Present and Past Clients

Advocacy and Communication Solutions

Advocacy and Community Solutions (ACS) is a national communication, advocacy, and strategy development consulting firm that helps nonprofits, for-profits, government agencies, and philanthropic organizations successfully achieve their missions.

GHK Consulting serves as a strategic partner, bolstering ACS' efforts in delivering tailored solutions and achieving successful outcomes for their clients.

 

After the Harvest (ATH)

After the Harvest is a nonprofit organization that rescues nutritious fruits and vegetables from going to waste and donates them to agencies that serve hungry people, primarily in Greater Kansas City.

Gretchen Kunkel was hired to develop its 2022-2025 three-year strategic plan. Gretchen was contracted formerly to develop its two previous strategic plans.

 

Armed Services YMCA of Alaska

The Armed Services YMCA Alaska empowers military families, no matter who they are or where they’re from, by ensuring access to resources, relationships, and opportunities for all to learn, grow, and thrive.

GHK Consulting provided research to help the organization’s fundraising efforts.

 

Better Food Policy Fund

The Better Food Policy Fund is a values-driven initiative that supports local, regional, and tribal groups, or food policy councils, across the nation working to advance equitable food policy through civic collaboration. The fund is administered by the Tides Foundation.

GHK Consulting provides fund development and fundraising services to the fund.

 

Business Volunteers Unlimited (BVU)

BVU is a nonprofit organization dedicated to building a strong and vibrant Northeast Ohio community. BVU engages businesses and employers to help address and solve critical community issues that affect the lives of many.

BVU subcontracted with GHK Consulting to help provide strategic planning services to LSC Service Corporation and Barton Senior Center.

 

Center for Community Solutions

The Center for Community Solutions (CCS) is an Ohio-based nonpartisan think tank with expertise in health, social, and economic issues.

GHK Consulting is supporting CCS in its efforts to build the advocacy capacity of foundations participating in the Greater Cleveland Funders Collaborative and the Northeast Ohio Philanthropy Policy Lab.

 

Community Partnership of the Ozarks (CPO)

CPO is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to facilitate and promote the building of resilient children, healthy families, and strong neighborhoods and communities in Springfield, MO, and the surrounding area.

GHK Consulting provided strategic fundraising and grantwriting services in their application for funding from the USDA’s Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program.

 

Health Forward Foundation

Health Forward Foundation is a nonprofit organization in Kansas City committed to supporting and building inclusive, powerful and healthy communities characterized by racial equity and economically just systems.

GHK Consulting performed a review and mixed-method evaluation of their Healthy Communities Leadership Academy.

 

Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future

The Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (CLF) works with students, educators, researchers, policymakers, advocacy organizations and communities to build a healthier, more equitable and resilient food system.

GHK Consulting helped organize and fundraise for the first national food policy forum, held in September 2021.

 

LEAD Ohio Foundation

LEAD Ohio exists to recruit, train, connect, and support individuals who want to build a more equitable Ohio through progressive change.

GHK Consulting is serving as a general advisor on fund development and administrative strategies and assisting with grantwriting activities for the organization.

 

Lead Safe Cleveland Coalition

The Lead Safe Cleveland Coalition is a public-private partnership formed to address the issue of lead poisoning in Cleveland. Enterprise Community Partners facilitates the Coalition and, on behalf of the Coalition, serves as the official contracting entity of the Coalition’s main tool, the Lead Safe Home Fund.

GHK Consulting is contracted by Enterprise to provide administrative support for the Coalition’s programming.

 

Missouri Foundation for Health

The Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH) is an independent philanthropic foundation committed to eliminating underlying causes of health inequities, transforming systems, and enabling individuals and communities to thrive.

GHK Consulting serves as one of MFH’s MoCAP consultants, which offers technical support and consulting services free of charge to eligible Missouri organizations pursuing federal or national funding for health- or prevention-focused programs.

 

The Moran Company

The Moran Company specializes in nationwide searches for executive leadership positions, senior-level fundraising staff, and senior leadership positions. Their recruiters have served as nonprofit CEOs and fundraisers.

Gretchen H. Kunkel serves as a senior search advisor for the Moran Company. In this role, she supports the firm’s recruitment efforts for CEOs, executive directors, senior-level fundraising staff, and other key leadership positions. She also provided strategic planning services for the firm.

 
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Missouri Convergence Partnership (MCP)

MCP is a collaboration of funders and allies committed to improving equitable access to healthy eating and active living (HEAL) across Missouri.

GHK Consulting evaluated its work in food equity and youth development. GHK Consulting previously performed a historical review and a mixed-method evaluation of the partnership and created a story describing their impact on health equity, healthy eating, and active living.

 

Missouri State Alliance of YMCAs

The Missouri State Alliance of YMCAs is a nonprofit association that represents the 24 YMCA Associations throughout Missouri. They are a grassroots-driven and governed organization that advocates and educates on behalf of the YMCAs and our mission.

GHK Consulting has worked multiple times with the organization. She developed a framework and proposal for the organization to address food insecurity in rural Missouri, and developed a strategic plan for a rural health network in Northeast Missouri.

 

Safe Kids Summit County

Safe Kids Summit County is a community-based coalition that implements evidence-based programs, such as car-seat checkups, safety workshops, and sports clinics, to help parents and caregivers prevent childhood injuries. It is led by Akron Children's Hospital.

GHK Consultant worked with the coalition to develop its next strategic plan.

 

Stark County Board of Developmental Disabilities

The Stark County Board of Developmental Disabilities exists to connect individuals and families with the services they need for health, safety, education, and a high quality of life.

GHK Consulting provided strategic planning services to the organization.

 

Stark County Mental Health and Addiction Recovery

Stark County Mental Health and Addiction Recovery is a multi-faceted county behavioral health board that ensures mental health and addiction prevention, treatment, and recovery support services are available to individuals and families in Stark County.

GHK Consulting provided strategic planning services to the organization.

 

Sullivan County Memorial Hospital

Sullivan County Memorial Hospital (SCMH) is a not-for-profit organization serving the health care needs of Sullivan County (MO) and the surrounding area with acute, emergency, outpatient, and long-term care.

In 2022, SCMH was awarded a HRSA Rural Health Network Development Planning Program grant to establish the Sullivan County Health Improvement Network (SCHIN). GHK Consulting helped the SCHIN develop its strategic plan.

 

Summit County Public Health

Summit County Public Health protects and promotes the health of the entire community through programs and activities designed to address the safety, health, and well-being of the people who live in Summit County.

GHK Consulting provided technical assistance to the Employers for Health Consortium, managed by Summit County Public Health, to support the implementation of evidence-based worksite solutions that improve health, reduce employee chronic disease rates, and lower health care costs.

 

University of Kansas Medical Center

The University of Kansas Medical Center's mission is to improve lives and communities in Kansas and beyond through innovation in education, research and health care.

GHK Consulting provided facilitation and analysis services for the University of Kansas School of Medicine in their evaluation of the Missouri Foundation for Health’s Healthy Schools Healthy Communities Initiative.

Past Clients

The following are past clients of GHK Consulting prior to 2020. Services offered included business and strategic planning, coalition building, facilitation, revenue generation, organizational and leadership development, outcomes measurement, program development, research, and strategic alliance development. From 2008 to 2018, consulting engagements were limited due to Gretchen Kunkel serving as president of KC Healthy Kids.

  • Bank of America, Private Bank - Kansas City, Missouri

  • Boys and Girls Town of Missouri and Edgewood Children’s Center - St. James and St. Louis, Missouri

  • Butterfield Youth Services - Marshfield, Missouri

  • Community of the Good Shepherd, Special Neighbors, Inc., and UCP of Greater Kansas City - all three in Kansas City, Missouri

  • Community Resource Network - Kansas City, Missouri

  • Cornerstones of Care - Kansas City, Missouri

  • Cornerstones of Care and Boys and Girls Town of Missouri - Kansas City, Missouri, and St. James, Missouri

  • Domestic Violence Center - Cleveland, Ohio

  • House of Hope Kansas City - Shawnee Mission, Kansas

  • KC Healthy Kids - Kansas City, Missouri

  • Mental Health Advocacy Coalition - Cleveland, Ohio

  • Missouri Alliance for Children and Families - Jefferson City, Missouri

  • Missouri Coalition of Children’s Agencies - Jefferson City, Missouri

  • Missouri Convergence Partnership - Columbia, Missouri

  • Missouri Coordinated School Health Coalition - Columbia, Missouri

  • North Texas Food Bank and Tarrant Area Food Bank - Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas

  • Project AIM and Public Achievement of Greater Kansas City - both in Kansas City, Missouri

  • Urban Core Nonprofit Alliance - Kansas City, Missouri

  • Wichita Children’s Home - Wichita, Kansas

  • Working Solutions - Kansas City, Missouri