into Her Business, HBR, Winter 2020
What It Really Takes to Influence Funder Practice, Fordfoundation.org, Winter 2019
Campaigns for Social Change: Six Case Studies, Fordfoundation.org, Winter 2019
Funding Feedback, SSIR, Fall 2018
Making Founder Successions Work, SSIR, Spring 2018
Hidden Talent: How Smart Companies Are Tapping Into Unemployed Youth, SSIR, Fall 2016
The Nonprofit Leadership Development Deficit, SSIR, Fall 2015
Making Sense of Nonprofit Collaborations, Bridgespan.org, Winter 2014
Why Nonprofit Mergers Continue to Lag, SSIR, Spring 2014
Making Organizational Learning Stick, Nonprofit Quarterly, Winter 2013
Get Ready for Your Next Assignment, HBR, Winter 2011
The Challenge of Organizational Learning, SSIR, Summer 2011
Growing Global NGOs Effectively, Monday Developments, Winter 2010
Finding Leaders for America’s Nonprofits, Bridgespan.org, Spring 2009
Nonprofit Mergers & Acquisitions: More Than a Tool for Tough Times, Bridgespan.org, Winter 2009