We gather data and create meaning to fuel programs and decisions.
Where 'what if' meets 'why not?'
and becomes 'what's next'
Sometimes, an idea or a conversation is so impactful that you can’t let it slip away.
And sometimes, the only thing you have to write on is a napkin.
For us, the back of the napkin represents inspiration and collaboration. It’s the creative energy that comes from special moments where people and plans click. It’s the catalyst that drives us to dream, discover, and strive for more.
We create and capture these back-of-the-napkin moments for our clients.
From the Trenches to Your Team
We've worn the many of the hats you wear now - monitoring and evaluation specialists, health communicators, data analysts, social workers, and nonprofit leaders who've designed programs, written and managed grants, delivered front-line services, built teams, navigated organizational change, and handled plenty of 'other duties as assigned.'
We understand your challenges because they were once our challenges too.
The BOTN Method: How We Work
We Make Complexity Manageable
We untangle the technical knots, translate the jargon, and create clear pathways through intricate problems. As systems thinkers, we help you see how all the pieces fit together and build frameworks that respond to change.
We Make It Matter
We humanize numbers by bringing their stories to life and making them accessible to everyone - from the board room to the front lines.
We Make it Fun
By designing processes people actually want to participate in, we transform routine processes and projects into powerful learning opportunities that build lasting capabilities.
We Make it Last
When your team and the communities you serve help design the strategy, they become champions who ensure it succeeds long after we're gone.
Whether you feel stuck in organizational quicksand or you're energized to launch that program you know will transform your community, we're here to help you gather meaningful input, align diverse stakeholders, and create lasting change.
We create systems from ideas—one napkin sketch at a time.
Our Founder
Meet our principal consultant Dana Benjamin-Allen! Dana’s personal and professional life is rooted in service—with youth development as its hallmark. She’s a change strategist and speaker who helps mission-driven organizations gather, decipher, and apply data to catapult results.
As a community leader in the local, regional and national nonprofit space, she creates systems and uses data to solve problems, streamline processes and improve outcomes. Since 2006, she has helped organizations build the capacity to support their mission, strategies, and growth by creating a dialogue that gives individuals an opportunity to understand technical concepts so that they can meaningfully engage in conversations and contribute to results.
Whether she's guiding staff through a Muppet emoji post test, transforming complex survey results into a scratch-off game, or stewarding a strategy design using LEGO® SeriousPlay®, Dana transforms intimidating data challenges into collaborative adventures—turning technical concepts into insight, decisive action, and lasting change.
Principles That Drive Our Practice
We believe in the power of elevating diverse perspectives, using community-based and human-centered approaches, and listening to understand in order to better empower and serve our clients and communities.
We recognize that many of the issues faced by the communities we serve result from systemic oppression that disproportionately affects people along racial, ethnic, gender, and socioeconomic lines.
We come to this work from a position of privilege and recognize that it is our responsibility to actively confront our own biases and the systemic injustices we hope to change.
We bring this commitment to every partnership, project, and napkin sketch. It's not separate from our work—it's fundamental to how we approach every challenge we face together.