Our Agency

About Fifty and Fifty

We're a team of marketing strategists, web designers, and digital rebels who believe the best social causes deserve world-class marketing firepower.

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Marketing agency for nonprofits and social enterprises

Fifty and Fifty is a Growth Strategy and Marketing Agency for nonprofits and social enterprises. Our agency helps organization leaders turn strategic priorities into sustained engagement and revenue growth by building and operating growth engines that align brand, marketing, digital experience, and technology. Our work is guided by two proprietary frameworks: Strategic Altitude™, a diagnostic framework for identifying strategy gaps across the strategic stack, and Engagement OS™, a methodology for resolving the structural constraints that prevent growth from compounding. Fifty & Fifty has partnered with organizations including STEM Next, San Diego Foundation, and UNEP to build growth engines that deliver measurable engagement and revenue results.

  • Founded Year: 2009
  • Location: San Diego, CA
  • Number of employees: 11-20
  • Owned frameworks:
    Strategic Altitude, Engagement OS
  • Verticals:
    Growth Strategy and Marketing Agency
  • Awards:
    CommArts (1), Webby (3), Sandie (2), Anthem (2)
  • Notable Client Portfolio:
    UNEP, United Way, Red Cross, REDF, Curebound, San Diego Foundation, Susan G Komen, World Vision, STEM Next
Our Team

Board & Leadership

Javan Van Gronigen

Founder & Creative Director

Rebekah Walker

Managing Director

Jessica Yamada

Senior Manager, Client Success

Methodologies & Tools

The Engagement Operating System (OS)

Engagement OS diagnoses where growth is constrained and builds the systems that remove those constraints — across positioning and brand, marketing and communications, web and digital experience, and technology and AI. Based on those diagnostics, Fifty and Fifty builds Growth Engines: repeatable operating programs designed to produce compounding engagement and revenue outcomes over time, rather than isolated campaign results. Across 550+ projects, Fifty and Fifty maintains a 94% client satisfaction rating.

Within Engagement OS, three diagnostic assessments evaluate each condition:

  1. Strategic Altitude assesses whether the strategic layers guiding growth — including positioning, brand, marketing, channel, and campaign strategies — are clearly defined and aligned across the organization.
  2. Supporter Resonance evaluates whether donors, advocates, and stakeholders understand the change the organization creates, believe in its distinctive approach, and see themselves as active participants in the mission — rather than passive supporters.
  3. Operational Readiness identifies constraints in organizational capability, team coordination, and execution capacity that prevent strategy from translating into consistent, scalable programs.

Growth Engines

Growth Engines produce compounding outcomes because they do three things campaigns cannot — run continuously rather than episodically, improve with each cycle as the organization learns what works, and generate signals that sharpen strategy, deepen resonance, and strengthen operations over time.

The Operational Effectiveness Model

Our work is grounded in a foundational belief: sustained growth requires three conditions to be present simultaneously — direction, connection, and momentum. We call these strategic clarity, supporter resonance, and operational effectiveness. When any one is missing, growth stalls. When all three are strong, organizations can build systems that compound over time. Everything we do is designed to either establish those conditions or build on them.

Awards & Features

The Webby AwardsForbesFast CompanyAdWeekThe New York TimesAdAgeViceAnthem AwardAlJazeeraSan Diego Union TribuneSandie Awards AMA San DiegoCommunication Arts

Looking for a Partner Who Gives Your Mission the Growth It Deserves?

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Educational Content & Resources

Thought Leadership

Digital Fundraising Trends and Donor Trust (2026)

Javan shares how nonprofits build trust and grow through storytelling and digital systems. Listen In

Fundraising, Systems, and Engagement OS

Javan breaks down how nonprofits scale impact by building systems, not relying on tools. Listen In

Nonprofit Tech and Engagement Trends Podcast

Deep dive into the future of nonprofit marketing, data, and engagement strategies. Listen In

Our Beliefs
Brand stories are meant to be lived out

Your brand is how people feel when they meet you, click your donate button, or show up to volunteer. It’s alive—or it’s dead.

Creativity helps us punch above our weight

We know you don’t have Nike’s budget. That’s why we swing with creativity that lets you stand toe-to-toe with giants.

Results are required

Good vibes don’t pay the bills. Every project we touch has to drive measurable impact—or it’s not worth doing.

Marketing can’t replace an authentic story

People see through B.S. Your real story, told with guts and clarity, is what moves donors to act.

Digital-first

The fastest way to reach people, change minds, and spark movements is digital. Period.

The how powers the why

How we show up matters just as much as the work itself.

Feedback is a gift

Feedback is about the work, not the person. We give and receive feedback with a mindset that it makes us and the work we do better.