About Me
Hi! I’m Jennifer Caddick, founder of Buoy 231 Consulting. I help purpose-driven organizations create and implement winning communication campaigns that build issue awareness, change public policy, and drive growth.
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With 25 years of experience in nonprofit communications and advocacy campaigns, I’ve worked in rural and urban communities from the Chesapeake Bay to the Great Lakes.
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For nearly a decade, I served as the Vice President of Communications and Engagement with the Alliance for the Great Lakes. I led the transformation in how the Alliance for the Great Lakes communicated with and engaged people around the region, raising the visibility of the Alliance’s work through significant increases in earned media attention and individual supporter growth. I placed stories and served as a media spokesperson in outlets ranging from the Wall Street Journal and NPR to Environmental Health News and Crain’s Chicago.
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Previously, I served as Executive Director of Save The River, a grassroots advocacy group working to protect the Thousand Islands region of the St. Lawrence River in Clayton, NY. While with Save The River, I led numerous regional and binational grassroots advocacy campaigns, including the Plan 2014 campaign fighting for environmentally protective water levels management on the river. The coalition won the campaign, with the plan implemented in 2016.
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Prior to working on Great Lakes issues, I worked in communications and outreach for several Chesapeake Bay organizations. I received my undergraduate degree from New York University and a master’s from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry.
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Find my full resume via my LinkedIn Profile.
About Buoy 231
Buoy 231 Consulting is named after a real navigational aid (or buoy) - # 231 - used by boats moving along the St. Lawrence River.
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It's near my family's cottage, which is on a boat-access-only island in the river's Thousand Islands region in Upstate New York. (No bridge or ferry!)
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That buoy has guided me home in more ways than one: literally, on stormy nights, and metaphorically, as the Thousand Islands are a place I found myself drawn to again and again. Today, I live in Clayton, NY, not too far from that cottage.
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What does that have to do with my business? A navigational aid is pretty simple. It's just a colored light that blinks at regular intervals. But that simple blinking light is critical to everyone navigating the St. Lawrence River.
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And - at the risk of sounding cheesy - a great communications strategy is just like that navigational buoy. At its best, it is a clear, easy-to-understand plan that plays a big role in steadily guiding your organization in good weather or rough seas.
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So that's why I named my business Buoy 231 as a nod to the place that I love and to the power of a simple guiding light.
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If you're feeling lost at sea with your organization's communications, let's chat about how I can help.
