Tri-Sector Strategy for Large-Scale Education Organization

One of the largest U.S. education organizations, reaching millions of secondary students each year, faced a potential loss of revenue and needed to pivot quickly to sustain its mission. The organization identified an opportunity to create industry-recognized certification programs through newly developed educational courses. To secure certification approval, the nonprofit needed to demonstrate industry demand and validation from key employers. Lacking private-sector connections, the nonprofit partnered with Artemis to secure signatures from designated states’ companies within one month—an urgent task that would validate both the program’s relevance and the nonprofit’s credibility in new markets.

Artemis identified ideal signatories as large, private sector employers with 5,000-50,000 employees, a demonstrated history of workforce development involvement, and a clear need for talent development. Operating on the hypothesis that warm connections, through referrals and networks, would accelerate progress, the team created a targeted list. When outreach to large employers stalled due to lengthy approval processes, the team adapted its approach by engaging small to medium-sized companies, including nonprofits and NGOs, that would directly benefit from the program and could move more quickly through bureaucracy. Through the tri-sector strategy of aligning the interests of private enterprise with those of public agencies and nonprofit organizations, Artemis was able to bridge the interests of the nonprofit client to build a pathway for future success across all 50 states.

Artemis exceeded the target of 50+ signatures, delivering a robust and sustainable outreach pipeline while increasing the initial geographic outreach from 5 to 10 states. Beyond meeting the immediate needs, the team developed a long-term, relationship-building playbook to ensure the nonprofit could independently cultivate industry partnerships for future programs. This included clarifying outreach roles within the organization to prevent redundancy and maintain consistency. Ultimately, the nonprofit extended Artemis’s engagement to expand this work across ten additional states.