How an EY collaboration helped a nonprofit quantify its impact

An EY team helped the Austin African American Business Networking Association (AAABNA) communicate its value to funders and participants.


In brief
  • AAABNA sought assistance from the EY-Parthenon team to track its successes and improve the way it told its story to key stakeholders.
  • The team conducted research and developed marketing materials to create a comprehensive document quantifying AAABNA’s impact.
  • The work led to increased program engagement, more business consultations and a stronger community presence.

At the heart of the business scene of Chicago’s Austin area is an organization called the Austin African American Business Networking Association (AAABNA), a nonprofit dedicated to fostering growth and empowerment through networking and support for new and emerging businesses. Its objectives are to incubate new businesses, create student scholarship opportunities, provide business resources, offer intern programs for youth and promote business education awareness through networking.

As AAABNA expanded its reach, it needed to understand and quantify its impact, both internally and externally. With no way to track its successes or communicate its value to funders and prospective participants, the organization turned to Inspire, which brings together consultants from leading strategy firms to support nonprofit organizations, and EY-Parthenon for assistance.

“The priority was to understand where to take the organization next from a strategic direction and clarify the external messaging to donors and constituents, so they know all what AAABNA has to offer,” explains Saranya Turimella, Associate, EY-Parthenon, Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) and project co-lead.

The EY organization quickly assembled a team of 10 EY-Parthenon associates who dove deep into strategic planning and collaboration, with a focus on aggregating data, understanding member needs and developing marketing materials.

“After our first conversation, it became clear just how important it was to create a system for quantifying AAABNA’s impact,” says Jack Whitney, Senior Associate, EY-Parthenon, EY US and project co-lead. “Our role was to be their storyteller.”

As a first step, the team was focused on gathering information from AAABNA members and the community at large. The insights gathered would not only inform the development of marketing materials, but also play a large role in the strategic planning project in the months ahead. With this two-pronged purpose in mind, the EY team jumped into sending out member surveys and interviewing small business owners that participated in the program.

“It was really enlightening and helpful for us to see how community members really felt about AAABNA,” says Eric Strickland, Director for the Chicago Business Center at AAABNA. “For people to take time away from work to come into the office and sit down and have those in-depth conversations was a testament to our work and its impact.”

The feedback and conversations made it clear that AAABNA was a pillar of the community. Repeatedly, the team heard from individuals who had been involved with the nonprofit for a decade or more and in many cases, for generations. The team took the research and transformed it into a comprehensive document quantifying AAABNA’s impact and clarifying its diverse programs and offerings. The materials were used to engage funders and the local community around the organization and its mission.

“Our board of directors were really thirsty for information,” says Malcolm Crawford, Executive Director at AAABNA. “Before, I didn’t have a way to communicate our successes. But after the project we were able to share the document and answer all their questions.”

The EY team’s dedication set the stage for long-term success for AAABNA. Beyond the internal impact among key stakeholders, the work also led to an increase in business consultations, greater involvement in programming for youth and a strengthened presence within the community.

Summary 

The EY team’s pro bono work not only validated AAABNA’s pivotal role in the community, but it also developed better ways to share its success stories externally — leading to more reach, engagement and impact.

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