Testimonials

Here's what clients and colleagues are saying about their experience working with me:

Marissa Penrod, Founder/CEO, Team Joseph

“I first met Jen in 2009 right when I launched Team Joseph, a nonprofit I began in honor of my son, Joseph, who lives with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. A friend of mine knew Jen from a nonprofit he worked with and promised me that meeting Jen would be transformational.

When I first began working with Jen in a consulting capacity, I was immediately impressed and happy about having this new partner.

From the beginning, the main focus of our work has been growing support from individuals. Jen’s been the catalyst for helping me move ahead with the important work of building a new individual giving program that’s supported by strongly written, donor-centered fundraising and stewardship materials for which I’ve received great feedback.

One thing I appreciate so much about Jen is her ability to help on many different levels. Her talent lies in being both a strategic thinker and an excellent tactical manager. She’s helped us successfully set up, manage and execute plans for a couple of gratitude mailings, a holiday campaign and a new Annual Fund Campaign. All initiatives have resulted in increased donations and more consistent communications.

Jen helps us to think big, but she is realistic and her counsel is based on thorough research and real-world experience.

Jen is a LIFESAVER. She brings a wonderful balance of energy and enthusiasm toward accomplishing stretch results with the flexibility and patience that are sometimes needed when unforeseen circumstances arise.

I sleep better at night knowing Jen is working with us. She’s not one of those consultants who likes to simply talk, give advice and disappear. If you’re looking for a fundraising/communications consultant and writer who knows her stuff and stays the course in order to get things done, Jen would be a great fit for you.”

Deirdre Schlunegger, CEO, STOP Foodborne Illness

“When a staff member of mine at STOP Foodborne Illness who handled some of our most important communications left, I was very happy to be recommended to Jen by a colleague.

When we first began working with Jen in the summer of 2012, she jumped right in to help us enhance and improve the process, content and communications for our daily E-Alerts for food recalls and foodborne illness outbreaks.

We received great feedback! Our email recipients liked the changes, so we knew that Jen’s approach and writing style was resonating with the people we serve.

We expanded her role to include researching, recommending and writing topics for a new monthly e-newsletter. One of the things we were “light” on was providing regular, helpful content to our readers. Our e-newsletter now does this beautifully. It shares victim/survivor stories, highlights key food safety news/information, encourages involvement in advocacy activities, and updates folks on what we’re doing at STOP.

One of the biggest projects we’ve partnered with Jen on is our 20th Anniversary Report. She wrote all of the content for this 28-page publication and collaborated with our graphic design team, playing a key role in guiding layout and design.

Jen also writes emails for us on a variety of topics – everything from advocacy to food safety to board recruitment. A recent email (and LinkedIn posting) she wrote to help us recruit new board members resulted in attracting 3 new quality members to join our Board of Directors so far.   

A really important part of what makes Jen such a valuable partner is the level of communications and marketing expertise she provides. She knows her stuff and she regularly gives us insights about what’s working in nonprofit communications/fundraising today. Her 15+ years working in the nonprofit field also make her an incomparable expert for us. All of Jen’s value-added insights that go “over and above” her project work help us communicate with those we assist and our donors/supporters more effectively to reach strategic goals.

What’s really impressive, too, is Jen’s commitment to her clients and their success. She demonstrates this over and over with me – taking time to guide me when needed, answer questions and give timely/helpful feedback.

Jen has become a trusted partner to me and many of us at STOP. She’s very good at what she does, giving honest and straightforward counsel and communications services rooted in research and proven tactics. And her warm, friendly, reassuring and encouraging personality makes her a very pleasant person to work with.

Stanley Rutledge, Director of Programs, STOP Foodborne Illness

“Jen has worked on many communication needs for STOP Foodborne Illness and she’s a GREAT writer. She writes our monthly e-newsletter and we use Jen regularly for special emails and fundraising letters. She’s been a godsend in many ways. She helps identify topics for our email communications and does a bang-up job helping us look and sound great.

Jen is reliable and professional with a perfectionist streak and collaborative spirit. I recommend Jen to any nonprofit that wants to more effectively engage, educate and connect with their audiences.”

Ziad Kassab, Chairman, D-MAN Foundation

“For many years, I had heard about Jen Viano and her impressive work growing and raising funds for nonprofits. As Chairman of the D-MAN Foundation, a nonprofit in Michigan that helps disabled people with music therapy, I was excited to hire Jen when she went on her own in 2012.

She launched our first Annual Fund Campaign in late 2012 to grow our individual giving program and continued with us in 2013 to keep momentum with the campaign going.

With her help setting the overall strategy, guiding our work on infrastructure-building and establishing new processes, educating and counseling our team on best practices—as well as writing all of the email/web/social media/direct mail communications we’ve used—her impact has been far-reaching.

Partnering with Jen, the results we’ve been able to achieve have been very valuable. She helped me personally cultivate, solicit and receive many major gifts ranging from $7,500 to $1,000. The new thank you process and thank you communications she wrote helped turn a first-time donor at $50 into a repeat donor at $1,000 one month later. A hard-to-get major gift prospect of mine made a $1,000+ commitment in response to an email that Jen helped me create. And there’s more. But, you get the idea!

I highly recommend Jen to any nonprofit that wants to benefit from her extensive nonprofit experience and keen ability to make immediate contributions as an effective, results-oriented partner in attracting donors and growing revenue."

Dr. Stuart Lessin, Board President, Cutaneous Lymphoma Foundation

"Jen's performance as CEO was excellent. She demonstrated passion and initiative in her work while maintaining the highest degree of professionalism. She helped lead the organization through a period of great transition. Her accomplishments were both important and plentiful. These included recruitment and growth of the Board of Directors, establishing a successful Annual Fund Campaign and Corporate Recognition Reception, re-launching the CLF website, drafting an advocacy agenda, publication of the first Patient's Guide to Understanding Cutaneous Lymphoma, finalizing a strategic plan and hiring the Foundation's first Director of Development.

Jen was a great public spokesperson for the Foundation. On a personal level, she is honest, loyal and possesses great integrity. The Cutaneous Lymphoma Foundation is in a better place because of her leadership and service."

Brace Krag, Board Member, Cutaneous Lymphoma Foundation

“I’ve known Jen since April 2010 through her former position as CEO of the Cutaneous Lymphoma Foundation. She is one of the most capable people with whom I’ve had the pleasure of working. Her written and oral communication skills – as well as her organizational ability – make her among the best colleagues I’ve worked with. She’s also an extremely pleasant person. Her calm, positive approach to dealing with challenges and finding solutions makes her a valuable asset to anyone who works with her.”

Cindi Brannum, Executive Director, Scleroderma Foundation Texas Chapter

“It’s been my pleasure to work with Jen Viano during the past 9 years in various capacities. When Jen worked at the Scleroderma Foundation Michigan Chapter, she led transformational growth that resulted in attracting more corporate/individual support, which allowed the Chapter to offer a greatly improved level of programs for patients. I connected with her often for counsel.

Not too long ago, I worked with Jen to create a special major gift fundraising appeal letter. It’s perfect! It brought me to tears and is just what I need to bring in large gifts for my Chapter. Jen truly has a “way with words.” Her writing is persuasive, powerful and polished, yet also very personal. Jen’s writing really connects with its readers on an emotional level.”

Katha Kissman, Nonprofit Consultant and Life Coach

“I’ve had the great pleasure of working with Jen Viano in two separate contexts – one to achieve organizational goals and objectives, the other to support an aspect of my own consulting business. In both cases, Jen demonstrated a deep capacity for getting the job done in a very high-quality fashion. 

Jen expresses a keen curiosity about whatever she works on, seeking out the knowledge and understanding needed to do the best job possible. I anticipate using Jen’s professional services again in the future and would highly recommend her to others in need of her writing or consulting services."