New Hire Q&A: Nicole Brisbane, Partner

Nicole Brisbane recently became a partner at Building Impact Partners following several years as an affiliated advisor. Here Nicole talks about her path toward becoming a philanthropic advisor, what she contributes to the firm and its clients, and how she has helped donors achieve greater impact and satisfaction.

We sat down with Nicole to get to know her a little better. 

Tell us about your background and how you came to Building Impact Partners.

I started my career as a middle school reading teacher in my hometown of Miami, FL. Throughout my career, I’ve been focused on the intersection of education and social justice, always looking at how social systems impact under-resourced communities. My experience spans the education, philanthropy, and political spaces, including leading Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) New York and working for Teach For America (TFA), where I worked on the Miami-Dade regional team and ran the division that identified and launched new regions. After that, I launched my own solo consulting practice focused on organizational strategy and philanthropy advising. I collaborated on various projects with Alex Johnston, whom I knew from DFER, as he was getting Building Impact Partners off the ground. Now, I’m excited to join Alex, Caitlin Hannon, and Mike Wang as a partner.

Which issue areas most interest you, and how are you particularly positioned to advise philanthropists?

I’ve come to see the world as a set of levers – each one you can adjust to make meaningful change. With each organization I support, I think about the role they play in improving the lives of others. I believe that the levers for greatest impact are in education, which is why I started my career in the classroom and have always kept a piece of my portfolio focused on it. I have also supported economic development initiatives, democracy preservation, nonpartisan voter mobilization, and criminal justice. Helping clients turn ideas into operational plans and portfolios of work – and guiding organizations in evaluating their success and impact – is at the core of what I do. I’ve been called a problem solver by some of my clients and colleagues. I also have a law degree, which brings a different strategic perspective and makes me a unique critical thinker.

Having been a grantee and spent a lot of time with grantees, I understand the role philanthropists play in their work. I think philanthropists can incentivize more localized, on-the-ground problem-solving in their giving. This includes thinking about giving to a more diverse set of grantees, the “unusual suspects” who might not be typical recipients of grant dollars. Sometimes, you need to look beyond glossy materials to determine which organizations are actually making the greatest impact.

What do you think differentiates Building Impact Partners from other advisors?

We don’t have a stock approach – that’s the difference. If you work with Building Impact Partners, do not expect to get a cookie cutter work product. Our team is deeply interested in getting to know our clients, transforming ideas into tailored solutions that make a real impact, and we stay with clients through various phases of the work ensuring success where possible. Another key strength is the diverse backgrounds and perspectives of the four partners. We each see the work from a different vantage point and add something unique.

Tell us about a notable project that you have worked on in the past.

I had the unique opportunity to sit with a philanthropist who wanted to diversify the construction workforce in his home community. His family had built their wealth in the construction field but they realized that the industry was very hard to get into and presented a host of obstacles for first generation workers. I supported the philanthropist’s foundation in conducting a landscape analysis on the challenges, identifying which organizations were working in alignment with his vision, vetting the organizations’ impact, understanding their needs, and proposing a set of recommendations about the work that needed to be done. The recommendations included direct grants, communication support, convening, policy change, and research. I was proud to see the foundation turn this body of work into a full giving portfolio and participated in the process of hiring a program officer who would lead this work. 

This project highlights Building Impact Partners’ commitment to understanding their clients motivations and seeing something through from conception to implementation. That’s ultimately why I left my solo practice and joined the firm. We share the same values as it relates to our approach to advising and a deep commitment to the broader initiatives we support.  

In your experience, what is something commonly misunderstood about philanthropists? 

The high-net-worth individuals I have worked with are looking for ways to create paths to prosperity for more people. Often, their motivation stems from their own self-made success or the experiences of previous generations who built the family’s wealth. They are trying to find ways to recreate that “leg up” for others, in different communities. They are interested in building something that feels sustainable beyond a one-time gift – “teaching a man to fish” rather than just giving away fish.

How do you see the role of philanthropy evolving to address the challenges of today and tomorrow?

There are significant opportunities for philanthropists to act as coalescing and catalyzing forces within their own communities. Instead of the old model of, “I like what you’re doing, so I will give you some money,” there’s a shift towards a community surfacing its pressing concerns and philanthropy asking, “Who can we bring to the table, collectively, to solve this problem with you?” It’s about moving beyond an individualistic approach. Philanthropy can’t solve everything. The question is how to activate the public, private, and philanthropic sectors to address challenges in a more collective approach.