About Us

Big Duck is a worker-owned cooperative that has been developing nonprofit brands, campaigns, and teams for decades. We’ve honed our process and structure to make communications projects manageable for our clients while delivering exceptional results.

Our team helps nonprofits use communications to advance their missions through brand building, fundraising and outreach campaigns, strategic communications plans, and coaching for communications and development teams.

We’re big enough to have deep expertise on our staff—but not so big that you’ll get lost in the fold. When you work with us, you’ll collaborate with a team of researchers, planners, writers, designers, and account managers who are skilled facilitators, strategic thinkers, and creative problem solvers.

As a worker-owned cooperative, Big Duck is owned by our employees. Staff who are member-owners have more power in guiding how Big Duck operates and an equal share in the company’s profits, regardless of their role, seniority, or tenure. We’re proud to be part of a global community of cooperatives working to create fairer and more equitable business structures and practices.

Are we the right partner for you? We’d love to learn more about your organization and discover if we can help. Read more about our team and what we do or tell us more about your project here.

Clients

Our clients change the world, and we love being a part of that. Since 1994, we’ve helped hundreds of nonprofits improve their branding, campaigns, and fundraising efforts. Here’s a list of some of our recent and current clients.

  • Apollo Theater
  • Brooklyn Botanic Garden
  • The Green-Wood Historic Fund
  • Manhattan Theatre Club
  • Newark Museum of Art
  • Project for Public Spaces
  • The Public Theater
  • Queens Botanical Garden
  • Sundance Institute
  • VH1 Save the Music Foundation
  • The WNET Group/ALL ARTS
  • Astraea Lesbian Foundation For Justice
  • CFLeads: Community Foundations Leading Change
  • Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
  • Community Foundation of Collier County
  • Fair Labor Association
  • Ms. Foundation for Women
  • National Council of Nonprofits
  • NeighborWorks America
  • The New York Women's Foundation
  • Robin Hood
  • Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust
  • Barnard College
  • Blue Engine
  • Internationals Network for Public Schools
  • The Jewish Theological Seminary
  • The KIPP Foundation
  • Launch Expeditionary Learning Charter School
  • Lycée Français de New York
  • MƒA (Math for America)
  • New York School of Interior Design
  • NYC FIRST
  • Parsons School for Design
  • Per Scholas
  • Bat Conservation International
  • Brooklyn Botanic Garden
  • Climate Central
  • Conservation International
  • GRID Alternatives
  • New York-New Jersey Trail Conference
  • Pasa Sustainable Agriculture
  • Prospect Park Alliance
  • WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society)
  • Urban Green Council
  • American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
  • Auburn Seminary
  • Covenant House
  • Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles
  • Good Shepherd Services
  • The Jewish Board
  • National Council of Jewish Women
  • Reconstructing Judaism
  • Access Justice Brooklyn
  • Atlanta Community Food Bank
  • Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC)
  • Commonpoint Queens (formerly Samuel Field Y and the Central Queens Y)
  • Change Machine (formerly The Financial Clinic)
  • FAMILYConnections
  • Human Services Campus
  • NYC Department of Youth and Community Development
  • Pet Partners
  • Women’s Transitional Living Center
  • American Parkinson Disease Association
  • Breast Cancer Research Foundation
  • Burke Neurological Institute
  • CaringBridge
  • Fountain House
  • Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation
  • Open Door Family Medical Center
  • Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy
  • Primary Care Development Corporation
  • RWJ University Hospital Foundation
  • TSC Alliance
  • American Jewish World Service
  • Corporate Accountability
  • Global Ties U.S.
  • Health Equity International (formerly St. Boniface Haiti Foundation)
  • HIAS
  • Humanity & Inclusion-US
  • International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region
  • IPAS
  • Women and Manual Trades
  • American Civil Liberties Union
  • American Immigration Council
  • Community Change
  • Center for Constitutional Rights
  • Center for Court Innovation
  • Institute for Women's Policy Research
  • John Jay College Institute for Justice and Opportunity (formerly Prisoner Reentry Institute)
  • Keshet: For LGBTQ Equality in Jewish Life
  • National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice
  • National Employment Law Project
  • Race Forward
  • Shriver Center on Poverty Law
  • True Colors United

Values

Big Duck’s values inform how we run our business, interact with our clients, and work together. These are the values that guide us.

  • Integrity

    We advocate for what’s best, not necessarily what’s best for us.

  • Improvement

    We encourage continuous inquiry, learning, and practice.

  • Pragmatism

    We embrace the realities of any situation to get things done.

  • Candor

    We communicate openly with our clients and each other.

  • Collaboration

    We flourish when we put our minds together.

  • Motivation

    We find inspiration in the people we work with and missions we support.

DEI Commitment

Big Duck proactively works to build our knowledge of and competencies surrounding diversity, equity, inclusion, and antiracism. As we continuously learn and grow, we set explicit intentions and implement practices that apply these lenses to our work with clients and how we run our company. Our in-house equity committee meets biweekly to build our collective capacity and consciousness and leads projects that engage our whole team. We also partner with other consultants who help us infuse inclusion and equity more deeply into Big Duck’s culture and practices.

Team

Big Duck is 100% worker-owned. We are a values-driven business that is actively working to center diversity, equity, inclusion, and antiracism in how we work together as a team, with our clients, and among our partners.

Menaka Chandurkar

Senior Strategist

Ally Dommu

Senior Strategist (consultant)

Olivia Freire

Operations Manager, Member-Owner

Ryan Gerhardt

Copy Director, Member-Owner

Sarita Joseph

Director of Accounts, Member-Owner

Josh Kelley

Account Manager

Brenda Perez

Account Manager

Jen Petersen

Marketing Manager, Member-Owner

Elizabeth Ricca

Co-Director, Member-Owner

Claire Taylor Hansen

Creative Director, Member-Owner

Farra Trompeter

Co-Director, Member-Owner

Sandy Zimmerman

Design Director, Member-Owner

Board

As a worker-owned cooperative, Big Duck is governed by a board of directors, comprised primarily of staff who are member-owners. The board makes decisions and approves policies that benefit the cooperative and all of its members.

Our current board of directors are:

  • Sarah Durham
  • Olivia Freire, Secretary
  • Jennifer Petersen, Interim Vice Chair
  • Elizabeth Ricca, Treasurer
  • Farra Trompeter
  • Sandy Zimmerman, Interim Chair

Jobs

In search of the satisfaction that comes from helping great nonprofits improve communications? You might have what it takes to join our team.

Big Duck collaborates with talented writers, designers, and strategists at all stages of their careers. Experience with and a passion for working with nonprofit organizations is a plus.

Copywriting:
We’re looking for writers with experience in naming, short-form, and long-form writing.

Design:
We’re looking for designers with experience in logo design, branding & identity systems, art direction, design production, front-end digital design, print layout, and illustration.

Strategists:
We’re looking for researchers and planners with with experience in conducting interviews, developing and analyzing surveys, conducting landscape scans, creating communications plans, and more.

Sounds great. How do I apply?

Please follow the instructions and fill out this form. We will be in touch if we think you’re a good fit. No direct phone calls, please. Thank you for your interest.

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