A Great Partnership Almost Gets Off on the Wrong Foot

Prosal is launching a new blog series titled Respondent Spotlight. This series highlights the diversity of agencies, firms, and consultants using Prosal to access RFP opportunities easily. We’re kicking the series off with Commvey, a nonprofit and small business consulting group and an early partner of Prosal

The first time I emailed Estefania, I called her Stephanie by accident. The unforgiving moment of brain fatigue led to an immediate response, “ok. But my name is not Stephanie, not sure where that came from.”

It would set the stage for a great partnership with opinionated and passionate individuals trying to change the world one small action at a time.

Who is Commvey

Commvey is a small business and nonprofit consulting company founded to help organizations grow and scale with diversity, equity, and inclusion values top of mind. The company was founded in Milwaukee in the spring of 2019 by Christine Dunbeck, an award-winning communication professional with profound marketing and public relations experience.

Christine had seen a lot of bad advice shared with great businesses and nonprofits, so she wanted to build a place where professionals from these companies could go for honest feedback and strategy. She also had the vision to grow the company to provide communications, marketing, and JEDI support, and she’s succeeded in that effort. The company now services multiple clients at a time with a team of five across Florida, Chicago, and Chile.

Across their distributed team, Commvey prioritizes a collaborative company culture where all team members can lean in and learn from each other, allowing them not only to meet the needs of their clients but also to grow as individuals. And despite the growth, they place precious value on delivering a flexible, engaging, and inclusive work environment that upholds a healthy work-life balance.

When I asked Christine what makes Commvey special, she replied, “Commvey lives and breathes our values. We welcome clients of all shapes and sizes. We will meet the clients where they are and help them get to their destination. We are willing to roll up our sleeves and get to work with them. We are really moved by the prospect of empowering others.”

Prosal and Commvey

In December 2020, Estefania Mulvey Videla joined as the Creator of Opportunity. Estefania has spent her career in the progressive movement, participating in political campaigns, issue campaigns, union work, direct action organizing, and nonprofit work. As my first introduction to Commvey, she was the woman who gave me the first taste of Commvey’s straightforward approach to feedback and partnerships.

When Nick and I first joined a Zoom call with Estefania, one of the first questions she appropriately asked was, “Where the women at?” Despite a team of three BIPOC men building a marketplace where diversely owned and operated small businesses could access RFP opportunities, she was right in calling out our team’s lack of gender diversity. We weren’t the right people to consider the experience and needs of women-led firms, and I had a hunch we might have found someone to help us in that effort.

Estefania and Christine became one of our most ardent and constructive users. They call out when we get things wrong and celebrate our successes when we get them right, like earlier this month when we launched Prosal badges. In fact, Estefania and Christine were essential in creating the Prosal badges. They helped ideate and share the concepts for the Latinx, Black, and LGBT-owned business badges you see on many user profiles today, including theirs!.

“Prosal has given us another tool in our tool belt to reach the people who are in need of our services,” Christine said. “Nonprofit organizations have so many things happening that it is sometimes a heavy lift to increase capacity. Tools such as Prosal make it a lighter lift.”<

Client Success Leads to Joy

They serve a diverse range of clients, looking for organizations that align with their values and mission. It can be one of the most challenging parts of their business because the people they sometimes want to work with don’t always know they require support.

And yet, they get the work done with the people who fit their ideal client. Right now, one of their most exciting projects is working to help a nature conservancy outside the twin cities in Minnesota. The conservancy is genuinely dedicated to making their spaces more inclusive and equitable. Christine told me, “It has been wonderful helping them achieve that goal which will increase accessibility to their locations.”

Commvey’s client goal is to have their clients not need them. Although it is not an intuitive goal, they strive to give clients all the tools and strategies they need to accomplish their mission and vision. Christine wants to end their contracts knowing that the organizations and businesses are better off than before Commvey came along. In one of our most recent correspondences, she wrote to me, “Seeing our clients succeed brings us joy.”

Christine and Estefania are excited about the future potential Prosal. Helping nonprofits increase their capacity will allow them to focus on doing what they are good at, such as helping the community.

To learn more about Commvey, Christine, and Estefania, check out their website and profile on Prosal.