What is MEDIAGIRLS?
MEDIAGIRLS is a non-profit organization that boosts the self-worth of girls and young women by teaching them to critically analyze and reject sexist media messaging, know their true self-worth, and harness the power of media for positive social change. In giving girls these tools, MEDIAGIRLS stands at the forefront of a girl-powered revolution to make over the media through challenging the status quo and creating empowering content for girls and young women everywhere.
Why did they need help?
MEDIAGIRLS started off with a bang in 2014 with a pilot project to teach middle-school girls about the politics of media representation in a 10-week after-school program. The executive director’s tenacity and the #metoo movement won the organization a great deal of start-up funding. But without a solid nonprofit infrastructure in place to provide ongoing and diversified sources of financial support, MEDIAGIRLS was at risk for being a flash in the pan.
How did Kelly Segal Consulting help them?
Like many nonprofit founders, MEDIAGIRLS’s executive director was succeeding in achieving the mission, but not the nuts and bolts of nonprofit management. Kelly provided fundraising training for MEDIAGIRLS’s executive director and board, teaching them about development planning, solicitation, and stewardship by mapping out the steps toward developing MEDIAGIRLS as a sustainably growing organization.
What happened next?
MEDIAGIRLS has seen rapid growth in its short lifetime. Since incorporating in 2015, the organization has grown from one after-school program to 12 in mainly underserved communities in Boston, starting in fall 2018, with more than 600 girls participating to date. In addition, more than 4,000 middle-school girls and their parents have participated in MEDIAGIRLS’s standalone workshops. With Kelly’s professional consultation, MEDIAGIRLS is poised to continue growing at a sustainable pace — and eventually reach girls nationwide.
“Kelly has been extraordinarily helpful in providing our nonprofit with development strategies that are pragmatic and concrete, and talking through how to execute them in ways that feel natural and comfortable for our staff. Her friendly, easy-going style makes her a pleasure to work with.”
—Michelle Cove, executive director
December 11, 2018