Welcome. We connect powerful ideas to valuable partnerships and investment.
Welcome Strategies is a consulting practice that specializes in creative community engagement, network development, and strategic advising for nonprofits, government, businesses, and philanthropy.
Developed in collaboration with partners, our approaches are grounded in community and civic wellbeing–ensuring expansive stakeholder inclusion and resulting in processes that are as valuable as the product.
Who we are
We are Alexandra Nelson and Jaime Dempsey, strategists + founders of Welcome Strategies. Based in Phoenix, Arizona, we are both artists and former directors of the Arizona Commission on the Arts, and possess deep experience in local and national philanthropy, community leadership, and the nonprofit and public sectors.
Please visit our LinkedIn profiles for bios and professional skills summaries.
What we do
Our consulting practices prioritize and honor communities’ perspectives, stories, aspirations, and the uniqueness of the places they call home.
With a strong focus on assets and potential, we devise strategies that encourage connection and build a sense of excitement and ownership in both process and outcome—seeding powerful partnerships and ensuring maximum return on investment.
We support nonprofits, government, businesses, and philanthropic entities with the following services.
Engagement: community engagement campaigns; focused stakeholder-group engagement
Network development: collaborative partnerships; stakeholder analysis, outreach, and activation
Strategic advising: program and service design; collaborative partnerships; special expertise in philanthropic practices, grantmaking, community investments, nonprofit sector
Planning: strategic visioning, planning, and related engagement, research, and promotion
Business consulting: change management and nonprofit consulting; coaching, mentoring, and leadership development; program and project management
Events: creative facilitation; event design, coordination, and production
Documentation: content strategy and analysis; grant and proposal support
Additionally, we are enthusiastic collaborators, thought partners, and connectors, ready to support you in knitting together a combination of these or other services to advance your organization’s objectives.
Recently completed projects
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Engaged by Arizona Office of Tourism to devise statewide community engagement strategies and public participation activities for campaign leading to a refreshed brand identity for the State of Arizona and its component agencies.
Via innovative listening sessions, interviews, and survey instruments co-designed with residents, Discovering Arizona engaged over 2,000 Arizonans, representing 57 cities, towns, and Tribal Nations across all 15 Arizona counties, and resulted in an energized, diverse coalition of residents who viewed themselves as campaign contributors and champions for the new Arizona brand. -
Retrospective from State of Arizona’s statewide community engagement campaign, Discovering Arizona, designed by Welcome Strategies. Demonstrates engagement ethos via campaign participant voices and enthusiasm, plus diversity of activities and locations.
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Full playlist of Discovering Arizona social media videos. As the campaign gathered momentum, virtual campaign followers had opportunities to ask questions, engage in dialogue, and share additional perspectives.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxaSaHdfRmxknSXdjymmpwa9TnQoA6BMA
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Video from listening session conducted around a campfire at Quality Horses Ranch in Nogales, Arizona. Session co-facilitated with local partners in English/Spanish for ease of participation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtVKFkEHbMY&list=PLxaSaHdfRmxknSXdjymmpwa9TnQoA6BMA&index=26
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Engaged by Artlink, an arts and business development organization, to increase statewide awareness and visibility and expand relationships with rural stakeholders.
Through diverse communications vehicles and community spotlights, Detours Across Arizona engaged 100+ strategic "community connectors" representing 39 Arizona cities and towns and 9 counties/Tribal Nations, connected new stakeholders to Artlink’s programs, and resulted in new service alliance and funds-development prospects for the organization.
At Welcome Strategies, we help mission-driven entities learn to better engage their stakeholders, then translate that engagement to real strategy and results. We’d love to support your organization as it strengthens its capacity to achieve its goals.
You can reach us using this webform or via LinkedIn. We look forward to connecting!
