What does it mean to put words to work? Here at Working INK, this is what we believe and value.
Storytelling
At the heart of what we do at Working INK is UNDERSTANDING + TELLING YOUR STORY in a way that is not only cohesive and compelling, but financially productive— particularly when it comes to identifying unexplored funding opportunities or earned income streams. Our work always begins with discovering who you are as an organization— why your organization was created, where you’ve been and where you want to go— so we can connect your work and goals with potential funders.
Collaboration
Every client faces unique challenges and possesses their own particular strengths. You and your team a valuable resource in the work we do—WE TREAT ALL OF OUR CLIENTS AS COLLABORATIVE PARTNERS. We take the time to understand each client’s organizational culture and character, allowing us to authentically illuminate the heart of the organization and craft a message to shape and inspire community and prospective partners.
Problem-Shaping
Imagine that you are asked to work with two groups of people, both requiring 75 oranges to complete their own important task. You have 100 oranges. You could just let them fight over limited resources. If only one group can come out on top (or both without enough), isn’t communication unnecessary?
No. Not only is communication necessary– COMMUNICATION IS THE SOLUTION. Facilitating a dialogue between the groups opens up possibilities. Perhaps their needs are at cross purposes and we will need to seek other solutions, but just as frequently conversations reveal opportunity: The family-owned teashop blending its handcrafted teas primarily wants the peels and the “Hand-Squeezed Juice Shop” only wants the juice. Now instead of struggling for enough resources they are discussing how to distribute the responsibilities and profits of a modest revenue stream they have created as the supplier of seeds to a local startup producing essential oils and personalized perfumes.
When working with clients, we particularly focus on how you can better articulate your needs. Clarity and precision of communication can not only help you resolve situations like this story of orange scarcity, but can create untold opportunities to partner with organizations who never thought someone would want the orange peel they weren’t using.
Scaling Impact
Multitasking isn’t real. But we love when doing something once can count twice or three times (or more)— when we can UTILIZE RESOURCES IN MULTIPLE WAYS. We believe in using as many parts of the orange as possible without diluting its sweetness or tang.
This is why we’re constantly making connections, building relationships and working to learn about organizations from every field— the more people we know and the more we understand about what they can bring to the table, the more power we have to leverage our network for the good of the many.
Abundance
This all brings us to our core philosophy: that we live in a world of abundance, not of scarcity. GENEROSITY DOES NOT DIMINISH US, BUT ELEVATES EVERYONE. We believe in creating the kind of community that supports itself and leverages its resources to their full potential. We’ve established a working style that helps us engage with and stay attuned to our community because we know we are more creative and see with more clarity when we’re out in the world— and it allows us to communicate on a daily basis with people who understand the real and critical needs of our community from a range of perspectives we could never assume ourselves.