Entrepreneur on a Mission to Help Local Non-Profits

Silver Spring has a rich and vibrant non-profit community. , , , and many other organizations are out there every day fighting the good fight, but are finding it increasingly difficult to do so in this economy. One local business—C.Fox Communications—is rising to the challenge through the it Award.

The Inspired Thought Award “offers the chance for a worthy, nonprofit organization to work with [company president] Carrie and her team. The it Award is worth up to $30,000 of C.Fox Communications’ public relations and marketing expertise including: strategy, writing/messaging, media relations, branding, and social media.” Patch sat down with C.Fox Communications’ president, Carrie Fox to find out more about the award and how this entrepreneur created a successful business in Silver Spring.  

Patch: Tell us a little bit about your background in communications.

Carrie Fox: When I was in college, I was fortunate enough to get hired as Cal Ripken, Jr’s director of communications. He was still playing, but wanted to focus on his post-playing career. After that, I was at Prism Public Affairs in Washington, D.C., working with a mix of government organizations and financial non-profits.

Patch: When did you make the transition from those positions to entrepreneur?

C.F: I’ve always had a drive to create things on my own - I wrote my first resume at age 14! After one year with Prism, my husband was transferred to a different state, and I decided to go into freelancing. I liked the challenge of finding clients of my own, and it’s nice to work with clients I want to, rather than being assigned to them.

Patch: Who was your first client at C.Fox Communications?

C.F: My first client was Balducci’s, although longtime Montgomery County residents may remember them as Sutton Place Gourmet. I have always kept close track of my contacts and relationships and reached out to see who needed support. The director at Balducci’s was a former person I worked with and I ended up overseeing the transition from Sutton Place to Balducci’s.

Patch: Why did you choose to base your business in Silver Spring?

C.F: When we left Connecticut (where my husband was transferred to) we knew we wanted to come back to the area. We looked all over Montgomery County, but liked housing and sense of community in Silver Spring. We found a house we liked, and wanted to have our business close to home. And just in the few years we’ve been here we’ve seen a lot of development. There is so much going on [in Silver Spring] which is a great thing for a business to be surrounded by.

Patch: Have you worked with any Silver Spring businesses or non-profits?

C.F: Over the years, we’ve worked with several Silver Spring businesses, CHF International in the Lee Building, Class Act Arts (which I sit on the board of) and . We get a lot of requests from the great non-profits in Silver Spring, which is really how the it Award began.

Patch: Tell us more about the it Award?

C.F: Due to the great need from non-profits in Silver Spring and the metro area, I realized that we needed to formalize and create a specific grant. This method allows us to focus our energy on one organization at a time. The it Award is our way of “living the mission.” Above all, we are focused and committed to organizations doing good work and have strong stories.

Patch: Who are past it Award winners?

C.F: Well, our first one was last year and the grant went to N Street Village, a DC-based organization that assists homeless and low-income women. They were well-known in the social support industry, but nobody in mainstream knew about them. We performed a variety of communications and public relations functions for them.      

Patch: How are things shaping up for the 2011 it Award?

C.F: Well, the 2011 application period just closed on March 4. We received more than 30 applicants from all over country, but majority are from Silver Spring and Washington, D.C. Although we have just begun the review process, I get the sense that many of them are in the support services area – which we do quite a bit of work with. Education, women & children low income or at risk – they are important issues to me and the agency.

Patch: Any plans to expand the it Awards?

C.F: Well, right now we consider it our internal grant, allowing us to work with one organization per year. I know there is a bigger future for it, but I am just not sure what that is yet. We hope to be able to serve more organizations, and may seek a corporate sponsor in the future. If we can expand it, we certainly will.