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
  • 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
  • Atlanta Community Food Bank
  • Brooklyn Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project
  • 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

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 improve our diversity, equity, and inclusion knowledge and abilities because doing so is critical to the success of Big Duck and of our clients’ missions. As we continuously learn and grow, we apply these lenses to our work and to how we run our company. As part of this effort, all Big Duck employees participate in a daylong training on racial equity led by Race Forward. Our in-house equity committee (that all staff take part in) meets monthly to build our collective capacity and consciousness and leads projects that embed equity into our work. We also partner with other consultants who help us infuse 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.

Justin Clarel

Copywriter

Ally Dommu

Director of Strategy, Member-Owner

Olivia Freire

Operations Manager, Member-Owner

Marissa Lea Gaston

Strategist, Member-Owner

Ryan Gerhardt

Senior Copywriter, Member-Owner

Wing-Sze Ho

Graphic Designer, Member-Owner

Sarita Joseph

Director of Accounts, Member-Owner

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

K Yin

Strategist, 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:

  • Ally Dommu
  • Sarah Durham
  • Olivia Freire, Secretary
  • Jennifer Petersen
  • Elizabeth Ricca, Co-President and Treasurer
  • Farra Trompeter, Co-President
  • Sandy Zimmerman

Open House

Big Duck regularly holds open houses to connect with individuals and nonprofits who’d like to learn more about us. Each open house includes a brief overview of our work, a Q & A session with one or more of our staff members, and the opportunity to ask questions and network.

Jobs

In search of the satisfaction that comes from helping great nonprofits improve their communications? Know how to balance hard work with good fun? You might have what it takes to join our team.

Big Duck collaborates with talented writers and designers 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.

Sounds great. How do I apply?

Please follow the instructions and fill out the form on the next page. 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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