Months after starting her own communications consulting company, D. Communications, Newmarket business owner Daniele Dufour is giving back by offering her services free of charge to local charities.
Every Friday in May, local charities can book an appointment with Dufour to receive consultation on any of their communication needs, whether it's reviewing their materials, writing something for them, or just brainstorming ideas.
"One of the organizations that scheduled that consult with me is a new organization and they're trying to figure out how to build awareness of themselves of their organizations and what they do. So we're going to talk about ideas," she said.
Prior to opening her own company she worked in corporate communications for about 30 years and has worked with charitable organizations in the past. She was looking for a way to give back and said this felt like the right move.
"One of my clients is actually an a not-for-profit organization, and I could see how difficult the pandemic has been for non-profit and not-for-profits," Dufour said. "These are organizations that that run on a very, very, very tight budget with limited resources. So the struggle is real. And so that's why I started thinking OK, how can I make this work so I can benefit as many as possible."
She said for three months now she had been thinking of how to help but kept getting caught up in the details. After attending a professional development session and hearing from another consultant who did something similar, she decided to put her doubts aside and just go for it.
"He thought of the idea one day and the next day he just launched it and that inspired me like, hey, stop over complicating just do it and then see what happens. So that's what I did," she said.
Dufour posted about this initiative on social media and created a page on her website where organizations can book a time slot for consulting. So far she has had two slots filled and a couple more organizations interested, and said she hopes to get more charities on board.
"My goal is to have all the slots filled. I literally go to bed and wake up every morning excited about about starting this," she said.
