Foundations / Non-Profits

Michaels Opinion Research founder Maureen Michaels has been a board member of several non-profit groups, lending the firm a keen understanding of the unique objectives and issues faced by these organizations.

Projects include surveys, focus groups and one-on-one interviews with:

Donors, patients, members and key audiences to determine interests, concerns and information needs, and test campaign strategies, tactics and messaging.
Specialized groups and the general public to discover and reveal attitudes toward important social issues, to help craft effective organization positioning and to identify motivators and barriers to donor commitment.

For the Rainforest Alliance, we designed and led a ideation session with a group of top communications experts in the US to develop a more concise and compelling description of the organization’s global efforts and accomplishments.

For Transportation Alternatives, we developed and tested positioning concepts and messaging for a campaign to broaden public acceptance of bike lane expansion in New York City.

For the Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis, we developed a sophisticated research program―online and by mail―to understand patients' family histories and diagnostic and treatment experiences. The success of the initial year endeavor prompted donor support for the extension of the project and provided medical researchers at top universities with an invaluable database of patients with a rare, but increasingly prevalent disease with no known cause or cure.

For the British Council USA, we designed a series of projects to investigate the ambitions of promising minority students and their attitudes toward the UK as a place to study, work or live.

For the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, we have conducted several research studies that have informed the development of sexual health education programs and the production of PSAs broadcast on MTV, BET and UPN. Two published studies on HIV prevention have been widely distributed to public health agencies throughout the country and another used for the seventeen magazine TeenSmarts series.

For the Acumen Fund and Rockefeller Foundation, we designed research to assist leading global philanthropy advocates in the development of key positioning concepts for a new “venture philanthropy” model. The Acumen Fund was successfully launched in the difficult economic environment of 2001-02 and enjoys ongoing success.

Selected non-profit clients include:

Academy for Educational Development

Acumen Fund

AuctionAir

British Council USA

Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis

New York League of Conservation Voters

National Audubon Society

Rainforest Alliance

Rockefeller Foundation

Royal Shakespeare Company

Stamford Health Foundation

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation

Transportation Alternatives

Tri-State Transportation Campaign

Arts and Education

Corporate / Business Strategy

Financial / Investor Relations