Innovative Resources Group

Beth Hershenhart is CEO of Innovative Resources Group, Inc. an international consultancy specializing in building capacity for nonprofit organizations and institutions. With her team of senior consultants, Beth has worked with hundreds of organizations as executive counsel to CEOs and Boards, as a turnaround strategist, and as a philanthropic advisor.

Since founding the firm in 1991, Beth has worked with more than 235 organizations that sought innovation in their philanthropic efforts and do not necessarily “fit” traditional models for building fundraising capacity. In addition to its proven track record in capital and endowment campaigns, Innovative Resources has a comprehensive creative services practice, the Creative Innovations Studio™ that develops print and electronic materials and web content.

Prior to her consulting practice, Beth held senior positions with the New York State Legislature, United Way and Union College. She is past chair and an active member of the Association of Philanthropic Counsel (APC), and a 30-year member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP). Knowing that continuing education is vital for fundraising professionals, she developed the curriculum for best practices seminar series for AFP with a special focus on strategic visioning and funding scenarios, advocacy, positioning and messaging.

As an active volunteer leader, Beth has served as co-chair of Common Cause/NY, on the board and Life & Legacy Team of her synagogue, Congregation Berith Sholom, and on the board of Cristosal, an organization advancing human rights in Central America. Beth has a B.A. in Journalism from the Newhouse School of Public Communications and a B. A. in Religion from the College of Arts and Sciences at Syracuse University. She is a trained facilitator and member of the Technology of Participation (ToP) International Trainers Network, Institute of Cultural Affairs, Toronto, CA.

Beth is certified in the SMART Way™ model for performance management assessments for nonprofit staff and volunteer leaders. She is a frequent presenter at national and regional conferences on strategic positioning and messaging, major gift fundraising, communications, campaign innovations, and mission-centered marketing.

George Nehme, Senior Vice President for Client Relations

George Nehme is Senior Vice President for Client Relations for Innovative Resources Group. For nearly twenty-five years, George has guided a broad spectrum of organizations and institutions including some of the nation’s leading private and public universities, independent schools, arts and cultural organizations, and environmental and social service organizations.

Renowned for his ability to take the reins for open key staff positions on an interim basis, George has provided astute leadership to dramatically build capacity for growing and evolving institutions and organizations. He has helped to transform development operations with his unique ability to energize, focus and mobilize staff to get out of their offices and meet with prospects and steward donors. He brings significant expertise in the design and implementation of comprehensive campaigns that do not allow essential operating support to erode as capital and endowment funds are successfully obtained.

George has earned a reputation as a “hands-on” counsel who does not offer advice from 33,000 feet. The organizations he works with consider him a trusted advisor who rolls up his sleeves and works side by side with the CEO, Board and the senior staff to set strategic priorities that attract major support to the mission and impact of nonprofits nationwide.

George has extensive experience as a speaker and chair of numerous professional conferences for such nationally-recognized organizations as the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), National Annual Giving Directors Consortium (NAGDC), Sharing the Annual Fund Fundamentals (STAFF), and the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP).

An active volunteer, George has worked with the Providence Black Repertory Company, the Utica Symphony Orchestra, The Genesis Group, an economic development organization in his native Utica, New York, and serves as President of the Providence Regional Alumni Association and the Alumni Council for his alma mater Hamilton College. Fluent in Arabic and Spanish, George has traveled widely and has a keen interest in politics, international relations and diplomacy, and his two favorite professional sports teams, the Boston Red Sox, and the New England Patriots.

George earned an A.B. from Hamilton College and studied international relations at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. He resides in Providence, Rhode Island.

Bob Barkowski, Director of Design Services

Bob, Director of Design Services, is a graphic artist and design professional with 25 years of experience. Specializing in cost-effective, high-quality publication designs and branding for individuals, businesses and nonprofit organizations, Bob brings extraordinary talent and originality to every project. His award-winning graphics style is a standout in a wide variety of materials supporting capital campaigns, marketing, fundraising endeavors, special-purpose campaigns and communications such as newsletters, brochures, annual reports and more. Bob is an expert in developing unified identity systems for clients that distinctively and memorably serve their mission and unique purposes. The Schenectady native has been with Innovative Resources Group, Inc. since its founding in 1991.

Bob was awarded a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree by the State University College at Oswego. He is an avid skier and cyclist.

Louise Jensen, Nonprofit Advancement and Nonprofit Management Specialist

Louise Jenson is an Advancement and Nonprofit Management Specialist for

Innovative Resources Group. She brings diverse expertise in relationship-based

fund development, nonprofit management, board development,

strategic planning, and communications. For over 25 years, Louise has worked

both on staff and as a consultant with conservation organizations nationwide.

As a consultant, she worked through the Partnership in Philanthropy assisting

conservation organizations, land trusts, and public gardens. In her staff position as

Associate Director of Preservation at The Garden Conservancy, she facilitated and

led preservation of significant historic gardens and botanical collections across

the country, such as The Elizabeth Lawrence Garden in Charlotte, North Carolina,

the National Park Service’s Roosevelt-Vanderbilt Historic Sites, and other nonprofit

conservation organizations and public lands partnerships.

Prior to her shift to the nonprofit arena, Louise was a founding partner and

senior vice president of marketing and business development at Jensen

Communications Group. While a partner in that firm, she worked with senior

leadership teams and CEOs at Fortune 500 companies, such as PepsiCo and Citibank. She facilitated their use of strategic

plans as communications tools to connect with employees and drive internal behavioral change, which improved

productivity and client/customer service.

Having deep agricultural and rural roots, Louise was alarmed by the dramatic shifts in land use she was seeing

nationwide. She left the corporate world to work in the nonprofit sector to influence land-use planning through

championing the conservation of open space, protection of water resources, wildlife habitat and working lands. As a

consultant with the Land Conservancy of New Jersey, her first project was to facilitate a community-wide assessment

and development plan for an education and visitor center at the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. The project,

funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, resulted in a USFWS-adopted plan for the center, acceptance of a

recommended site to acquire for the Center, the establishment of an award-winning Friends group with a long-term plan

and memorandum of understanding with the Service. The Friends and Refuge successfully completed the center, its

exhibits, trails, and a vibrant education program.

Recruited to establish an Office of Development for the Morris County Park Commission and its departments, Louise

also facilitated the establishment of a corporate-based Friends group and a major donor program, through which

improvements were funded throughout the park system. At this time, she also returned to graduate school to pursue

Landscape Studies and Environmental Policy at Bard College’s Graduate School of Environmental Policy.

Louise served as the executive director for a rural land trust in northeastern California where she was responsible for the

management of over 4,000 acres of wild and working lands and over 130 miles of recreational trails. This work included

facilitating the Board’s strategic plan, development, and implementation of friend and fund development plans, and

oversight of the day-to-day business of the trust, as well as a comprehensive education and outreach program for

children and adults. Through design, the work was supported through a strategic mix of philanthropic investors, grants,

and public/private partnerships with the local municipality; CA Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Bureau of Land

Management and the US Forest Service.

It was through her work with land trusts that Louise first met and began working with Beth Hershenhart and Innovative

Resources Group.

Today, Louise and her husband, John, have chosen New Mexico as their home. Louise jumped right into her new

hometown of Albuquerque as a volunteer with the Sierra Club and Great Old Broads for Wilderness. Along with their

four-legged trail buddy, Eddie, Louise and John are enjoying and getting to know the desert, mountains, lakes and rivers

of this Enchanted land.

Megan Galbraith, Communications Specialist

Megan Galbraith is a writer, editor, and communications strategist who has led teams in admissions, advancement, and media relations at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, The Sage Colleges, The State University of New York, Emma Willard School, and others.

Galbraith brings a dynamic, thoughtful, and strategic approach to writing and communications. She combines brand and mission, with provocative storytelling, that shows the impact and importance of your institution. This strategy provides a distinct advantage in raising and sustaining giving, identifying and enrolling the best and brightest students, and boosting brand awareness.

A member of the National Association of Science Writers, her work has earned gold and silver awards from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), and has been recognized by The American Marketing Association, Graphic Design USA, and the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), among others.

An accomplished journalist, her stories have appeared in The Times Union, Hudson Valley Magazine, Montana Magazine, and Finger Lakes Magazine, among others.

Her essays and book reviews have been published or are forthcoming in PANK, The Review Review, The Tishman Review, ASSAY: A Journal of Nonfiction Studies, Atticus Review, Literary Orphans, Hotel Amerika, Consequence, The Lost Daughters, Revolution John, Danse Macabre, Drafthorse, The Notebook,TueNight.com, and Rosebud. It has also been featured on WAMC/NPR’s 51 Percent.

Her essay, Timepiece, was selected by Xu Xi as a finalist for the AWP WC&C Scholarship and she was a Scholar at Bindercon 2014 in NYC. She was guest editor of The Notebook: A Progressive Journal for Rural Girls and Women, and served on the editorial board of The Grassroots Women Project.

Megan is currently at work on a collection of essays titled, “The Guild of the Infant Saviour.” Her aim is to touch on issues of motherhood, the tension between nature and nurture, and the many forms of shame and surrender as told through the eyes of an adopted daughter.

Galbraith holds a B.A. in Journalism from Penn State University and an M.F.A. in Writing and Literature from the Bennington Writing Seminars. She is Director of the Bennington/GIV Young Writers Seminar.

She lives on a farm in Upstate New York with her husband, 25 cows, three rescue dogs, two barn cats, and a pair of sons who plan to be dairy farmers.

Peggy O'Shea, Senior Advisor

Peggy O’Shea recently retired President & CEO of The Community Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida Counties, Inc. The Community Foundation is a community development corporation, using philanthropy as a tool to strengthen Herkimer and Oneida Counties. Under her guidance, The Community Foundation earned the Council on Foundation’s National Standards for U.S. Community Foundations, the most rigorous standard for philanthropy. Peggy led The Foundation from 2005 through 2014. For the past many years she guided The Foundation’s transformational process, moving the institution from a reactive grant-making foundation to a catalytic community investor.

Peggy has previously served on the board of the Funders Alliance of Upstate New York, was a trustee of the Sagamore Institute of the Adirondacks, and a past board president of the Hospice Foundation. She is a present member of the Excellus BCBS Advisory Board of Directors, The Tug Hill Tomorrow Land Trust and the Black River Outdoor Education Program, along with other community committees and past board assignments. She also served as a member of Governor Cuomo’s Regional Economic Development Council in 2011/2012.

Peggy is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of the State University of New York College of Technology at Utica-Rome, from which she holds a Bachelor of Arts degree. She has also completed the University of Wisconsin’s Certification Program for Excellence in Not-for-Profit Management and the Indiana University School of Philanthropy’s Certificate Program in Fundraising and the Council on Foundations Program on Community Foundation Leadership. She has additionally earned certification and credits in various aspects of nonprofit management and effectiveness through participation in numerous other courses, conferences, and seminars, including the Aspen Institute’s Collective Impact Conference in 2014.

Presently, she is the founder of Peggy O’Shea Consulting, creating strategies to help strengthen organizations and institutions.

Nanette Maxim, Content Developer and Editor

Nanette Maxim, Content Developer, and Editor, has had nearly four decades of professional experience reporting and producing and editing copy, and has been a member of the Innovative Resources team since the mid-1990s. Employing fine-tuned research skills with a keen interest in people and how organizations work successfully, Nanette has worked with a wide range of national magazines, book publishers, universities, and nonprofits. Nanette has developed press kits, newsletters, annual reports, development materials, books, and long- and short-format journalism, both print and digital. Her work also encompasses grant writing and exploration. IRG clients include the Center for Governmental Research, Living Resources, the Glove Theater, St. Edmund’s Episcopal Church (San Marino, CA), and CNY Arts.

She has been a contributing writer for Columbia University Teachers College online and print publications, written campaign materials for Baruch College, and, as part of a pro-bono team from the Taproot Foundation, redesigned a website for the Hetrick-Martin Institute, in New York City, which assists youth in crisis. A former writer and editor for Gourmet magazine, with an emphasis on food politics, Nanette has worked with authors who have been awarded the Pulitzer and Booker prizes, as well as the National Book Award. She has taken her deep knowledge of food at its source to work with several nonprofits involved in creating a better food system. With Columbia Teachers College, she produced stories on the Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education & Policy. And for Glynwood, a Hudson Valley-based organization, Nanette has acted as writer and editor for a book that celebrates the organization’s 20-year history of promoting sustainable agriculture, farmer training, and development of regional food systems, Magazine and book clients include Hearst Publications, American Express Corporation, Meredith Corporation, Taunton Press, Phaidon Press, AOL, and IBM.

QUOTE: “Every organization has a unique story to share. At IRG we encourage clients to tell that story and to translate it into materials that speak meaningfully to supporters. Working closely together to make that story personal and make it count is our mission.”

Nanette holds a B.A. in Public Policy from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. She has been involved as a volunteer with Pegasus Therapeutic Riding, working with developmentally disabled children, and, with the Prospect Park Alliance volunteers on a range of improvement and community projects. She resides in Brooklyn, New York.

Cheryl Gnade McGrattan, Communications and Training Specialist

Cheryl Gnade McGrattan is a Communications and Training Specialist for Innovative Resources Group. She is also Vice President at Nathan Littauer Hospital in Johnstown, New York, where she develops and executes marketing campaigns and supports the hospital’s internal and external service lines. She leads the hospital’s public relations efforts with an eye toward customer retention and media relations. In launching social networking platforms for Nathan Littauer, the hospital has garnered national praise, being called the most connected hospital in the Capital Region.

Cheryl’s marketing career spans two decades in both public and private sectors. As International Marketing Specialist to 240 New York State wineries, she hosted virtual wine tastings in Prague and Seoul. Toward new market penetration, she led trade missions collaborating with U.S. embassies and launched the successful “New York Wine Stand” at Manhattan’s Union Square’s Greenmarket, one of the most visited attractions in the city. The New York Daily News called her “one of New York State’s top wine experts.”

Cheryl has led marketing activities for two of the “fastest-growing privately held companies in the U.S.” as ranked by Inc. magazine and was Executive Vice President of Marketing for Inc.’s seventh fastest-growing U.S. Internet company. She is also co-founder of Howard and Moor. She has also taught marketing internationally, in Moscow and Tula, Russia.

A Siena College graduate in Political Science, Cheryl now lives in Fonda, New York, with her husband and ten-year-old son. She also enjoys organic gardening, boating, and hiking.

Affiliate Partners

Ellen Bristol, Bristol Strategy Group

Ellen Bristol founded Bristol Strategy Group in 1995 after a 20-year career incorporates sales, intending to focus on the then-new concept of sales-force productivity. But the market had other plans for her. Almost immediately after hanging out her shingle, local nonprofits began to seek her help to strategize and improve their fundraising results. Bristol Strategy Group is a collaborating partner with Innovative Resources Group.

She has become a thought leader in fundraising management, with a mission to enhance nonprofit growth and sustainability by adapting beneficial corporate disciplines to the nonprofit sector, without losing its charitable heart and philanthropic soul. Problems solved by this approach include high staff turnover, inconsistent cash flow, inability to forecast accurately, and low donor retention rates.

Ellen designed the Leaky Bucket Assessment for Effective Fundraising, an online tool to measure nine basic practices contributing to or detracting from fundraising-team productivity. Currently, the assessment database includes records from over 1400 respondents. Scores from the assessment have been consistently low, suggesting that a lack of certain management disciplines may be harming the ability of many non-profit organizations to fund their operations and programs adequately and hold them back from achieving their desired levels of growth.

She also designed and implemented Fundraising the SMART Way™, an approach to income generation based on the continuous improvement model. Fundraising the SMART Way™ is a methodology for highly productive fundraising, including training, and implementation support. Her firm will launch SMART Way Analytics™in the fourth quarter of 2018, a software app designed to integrate with CRM platforms and report on productivity analytics.

Ellen is the author of Fundraising the SMART Way: Predictable, Consistent Income for Your Charity, published by John Wiley & Sons, and co-author with LindaLysakowski, ACFRE, of The Leaky Bucket: What’s Wrong with Your Fundraising andHow You Can Fix It!, published by CharityChannel Press. A benchmarking study of Leaky Bucket result is currently in production. Ellen is also a regular blogger, speaker and webinar presenter.

Contact Ellen at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by phone at 786-554-2666.

Beth Hershenhart, Founder, and CEO