Bright+3 was founded in 2012 to advance the work of progressive organizations, advocacy campaigns and social good startups around the world. We focus on bridging the gap between storytelling and engagement to help organize more powerful movements.
Our client partnerships tend to focus on content strategy and production, community and membership strategy and supporting pieces of digital campaigning, engagement and fundraising. This could include content creation and editing alongside assessment, planning and training for content and digital teams. We also help build and run email and social media marketing programs and implement online fundraising projects.
Current and recent clients include:
- Narrative Initiative
- Clean Water Action
- Internet Society
- California Budget and Policy Center
- Earthworks
- Demos
- Mobilisation Lab
- UNICEF
- Greenpeace UK
- Greenpeace International
- United for Iran
- Upwell
- American Heart Association
- Human Rights Campaign
- The Wilderness Society
- The Case Foundation
- Kindling Group
- Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital.
Our team has held senior positions in nonprofit organizations, worked on candidate and ballot campaigns, and founded and led consulting teams. We understand nonprofits, their resource constraints, and the pressure their teams face to meet their mission.
Ted Fickes
Ted founded and leads Bright+3. Ted has 25 years of experience in US and global nonprofit communities. In that time, he has developed content, digital and fundraising strategies for a range of grassroots campaigns, NGOs, social venture startups and progressive political campaigns.
Ted worked as Development Director for organizations in Denver and Chicago, has worked on several political campaigns, put together one of the first nonprofit technology circuit rider programs, founded Colorado Conservation Voters, and started his first consulting firm in 2002 to help progressive nonprofits and campaigns better communicate online. From 2006 to 2011, Ted managed online campaigns and digital strategy for The Wilderness Society. Ted has run Bright+3 since 2011 to focus his efforts on developing and testing people-powered campaigning and communications strategies with innovative nonprofits, startups and campaigns. He is a graduate of Northwestern University and the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.
Jacob Smith
Jacob has worked for, worked with, founded, and run nonprofits for more than twenty years. He currently serves as the executive director of Colorado Communities for Climate Action, a coalition of counties and municipalities across the state advocating for stronger state and federal climate policy. Previous roles have include former mayor of Golden, Colorado, Vice President of Campaigns at Alliance for Sustainable Colorado, and Senator Bernie Sanders’ policy adviser on climate, energy, and environment. He is a former member of the board of the Denver Regional Council of Governments and the executive committee of the Denver Metro Mayors Caucus, and was a member of the Transportation Committee of Governor John Hickenlooper’s Transition Team. Jacob is a graduate of the Kennedy School of Government’s Executive Education Program, the co-author of The Nimble Nonprofit: An Unconventional Guide to Sustaining and Growing Your Nonprofit, and is an award-winning filmmaker (his most recent film Waking the Sleeping Giant: The Making of a Political Revolution is available on DVD and Blu-ray and iTunes and other streaming services). His social change and political consulting focuses on advocacy campaigns, digital strategy and new media, and capacity building and board development.