About Us
Causewave Community Partners is a nonprofit for nonprofits.
Since 1950, we’ve worked to improve the Finger Lakes and Western NY regions through our work with nonprofit organizations and community groups. We have a broad and growing suite of offerings in the areas of strategy, operations, and marketing, all designed to help causes and coalitions grow their impact.
Consensus building and high levels of involvement from relevant and essential players are embedded into every Causewave process to ensure the work is truly owned by all who are necessary to its success.
Our Mission
We make communities stronger by bringing voice to diverse public issues and needs and building capacity within nonprofit organizations.
Our Vision
Causewave will be a powerful force for good. It will be a movement itself – serving as the magnet for passionate people looking to do good – and the place where ideas and missions grow into community-changing movements.
Quick Facts
We were founded in 1950. In 2016, we transitioned from our former name, the Advertising Council of Rochester.
Our small team has decades of experience in nonprofit management, communications, fundraising and more.
We partner with 200 organizations every year to build their capacity and support short and long-term staffing needs.
The support of local corporations, foundations, and individuals subsidizes the small fees nonprofits pay for our programs.
About 200 local professionals volunteer their time and expertise with us each year. Engaging volunteers in meaningful opportunities to support nonprofits has always been a key part of our model.
Our Team
Julia Cameron
Program Manager
Andrew Cebul-Yansen
Program Manager
Caitlin Fisher
Director of Nonprofit Talent Initiatives
Clare Henrie
Program Director, Coalition to Prevent Lead Poisoning
Todd Butler
President & CEO
Olivia Arnone
Senior Program Manager
Mary Doyle
Senior Program Manager
Kait Cirillo
Program Manager
Jonathan Hoose
Senior Manager, Grants Support
Kate Herrmann
Senior Program Manager
Aaron Lattanzio
Director of Nonprofit Capacity Solutions
Katie Kreutter
Program Manager
Sahara Walto
Finance & Operations Coordinator
Allyn Stelljes
VP of Nonprofit Capacity Building
Rita Sherman
Senior Program Manager
Swellar Zhuo
Program Manager
Ambre Youngs
Director of Finance & Administration
◉ Full Time
◉ Part Time
Our Board
Officers and Executive Committee Members
Chair // Tom O'Connor, Al Sigl Community of Agencies
Vice Chair // Dr. Shaun Nelms, University of Rochester
Treasurer // William McDonald, CPA, The Bonadio Group
Secretary // Caytie Bowser, ESL Federal Credit Union
Director-At-Large // Courtney Cotrupe, Partners + Napier
Director-At-Large // Denishea Ortiz, Rochester Area Community Foundation
Immediate Past Chair // Martha Bush, Community Volunteer
President and CEO // Todd Butler, Causewave Community Partners
Board Members
Wendy Bello // Vice President & General Manager, WROC-TV
Erin Budd Barry // VP, Community Programs, Rochester Area Community Foundation
Twanda Christensen // Vice President, Marketing & Community Engagement, The Summit Federal Credit Union
Dr. Ashley Cross // Executive Director, The Hub 585
Denise DiNoto // Senior Consultant, Intrepid Ascent
Jahmar Elliott // Director, Diversity and Engagement, University of Rochester
Scott Ensign // Chief Strategy Officer, Butler/Till
Susan George // Director of Events & Affiliate Relations, Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce
Dr. Donna Harris // Associate Principal & Chief Diversity Officer, CGR
Megan Jaffarian // Group Engagement Director, The Article Group
Mark Kokanovich // Community Volunteer
Kevin Kopp, CPA // Senior Manager, Mengel, Metzger, Barr & Co. LLP
Jared Longmore // Assistant Vice President of Advancement, Rochester Regional Health Foundations
Lisa Marcello // President & CEO, Episcopal Senior Life Communities
Natosha McDonald // Regional Director of Human Services, Nixon Peabody, LLD
Dr. Elizabeth Paul // President, Nazareth University
Peter Platt // President, Accountable Digital
Julio Saenz // Director of Public Relations, MVP Heath Care
Ron Wille, Jr. // Nonprofit Consultant, RSM
Our History
How it all began
In 1949, W.B. “Pete” Potter – Kodak’s vice president of advertising – was on the board of the newly minted Advertising Council. This New York City organization was finding its post-war legs and beginning to develop national public service advertising campaigns. Pete Potter saw that his hometown, Rochester, had problems that needed to be addressed just like his country did. He knew Rochester was blessed with a great deal of marketing resources and passionate people who wanted to put their talents – and their money – to work on important issues.
The Advertising Dinner of 1949 had one main agenda item: honor and recognize Pete for his influence on the local advertising industry. As part of Pete’s introduction in the dinner program, he issued a challenge to the advertising professionals in the room:
“Advertising has become, in America, the greatest single means of mass communication, information, and persuasion which has ever been seen in any society, anywhere, at any time. In Rochester, we are the people who control that force. How will we use it for the betterment of the community in which we live?”
— Pete Potter
From that challenge, The Advertising Council of Rochester was born. For decades, it was a mirror of its national cousin, making its mark on many local issues. They helped the Red Cross form and promote America’s first blood bank. They supported the creation of the Civic Music Association, the RPO’s precursor. For many years they engaged citizens in Rochester’s Community Chest campaign, the future United Way.
For most of our 65-year history, the name The Advertising Council of Rochester described us well. But the world has changed. Our community's needs have evolved, and so has our work. We have dramatically shifted our work from a focus on one-time, tactical projects to addressing critical local needs through a community-centered approach. Today advertising is just one of many tools we use to address complex problems within nonprofit organizations, and within the community.
We have an ambitious vision for the future: that our community will be known for addressing big challenges through collaboration; that our organization will be one of the primary justifications for that reputation, and that we will be a magnet for passionate people looking to do good. We are the place where causes and organizations come to ignite change around their missions.
In January 2016 we officially announced a new identity for the organization. Our new name, Causewave Community Partners, represents what we've always been about – putting the cause first in everything we do. It represents movement – because momentum is necessary to find solutions for tough problems. And it represents collaboration – because we can't – and don’t – do this work alone.
Together, with all of our partners and supporters, we will continue to make waves by carrying Pete Potter’s legacy forward as a powerful force for good in our community.
Thank you.
Today, Pete's legacy lives on, in part, thanks to our continued connection to his family. Anne Potter Sylvester, Pete’s daughter, received the Lantern Award in 2015 and has been a loyal supporter of our work.
Pete’s granddaughters, Jayne Malfitano and Laura Sylvester, have been champions of our work both personally and through their leadership of the Harcourt M. and Virginia W. Sylvester Foundation.
Causewave is grateful for this continued support and the opportunity to honor Pete’s legacy, by pulling together the intellectual, creative, and financial resources of thousands of individuals and organizations to make our community stronger.
