Today we’d like to introduce you to Jenn Ballentine.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
After receiving my Master’s degree in Public Health at Emory, I obtained a full-time employee position at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through the Presidential Management Internship, a highly selective program that accepts young, talented career professionals.
While at the CDC, I worked in the Division of Reproductive Health and began my career designing and administering national, population-based reproductive health surveys in Latin American and Africa. I conducted secondary analyses of large, complex data sets and presented results nationally and in country reports.
After having my first child in 2003, I moved within the Division to a different branch where I co-managed a domestic, five year, multi-site, multi-million dollar research project. I assisted in the design and implementation of both quantitative and qualitative data methods and guided project partners in every aspect of study design.
After having my second child in 2006, I decided to leave CDC and tried the “stay at home” mom gig for a bit. I quickly learned that it wasn’t for me. I loved my children, but I needed something to call my own and to allow me to use my knowledge and skills. But I wanted the flexibility of being able to be with my children and work.
I slowly began reaching out to former colleagues who had also left the CDC and gone on to local nonprofits for consulting work. In an effort to build my business, I did some freelance writing and grant writing and authored various communications collateral for a few clients. While I enjoyed writing, I knew that I wanted to utilize my data collection and analysis expertise.
In 2009, with a partner, I applied for and was awarded a contract from the local Foundation to monitor and evaluate one of their new initiatives. I still monitor and evaluate this program today, nearly ten years later.
At that same time, I formed my own consulting company, formerly called Highland Communications and now called Highland Nonprofit Consulting and began working for other nonprofits and Foundations throughout Atlanta. To date, I have conducted over 30 evaluations for nearly 20 different organizations.
In addition, I have provided evaluation coaching, training, and technical assistance on behalf of two Atlanta-based Foundations for the past five years. I present findings from my work at the American Evaluation Association Annual Meeting and Summer Institute.
I am a preferred Evaluation Consultant for the Healthcare Georgia Foundation and have several long-term clients that I have been working with for five plus years. I often partner with other evaluation consultants on projects and continue to enjoy the flexibility and creativity that consulting provides.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road has definitely not always been smooth. The consulting world is often “feast or famine,” meaning that at times I have very little work and other times, I have so much work I can barely manage it all. Finding new work and new clients can be challenging.
Fortunately, I have several long-term clients that I work with. But in order to grow my business, I need to continually identify new opportunities and expand into different areas. One of the ways to do this is to respond to requests for proposals for evaluation work.
I have done this both individually and with colleagues and while sometimes it pays off as it did for my first evaluation contract which I still have ten years later, most of the time it requires a lot of unpaid work that does not necessarily result in a paying gig. Some of the other struggles include juggling owning a business with having a family.
While I appreciate the flexibility it gives me, it’s sometimes hard to really ever “leave the office.” There’s a constant pressure to be working in order to make money and to continue to grow and maintain the business.
However, the benefits of working from home and being able to control my own schedule far outweigh the disadvantages.
Please tell us about Highland Nonprofit Consulting.
My firm is a small, woman-owned consulting firm that offers highly specialized, tailored evaluation assistance and services to each and every client.
I have considerable experience and expertise in designing and implementing evaluations and helping nonprofits and Foundations to better assess and document their impact and success.
I strive to build internal organizational and evaluation capacity so that evaluation efforts can be sustained and organizations can become data-driven, cultures of learning that make programmatic and operational decisions based on solid evidence.
To that end, I provide high-touch, hands-on consultation and use a participatory, utilization-focused approach to evaluation. Working with the client, we design data collection tools and methods that collect actionable data that can easily be applied for programmatic and organizational improvement.
To make evaluation findings easily accessible and understood by multiple audiences, I use the latest data visualization techniques and real-time data dashboards. Because I value the relationship I have with my clients and see it as a partnership, I am very flexible and responsive and am always available to my clients.
I am most proud of my ability to help organizations value and better understand the importance of evaluating their programs and services and guiding agencies to make informed decisions.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite memory from childhood is playing store, office, and school with my best friend and neighbor across the street. We used to set up shops with stuff for sale, desks with important papers, calculators, books, etc. and pretend we were selling things, teaching students or doing work in our office.
We would set up all our dolls as students or customers who might come in to buy something and play out various scenarios that we made up. It’s funny to reflect on this now as it seems as if I knew what I wanted to do long ago!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.highlandnonprofitconsulting.com
- Phone: 4043144891
- Email: jenn@highlandnonprofitconsulting.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HighlandNonprofitConsulting/
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