Resources
We are advisors to superheroes.
Learn more about our clients, projects, and insights. Discover tools, case studies, news, and information.
Meet Julie Sand!
Julie Sand During Creation In Common's earliest days, we contracted Julie Sand to help with a big statewide survey of arts organizations for the Jerome Foundation. We were impressed with her energy, breadth of experience, and her organizational skills. After that,...
Client Spotlight – Center for Craft: Embracing Our Shared Humanity
Center for Craft's National Innovation Hub located in Asheville North Carolina Although "arts and crafts" are often lumped together, they are actually distinct forms of creativity with their own approaches and philosophies, but they can still be hard to define. Now...
Our Three Promises
Strategic facilitation is one of Creation In Common's greatest strengths. We have become very adept at helping people collaborate, connect their ideas, and identify and articulate really tough questions. And then we help them find a way to tackle those...
Finding Our Moonshot: 20 Years of Creation In Common
2002 - Year One of Creation In Common - (l to r) Dana Gillespie, Carlo Cuesta, and Padraic Lillis As Creation In Common celebrates our 20th anniversary this year, we look back to the very beginning, when three theater makers — Dana Gillespie, Carlo Cuesta, and Padraic...
Pivot. Restore. Reboot.
https://youtu.be/B13IpFREKd8 Our partners, our clients, and our own staff have faced remarkable challenges with strength, flexibility, and optimism. This brief video shares how we're all moving forward as we make plans that give purpose to these turbulent...
Data Collection: The Effective, Versatile Survey
Data can be a powerful tool to help nonprofits, both large and small, gather information and feedback from clients, guests, audiences, beneficiaries, and even their own board and staff members. However, many organizations are unsure how to collect that data. Creation...
Welcome, Laura!
Please join us in welcoming our newest team member — Laura Venhaus! Laura will support Bryn and the team on research and evaluation projects with the Minnesota Department of Health, Minnesota Humanities Center, and the Schubert Club. Laura has a broad array of...
Managing Growth: The Power of Cross-Functional Leadership Teams
Creation in Common Founder and Managing Partner, Carlo Cuesta, discusses how organizations experiencing rapid or unexpected growth can benefit from the work of a cross-functional leadership team. Why is cross-functional leadership such a focus for Creation in...
A Revolutionary New Model: Today’s Harvest
Today's Harvest may look much like any other bright, friendly neighborhood market, but it's so much more. Six days a week Today's Harvest shoppers grab a cart and select from a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, baked goods, meats, dairy products, and more...
Resilience: Great Plains Food Bank
As an organization that’s deeply committed to ending hunger throughout North Dakota and Western Minnesota, Great Plains Food Bank was familiar with trauma and crises. Among the 102,000 people it served, many struggled daily just to survive. And then came the pandemic....
Communications Tool: Simplify Your Organizational History
Anyone who has ever had to write a bio will likely agree: writing about yourself can be hard. The same is true for nonprofit organizations. And yet an organizational history is very useful for writing grants, for onboarding new staff and board members, and for...
A Year of Shared Creativity
By Dana M. Gillespie Dana Gillespie and Carlo Cuesta, Co-Founders of Creation In Common Soon after the world started falling apart — with the pandemic, the isolation, the murder of George Floyd, and the uprising that came after — I had a deeply touching experience. We...