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Clarity

Joanne Sonenshine

Washington, DC

Founder + CEO Connective Impact aiding organizations in strategic goal development, partnership creation, coalition building and collective thinking in order to solve some of the most complex problems of our time. Extensive experience building strong, lasting partnerships with business leaders in sustainability.

$2.92/min

1 Call

7 Reviews

36 minutes
Avg. call

Fundraising Strategy Connector Economics Sustainability Strategic Partnerships Corporate Social Responsibility International Development Collaboration Building Partnerships

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Building Strategic Partnerships and Forming More Impactful Collaborations

Connective Impact aids organizations in strategic goal development, partnership creation, consensus building and focused thinking in order to solve some of the most complex problems of our time. This includes developing strategies for broad stakeholder engagement, prioritizing action around individual and joint commitments, determining what is achievable alone and with the right partners and measuring impact.

Answers 19
Reviews 7

Answers

Joanne Sonenshine answered

Is cold mailing/calling dead?

I think it has evolved instead of died. Cold mailing and calling has now been replaced by cold connection building via LinkedIn, or messaging via Twitter or the like. I cannot say enough how valuable social media and online networking/connecting platforms are now. Perhaps one way to look at the new version of cold calling is akin to strategic partnering as opposed to sales. Finding a way to uncover the mutual benefit of the relationship.

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Sales Process

Cold Calling

Sales and marketing

Joanne Sonenshine answered

When launching a product on Kickstarter, how and when do you get press coverage?

Before, during and after. There's never enough opportunity to tell your story. Tweet the hell out of it too. Good luck!

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Kickstarter

Crowdfunding

Media Outreach

Joanne Sonenshine answered

Without paying an attorney, how do you find out if these are patentable: 1) your unique way of doing business and 2) certain website features?

One way may be to tap into local law students (or those working on an LLM in IP)

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Legal Research

Legal Advice

Patents

Joanne Sonenshine answered

How may I get funding for a startup apparel company? I have a great idea in clothing as well as accessories.

Have you started by finding a few mentors in this space you could speak to? Those who are already working in accessories and/or apparel? Understanding the investor landscape may be helpful before you set out on your journey. I have worked with a couple of startup sustainable apparel brands and find crowdfunding a great first step. Telling the story is equally critical, especially if there's a social dimension. I would also recommend being very clear about your audience/market. Happy to chat further!

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Apparel

Joanne Sonenshine answered

Personal branding - using name as domain, especially when it's difficult to spell?

I face the same challenge! I came up with a separate name that still represents my brand but doesn't force users/partners/clients to try and remember my complicated name.

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Personal Branding

Joanne Sonenshine answered

Is it possible to structure a strategic alliance between the Department of Cultural Affairs in my state and my company?

Hi Manuel. While I have never structured partnerships between companies and DCA's, I have worked on many strategic alliances with govt agencies (or the like) and companies. Increasingly this is becoming more and more common. Which State are you in? It may be worth reaching out via your network to explore who the right people are within the org to discuss. From there you can get a better idea of where the real opportunity is for future engagement. Realize that these types of partnerships do take time but will be worth it in the end. Happy to discuss further if you are interested!

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Non-profits

Activism

Product Innovation

Joanne Sonenshine answered

If I were to choose just ONE marketing platform to focus on and build a following for a blog and possible online business - Which is the best?

I do my fair share of blogging and find Twitter + LinkedIn to be the best platforms from which to share my articles. I have heard that Medium is an evolving platform, though have not used it much. I have paid for 'boosting' promotion of my blogs but would not recommend. I don't think it's worth the investment. I honestly believe in building your network via those you already know, and starting to target those that will be instrumental for the service you want to provide - growing that base by Twitter + LinkedIn. There are also platforms you can send your blogs to that will publish on their sites for added exposure (so in sustainability I use TriplePundit and 2degrees but there are so many these days). I don't find Facebook that helpful, particularly now with how they promote mostly paid sites versus regular pages. I would create your own website to host the blogs so people have to go to your site to read them. This will help with your branding and exposure. Hope this helps and happy to share more by phone.

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Online Marketing

Digital Marketing

Social Media Marketing

Joanne Sonenshine answered

How do I get more Clarity calls

I would love to know what others say in response to this question. I am facing the same challenge. Seems more folks need to know about the potential for growth with Clarity?

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Clarity

Sales

Marketing

Joanne Sonenshine answered

What are the hottest technological innovation today that are investment-worthy?

I am spending a lot of my time with data providers that help companies manage their supply chain data and determine how to drive impact at the source of purchasing. This includes traceability elements plus tracking. For big companies this is a massive undertaking, especially as they are making more commitments to improve social, environmental and economic development. What I love about what I am seeing is the collaboration around improving qualities of life at origin etc. What types of technologies are you looking into?

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angel investing

Technology

Information Technology

Joanne Sonenshine answered

Can a company pay an advisor via vested options if there is no plans to sell the company?

I have been approached to advise companies with this arrangement. In the arrangement I was considering, the options simply turned to ownership but there was an end date by which the distribution had to be paid. Hope that helps!

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Business Advisory

Advisory Boards

Advisor

Joanne Sonenshine answered

I am looking for 500 people to answer a survey about services for aspiring entrepreneurs. Where would be the best place to post my survey?

Have you thought about social media (i.e. twitter?) I rely upon twitter for feedback on a regular basis. Another option is to create a targeted list of the 500 people/organizations you specifically want feedback from and send out via email, though as we all know the response rate on something like that is quite small. There are groups on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter etc as well that you could tap into.

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Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurial Skills

Entrepreneurship Education

Reviews

I had the pleasure of working with Joanne on CEA's "Green Team" and our Technology & Emerging Countries planning group. I was immediately struck by her enthusiasm, energy, creativity and drive. Joanne was extremely knowledgeable in the field of sustainability issues and brought an insightful professionalism to our initiatives. Moreover, her leadership, organization and pro-active approach were invaluable in all of our efforts.

Christopher Amos Source: LinkedIn

Joanne and I worked together at Conservation International for several years where we were in different divisions but saw our work overlap. I was continually impressed with her proactive, optimistic and high-energy approach to advising food and commodity companies about science-based sustainability practices for triple bottom line benefits, as well as her innate understanding of the importance of actively promoting projects. She's a strong writer and storyteller, a clear verbal communicator, and a strategic visionary whose can-do approach will surely serve her and her clients well. Recommend!

private private Source: LinkedIn

Joanne's wealth of knowledge about environmental and international trade issues is surpassed only by her passion for her work, overall enthusiam, and eagerness to learn more. She is extremely detail-oriented, always pleasant, and has motivated her team at CEA toward building a successful environmental program from the ground up.

Joe Gizzi Source: LinkedIn

Joanne is a strategic thinker who also knows how to accomplish desirable outcomes on concrete tasks and projects. We worked together across teams when she was Director of Climate Strategy at Conservation International. Not only is she a pleasure to work with, she has an exceptional ability to see an issue from multiple perspectives and angles in order to devise and carry out the most-fitting solution, while building lasting partnerships. I enthusiastically recommend her and her work.

Chelsea Carr Source: LinkedIn

Joanne is a confident, passionate, mission-driven problem-solver who gets up every morning excited to discover new avenues to affect lasting change in the world. She quickly identifies systemic risks and strategic challenges companies face and brings together a range of stakeholders to devise solutions and implement them. She is an excellent project manager who communicates clearly with project teams in support of everyone's success. I have had the good fortune to call hear a teammate for the past two years and have enjoyed working with her tremendously.

Elizabeth Baer Source: LinkedIn

Having worked closely with Joanne for the last few years, I am continually impressed with how responsive and proactive she is around communication outreach efforts relating to her work on sustainable food and agriculture. This includes writing blogs, strategizing around conferences and contributing quotes and information to press releases. She is a capable and knowledgeable expert – who inspires complete confidence when going before media or representing Conservation International in other external facing situations. Joanne is a consummate professional and a real pleasure to work with.

Katrin Olson Source: LinkedIn

Creative, motivated, thoughtful and dedicated, Joanne knows how to apply non-traditional thinking to solve complex problems... with a smile!

Matt Swanston Source: LinkedIn

Member since February 2015