"Nothing beats in-house staff who fully understand how an organization functions, but when you're growing, that's exactly when an outside view becomes critical. Amanda was a guide and thought partner to our leadership team and board through strategic visioning, wrote our advancement plan, and then went on to help the organization prepare for additional growth and rebranding. Her work moved like a river: each project flowed into the next because Amanda came to understand our organization the way in-house staff do, and kept it moving."

—Brenda Watson, Executive DirectorNorth Hartford Partnership (former CEO, Operation Fuel)

The idea

Most consulting is bought one project at a time, and every project pays a hidden tax: the new consultant has to learn the organization before the real work can begin. StoryB works the other way. The longer the relationship runs, the less it costs to start, the faster the work moves, and the more each engagement returns. Value compounds.

Here is what that looked like in practice with one of our region's most vital organizations.

The story

When Operation Fuel first contracted Amanda Aronson, Founder and Principal Consultant of StoryB, in 2022, it was for a full-day, off-site Executive Leadership Retreat, the first of its kind for the organization. There was no long-term contract and no expectation of one. They needed a skilled facilitator to bring their leaders into the same room and align them.

That one day set something in motion. Over the next two years, a period of significant growth for the organization, StoryB became the partner Operation Fuel returned to at every turn, through a leadership transition and the start of a full rebrand. Each time, the organization got more out of the engagement because StoryB already knew the mission, the culture, and the history. The relationship never reset. It compounded.

Soon after the first retreat, StoryB was invited back to facilitate another full-day off-site Board and Staff Retreat, another first of its kind, this one focused on aligning the board and staff around new strategic priorities. From the start, the work met the organization where it actually was, not where a fixed menu of services said it should be.

As priorities sharpened, the organization handed StoryB its fundraising foundation, work funded by a Technical Assistance Grant from the Nonprofit Support Program at the Greater Hartford Gives Foundation (formerly the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving). StoryB researched and wrote a Strategic Advancement Plan, complete with an operational calendar and prioritized goals, then supported its rollout with hands-on staff training. The Plan showed the organization how to integrate its fund-development needs with its marketing so the two moved as one. It coded donors and built giving levels, created a path for individual donor development, opened the way to launching planned giving, and set a major-donor strategy. Its operational calendar was built to carry the team through year-end fundraising and the plan's early stages, then blend into new priorities as staff capacity grew, so the team always knew exactly when to make adjustments. Because StoryB already understood the organization, none of this required a discovery phase. The work started at full speed, and StoryB stayed to help put the plan to work rather than handing over a document and leaving.

"Amanda was such a pleasure to work with. Her insights helped us develop actionable steps to increasing our donor engagement. She left us with a roadmap that felt realistic and growth-focused while also respecting the capacity of our small team."

—Courtney Said, Director of CommunicationsGeneration Power CT (formerly Operation Fuel)

From there the returns kept building. StoryB led Board Governance Training, then facilitated another Staff and Board Retreat, this one tied to a specific moment: preparing the board and staff for an upcoming CEO transition and welcoming a VP of Advancement who would take ownership of the Strategic Advancement Plan and its implementation. Each engagement stood on the foundation the last one laid. Every session began further down the field, which meant more of the budget went to progress and less to getting up to speed.

Then came the inflection point, the moment continuity is worth the most. Under a new interim CEO, Operation Fuel set out to become Generation Power CT, and StoryB's role expanded to match. It started with leadership. StoryB provided six months of Executive Coaching to the interim CEO, steadying the person at the center of the change through the very transition the rebrand would depend on. From there, StoryB took on Project Management for the rebrand launch, coordinating internal staff and external partners over roughly three months to prepare the organization for its public debut as Generation Power CT.

"Amanda and StoryB helped us navigate a series of challenging transitions, including interim leadership, and helped keep our team on an even keel."

—Roxanna Booth, Interim CEOGeneration Power CT (formerly Operation Fuel)

As the launch took shape, new needs surfaced, and StoryB was already in place to meet each one. When the Mission and Vision needed revising to fit the new brand and better position the work, StoryB guided the team through it, then facilitated another Board and Staff Retreat devoted to the rebrand: how the organization would talk about itself, what the change meant, orientation to the new brand, and how aligning fund-development and marketing would support the refreshed strategic priorities. As the public debut came together in early 2024, StoryB stepped in with added value the contract didn't require, drafting website content for the launch. The organization ultimately chose to delay the public launch to align with the arrival of its incoming CEO. StoryB prepared everything up to that point, and when the team was ready, they carried the launch over the finish line.

Through all of it, StoryB was the single partner connecting the strategy, the operations, the communications, and the leadership support, working shoulder to shoulder with the staff and board who carried the mission day to day. It held together because one partner already understood how all the pieces fit.

From the first retreat to the rebrand launch, StoryB was engaged first by the founding CEO, rehired by her repeatedly, then trusted by the interim CEO and the team to carry the organization through to the arrival of its new CEO. That continuity let Generation Power CT keep its momentum through a leadership change and a rebrand at the same time, without stopping to onboard a new consultant for every new challenge.

The timeline

Nine separate contracts, June 2022 to March 2024.

• June 2022Executive Leadership Retreat
• September 2022Board and Staff Retreat: align strategic priorities
• April 2023Strategic Advancement Plan: research, creation, and implementation, integrated with marketing
• August 2023Board Governance Training
• September 2023Staff and Board Retreat: prepare for CEO transition and VP of Advancement
• January 2024Executive Coaching for the interim CEO
• January 2024Project Management for the rebrand launch
• January 2024Mission and Vision development for the new brand
• January 2024Board and Staff Retreat: rebrand orientation and messaging

Why it worked

Operation Fuel leveraged the organizational knowledge, trust, and relationship StoryB had already built with its staff and board to work smart and spend its budget efficiently. Instead of hiring separate consultants for strategy, governance, leadership development, advancement, communications, rebranding, and executive coaching, the organization built one ongoing relationship with a partner who already knew its mission, culture, leadership, and history. That single choice paid off three ways, and the payoff grew over time.

"Amanda earned our trust through her ability to listen deeply, understand our organization, and deliver thoughtful guidance across a variety of initiatives. Whether guiding our annual development planning, facilitating leadership initiatives, or helping redevelop our website content, Amanda consistently brought insight, professionalism, and genuine care to every project. Her facilitation of our board and staff retreats over two years was particularly impactful, helping our team build stronger connections and create meaningful alignment around our mission. We chose to keep working with Amanda because she was more than a consultant, she became a trusted partner. Her familiarity with our organization allowed each project to build on previous work, creating continuity and momentum that would have been difficult to achieve by starting over with someone new each time."

—Darlene Yule, MPH, Chief Operating OfficerGeneration Power CT (formerly Operation Fuel)