Preserve and Inspire
George C. Marshall Foundation | 2022
When the George C. Marshall Museum and Foundation faced the loss of its primary physical engagement model, it needed a way to sustain its mission, reach new audiences, and secure the funding required to support a fully digital future.
The museum’s traditional model relied on in-person visitation, donor events, and physical storytelling. With those pathways disrupted, the organization risked losing both audience connection and critical fundraising momentum.
The context: About the Foundation
George C. Marshall
U.S. Army Chief of Staff during World War II. Architect of the Marshall Plan for European reconstruction. The only professional soldier to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Foundation
Located in Lexington, Virginia, the George C. Marshall Foundation preserves his papers, artifacts, and legacy through research, education, and public engagement.
The challenge
A traditional model built on in-person visitation, donor events, and physical storytelling had been disrupted. Audience connection and fundraising were both at risk.
The Foundation spent decades building a presence rooted in place. When that model became unavailable, the organization faced a question that many mission-driven institutions avoid until it is urgent: what holds us together when the building is not an option?
The answer was in rethinking how digital could carry the weight that physical had always carried before. Storytelling. Donor cultivation. Institutional credibility. All of it needed to function through a screen rather than a room.
I was brought in as a consulting partner to guide that transition, working closely with Foundation leadership to define the strategy, select the right digital partner, and build the tools that would carry it through.
The work
Three things that made the difference.
01: Vendor selection and partnership
I led the evaluation and selection of a digital partner aligned with the Foundation's long-term vision, balancing technical capability with genuine strategic collaboration. Getting this right mattered as much as anything that followed.
02: A website rebuilt for storytelling and giving
I guided the redesign toward a more narrative-driven experience: one that could hold the weight of Marshall's legacy, engage audiences who had never visited in person, and give donors a clear, compelling reason to invest in the Foundation's future. The goal was a site that felt as serious as the mission it represented.
03: A donor campaign lookbook
I designed and developed a campaign lookbook that translated the Foundation's mission into a case for support. Not a grant proposal. Not a brochure. A piece built around narrative, visual clarity, and a direct argument for why investing in digital preservation is investing in the legacy itself.
The redesigned website
The redesigned Foundation website, rebuilt as the organization's primary platform for engagement, storytelling, and donor cultivation. The shift was from informational to essential.
Featured piece
The donor campaign lookbook.
The lookbook was built to do something specific: help Foundation leadership have a different kind of conversation with major donors. One grounded in why preserving Marshall's legacy digitally is a continuation of the mission he spent his life building.
Donor campaign lookbook
A visual narrative piece designed for leadership conversations with major donors, translating the Foundation's digital transition into a compelling case for continued support. The design reflects the seriousness of the institution it represents.
Outcomes
What the transition produced:
This engagement produced something harder to quantify and more durable: a foundation positioned to sustain its mission through digital means rather than despite the absence of physical ones.
A redesigned website that functions as the primary platform for public engagement, storytelling, and donor cultivation
A donor campaign lookbook that gave leadership a new tool for major gift conversations
Stronger narrative clarity around the case for digital investment in a historically physical institution
A vetted digital partnership aligned with the Foundation's long-term capacity and vision
A scalable digital foundation that extends the organization's reach beyond geographic constraints
Why this matters
The George C. Marshall Foundation learned what many nonprofits discover too late: when the building is your primary engagement model, you are one disruption away from losing your audience entirely.
Bottom line