Provoc

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the VP of equity and research at a regional foundation in Southwest, Pennsylvania. We are a grant-making organization supporting a thriving region and working here in three broad areas of learning, sustainability, and creativity.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Provoc?

We were trying to expand our commitment relative to equity in the region.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Provoc helped us develop an in-depth approach to understanding equity communications and have tools and resources that would be useful for grantees. Part of that was developing definitions and distributing those within other members of the foundation. The end product was a digital toolkit.  

The team also facilitated workshops with our grantees. Some of our first workshops happened in the spring of 2019. 

What is the team composition?

Two people worked with us on this project, including their director of equity. 

How did you come to work with Provoc?

Our president heard them at a convening where he participated. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent approximately $50,000–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

They worked on our project from June 2018–June 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

The workshops they conducted received good feedback. Stakeholders said that the workshops had good content and it helped them understand what race equity-focused communications meant. 

We didn’t use the tool kit as much as we had hoped, but its content remains relevant and useful. Last month, I was able to share it with two of our capacity-building grantees. Overall, it was a successful engagement. 

How did Provoc perform from a project management standpoint?

We did a lot of our communication through emails and calls. We also had a few in-person sessions with Provoc. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication expertise was really good. Above all, their understanding of what effective communications entailed and what it meant relative to building a race equity-focused communication set of practices impressed us. They were also good at helping us think about how to do that in ways that would be useful. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Initially, there was so much information that it was hard to digest the whole package. It was challenging to figure out how to use it with grantees. However, they were able to rise above that by segmenting the information in smaller bites or packaging. Provoc worked with us until we got what we wanted. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear about what you want to do. Give them your goals and if you already have ideas on how to tackle your project, share them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of a collaborative of nine racial equity organizations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Provoc?

We needed help getting people out to vote and getting them counted in the census.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped create our messaging campaign and associated collateral that we used in our social communications. Before COVID-19, we used their collateral to run events on the ground for RSVPs, posters, and event invites. We also used them to create press releases, email blasts, text messages, and social media marketing on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.

They also created post-cards with instructions on how to get counted in the census, but we didn’t end up using those because of the pandemic. Provoc helped us switch and reimagine what our campaign could look like in the digital space, once we realized we could not door-knock.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with 7–9 people on any given campaign.

How did you come to work with Provoc?

We started working with them through a contact on a 2018 project.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $250,000–$300,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in May 2019, and our work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We’re a unique organization and they understand the power that rests in what we could do together. Although we don’t know the outcome of the census yet, they’re very good at maximizing the limited resources that we had. The team was committed to turning out the communities that we wanted to reach the most.

How did Provoc perform from a project management standpoint?

We used BaseCamp for project management, which was helpful to have everything in one place. They’re very communicative. They have a project manager that keeps the budget on track and they have different leads for different portions of the work. We communicate really regularly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They do a pretty deep analysis on strategy. They also spent a lot of time on the underpinning pieces of the campaign which helped carry it forward and make it more impactful.

Oftentimes communications firms that don’t deal with communities of color need a lot of explanation and hand-holding. We didn’t need to provide that much explanation with Provoc, since they are POC led. It was really helpful, since we were trying to move things quickly in a high-pressure situation.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes their eyes are bigger than their stomach. It’s super admirable, but sometimes we don’t have the capacity to do it.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure your mission is aligned. They’re a social impact firm and they do care about being vision aligned and driving towards outcome.