About Us

Big Duck is a worker-owned cooperative that has been developing nonprofit brands, campaigns, and teams for decades. We’ve honed our process and structure to make communications projects manageable for our clients while delivering exceptional results.

Our team helps nonprofits use communications to advance their missions through brand building, fundraising and outreach campaigns, strategic communications plans, and coaching for communications and development teams.

We’re big enough to have deep expertise on our staff—but not so big that you’ll get lost in the fold. When you work with us, you’ll collaborate with a team of researchers, planners, writers, designers, and account managers who are skilled facilitators, strategic thinkers, and creative problem solvers.

As a worker-owned cooperative, Big Duck is owned by our employees. Staff who are worker-owners have more power in guiding how Big Duck operates and an equal share in the company’s profits, regardless of their role, seniority, or tenure. We’re proud to be part of a global community of cooperatives working to create fairer and more equitable business structures and practices.

Are we the right partner for you? We’d love to learn more about your organization and discover if we can help. Read more about our team and what we do or tell us more about your project here.

Clients

Our clients change the world, and we love being a part of that. Since 1994, we’ve helped hundreds of nonprofits improve their branding, campaigns, and fundraising efforts. Here’s a list of some of our recent and current clients.

  • Apollo Theater
  • Brooklyn Botanic Garden
  • Dancing Classrooms
  • The Green-Wood Historic Fund
  • Manhattan Theatre Club
  • Newark Museum of Art
  • Project for Public Spaces
  • The Public Theater
  • Queens Botanical Garden
  • Sundance Institute
  • VH1 Save the Music Foundation
  • The WNET Group/ALL ARTS
  • Astraea Lesbian Foundation For Justice
  • CFLeads: Community Foundations Leading Change
  • Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
  • Community Foundation of Collier County
  • Fair Labor Association
  • Ms. Foundation for Women
  • National Council of Nonprofits
  • NeighborWorks America
  • The New York Women's Foundation
  • Robin Hood
  • Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust
  • Barnard College
  • Blue Engine
  • Internationals Network for Public Schools
  • The Jewish Theological Seminary
  • The KIPP Foundation
  • Launch Expeditionary Learning Charter School
  • Lycée Français de New York
  • MƒA (Math for America)
  • New York School of Interior Design
  • NYC FIRST
  • Parsons School for Design
  • Per Scholas
  • Bat Conservation International
  • Brooklyn Botanic Garden
  • Climate Central
  • Conservation International
  • GRID Alternatives
  • New York-New Jersey Trail Conference
  • Pasa Sustainable Agriculture
  • Prospect Park Alliance
  • WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society)
  • Urban Green Council
  • American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
  • Auburn Seminary
  • Covenant House
  • Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles
  • Good Shepherd Services
  • The Jewish Board
  • National Council of Jewish Women
  • Reconstructing Judaism
  • Access Justice Brooklyn
  • Atlanta Community Food Bank
  • Change Machine (formerly The Financial Clinic)
  • Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC)
  • Commonpoint Queens (formerly Samuel Field Y and the Central Queens Y)
  • Community Voices Heard
  • FAMILYConnections
  • Human Services Campus
  • NYC Department of Youth and Community Development
  • NYC Family Policy Project
  • Pet Partners
  • Radiant Futures
  • American Parkinson Disease Association
  • Breast Cancer Research Foundation
  • Burke Neurological Institute
  • CaringBridge
  • Fountain House
  • Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation
  • Open Door Family Medical Center
  • Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy
  • Primary Care Development Corporation
  • RWJ University Hospital Foundation
  • TSC Alliance
  • American Jewish World Service
  • Corporate Accountability
  • Health Equity International (formerly St. Boniface Haiti Foundation)
  • HIAS
  • Humanity & Inclusion-US
  • International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region
  • IPAS
  • RefugePoint
  • Women and Manual Trades
  • American Civil Liberties Union
  • American Immigration Council
  • Community Change
  • Center for Constitutional Rights
  • Center for Justice Innovation
  • Institute for Women's Policy Research
  • John Jay College Institute for Justice and Opportunity (formerly Prisoner Reentry Institute)
  • Keshet: For LGBTQ Equality in Jewish Life
  • Muslim Advocates
  • National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice
  • National Employment Law Project
  • Race Forward
  • Shriver Center on Poverty Law
  • True Colors United

Values

Big Duck is part of a larger worker-owned cooperative movement that’s guided by a set of principles from the International Cooperative Alliance. In addition, our team operates with the following values in all that we do:

  • We balance “me” and “we”

    To steward this worker-owned organization, we act responsibly and with empathy so each person, and the cooperative as a whole, can thrive.
  • We learn for the better

    Long and difficult work does not deter us. We make mistakes, and we have the grace and accountability to reflect, improve, and grow.
  • We experiment

    Curiosity sparks our creativity. We venture beyond conventional boundaries and explore new ideas with an open, forward-thinking mindset.
  • We succeed together

    Collaboration, trust, and respect are the foundation of our work. Through candor—especially when it's most difficult—we grow as a collective and achieve more.
  • We ignite joy

    Through playfulness and connection, we find fulfillment in our work and elevate each other and our communities.

DEI Commitment

Big Duck proactively works to build our knowledge of and competencies surrounding diversity, equity, inclusion, and antiracism. As we continuously learn and grow, we set explicit intentions and implement practices that apply these lenses to our work with clients and how we run our company. Our in-house equity committee meets biweekly to build our collective capacity and consciousness and leads projects that engage our whole team. We also partner with other consultants who help us infuse inclusion and equity more deeply into Big Duck’s culture and practices.

Team

Big Duck is 100% worker-owned. We are a values-driven business that is actively working to center diversity, equity, inclusion, and antiracism in how we work together as a team, with our clients, and among our partners.

Board

As a worker-owned cooperative, Big Duck is governed by a board of directors, comprised primarily of staff who are worker-owners. The board makes decisions and approves policies that benefit the cooperative and all of its workers.

Our current board of directors are:

  • Ally Dommu
  • Sarah Durham
  • Olivia Freire, Secretary
  • Brenda Perez
  • Jennifer Petersen, Vice Chair
  • Claire Taylor Hansen
  • Sandy Zimmerman, Chair

Open House

Big Duck regularly holds open houses to connect with individuals and nonprofits who’d like to learn more about us. Each open house includes a brief overview of our work, a Q & A session with one or more of our staff members, and the opportunity to ask questions and network.

Jobs

In search of the satisfaction that comes from helping great nonprofits improve communications? You might have what it takes to join our team.

Big Duck collaborates with talented writers, designers, and strategists at all stages of their careers. Experience with and a passion for working with nonprofit organizations is a plus.

Copywriting:
We’re looking for writers with experience in naming, short-form, and long-form writing.

Design:
We’re looking for designers with experience in logo design, branding & identity systems, art direction, design production, front-end digital design, print layout, and illustration.

Strategists:
We’re looking for researchers and planners with with experience in conducting interviews, developing and analyzing surveys, conducting landscape scans, creating communications plans, and more.

Sounds great. How do I apply?

Please follow the instructions and fill out this form. We will be in touch if we think you’re a good fit. No direct phone calls, please. Thank you for your interest.

Learn more and apply