hi, i'm marissa.
I'm a translator between expertise and action.
For people and organizations doing the work that matters.
Nearly seven years in healthcare philanthropy. Now I work independently, helping people make sense of things that aren't always easy to explain. At some point I also taught English in Prague, ran a mobile axe-throwing company and started a rug-making business. I'm drawn to work where I have to learn my way in.
What I do
Every project has two sides.
I work where they meet.
For Example
A research program and the donors who could fund itAn organization and the funders it hasn't reached yetA business and the people searching for itA community and the institution it wants to change
I connect people to opportunities that already exist, and, more often than not, design new ones.
How I do it
Good translation is never word for word.
The goal isn't to repeat what one side says. It's to carry the meaning across, so the other side can act on it.
Understand
Getting close to both sides. Listening, asking, getting curious, learning the field fast.
Shape
Pulling the pieces together into something both sides can work with: a strategy, a framework, a visual identity, a program, sometimes an opportunity that didn’t exist yet.
Build
Making it real. Websites, proposals, business cases, systems, and the training so people can run it themselves.
Where it's grounded
I studied how stories can help people make sense of things together and enable change.
At Quest University, I self-designed an interdisciplinary degree across sociology, critical trauma studies, community development, design and political science, guided by one question: how can storytelling create spaces that foster social change?The learning model meant more than just studying across disciplines; I was regularly collaborating and learning alongside people whose specialities and backgrounds were completely different from my own.My resulting bachelor’s thesis looked at how trauma is produced within neoliberalism, and how storytelling through community-based media can become a form of collective resistance.
I learned to get comfortable at the edges of what I know, and to find the thread between different ways of seeing.
What I've Done
The same approach, different rooms.
7 unique challenges, each asking for a way to connect what’s known with what’s possible.
01
A lot of good ideas & the people deciding which to back.
Across 35+ clinical leaders at VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation: I assessed what was ready, matched it to donors, and followed the money through to impact.
02
A new research program & the donors who could help it grow.
I spent two and a half years alongside IMAPP, a first-in-Canada program, from early vision through the proposals that brought it to donors.
03
Busy teams & the systems slowing them down.
I mapped a twice-yearly fund for 50+ hospital programs end to end and rebuilt it so it could run without me.
04
A community & the institution it wants to change.
With the bereaved parents behind Butterfly Run BC, I advocated inside the hospital and made sure their money landed where they intended.
05
Businesses & a cause that needs partners.
I managed partnerships that worked for both sides, from 200+ women-led businesses to Shoppers Drug Mart and Save-On-Foods.
06
Organizations & the funders they haven't reached yet.
I help small organizations like Historika, a transfeminist collective in Chiapas, communicate up, because they deserve a way in.
07
Small businesses & the people looking for them.
I help businesses like Ray's Sport Fishing Charters look as good online as they really are, and stay that way.
What I'm doing now
Sometimes you know what you need. Sometimes we figure that out first.
Strategy & Funding
For organizations and people doing complex work that matters. I can help figure out what’s worth doing, shape the strategy around it, and build what’s needed to move it forward: funding strategy, positioning, program design, proposals and more.
Websites & Digital Presence
Simple, fast sites, written and built for you, with an overall digital presence audit included. An ongoing care plan keeps me close by for updates, improvements, or other digital projects. Ideal for small businesses, nonprofits, and individuals.
What I'm looking for next
Interesting challenges and work that is making an impact. Available for consulting, fractional and contract roles, and open to other opportunities that feel right.
Currently based on Vancouver Island. I primarily work remotely, but am often available to travel and like doing things in person.
01 / 07 →
Portfolio Management
A lot of good ideas and the people deciding which to back.
The challenge
A Foundation can't pursue every good idea. Someone has to understand what's emerging, assess what's viable, and know which opportunities are worth bringing forward.
Example
VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation
Manager, Strategic Partnerships, VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation | 2023-2026
I was the connective tissue between a diverse set of complex healthcare portfolios and the Foundation's fundraising strategy.
I was the primary Foundation partner to 35+ medical directors, researchers and operational leaders across 8+ clinical and research portfolios. The scope ranged from entire clinical ecosystems, like Neurosciences, to more focused areas such as Emergency Medicine. I built the relationships and subject-matter understanding to know what was happening across them, what was emerging, and where there was potential to do something bigger.I owned the funding opportunity pipeline for each area: assessing ideas for feasibility, risk, readiness, strategic fit, budget and approvals, recommending what was ready to pursue and what needed to happen first. I worked with clinical, research and operational teams to develop promising ideas into fundable propositions, translating complex clinical and scientific work into clear, compelling cases for donor audiences and producing the proposals, presentations, budgets and other materials needed to move them forward.That work gave me a living inventory of ideas at different stages of development, which I managed as a resource for our Philanthropy department. Working in partnership with fundraisers, I helped create personalized donor matches, using my knowledge of the clinical/research landscape to identify, recommend and sometimes shape possibilities around specific interests and potential for impact. I also brought what I was seeing across areas of the organization into Foundation strategy and campaign discussions, contributing a broader view of where emerging work could signal larger strategic priorities.The role additionally served a capacity-building function. I coached clinical and operational partners on how to strengthen ideas before they entered the funding process, while building the Foundation's internal understanding of the areas I supported. For example, I developed a neurology learning session for 50+ staff, giving fundraisers the context to understand the field as a whole and have more informed, productive and flexible donor conversations.To confirm impact, my responsibilities extended beyond initial funding and through accountability reporting, fund management and impact storytelling. I tracked whether gifts were being deployed as intended and brought the resulting work and outcomes back into donor stewardship, communications, events and ongoing engagement.FY 2024/25
$80M+ potential funding opportunities identified
40+ proposals/solicitation materials developed with a ~70% success rate
Small businesses and the people looking for them
A new research program and the donors who could help it grow
Need help with something like this?
Let's chat.
Strategic Advisory
A new research program and the donors who could help it grow.
The challenge
The work is clear to the people doing it. Donors need to see what it could become.
Example
Innovations in Mental Health, Addictions and Pain Program (IMAPP)
Manager, Strategic Partnerships, VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation | 2023-2026
A new clinical program, a big idea, and the people trying to make it real.
IMAPP is Canada's first research program bringing together mental health, addictions and pain. For about two and a half years at VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation, I worked closely with its leadership as the program took shape. When I started, it wasn't yet a formal program. It was an ambitious vision with some early protocols.I came into the work from the Foundation side, where the immediate question was how to ensure it could become something we could explain to donors and secure funding for it. I became a sounding board and thought partner to their leadership, helping them articulate the program's value, frame its mission, and think through how to move it forward.I worked across structure, budget and brand, and developed the iterative proposals and presentations that brought the program to funders and other audiences. Much of the work was less visible: building institutional support and approvals, sequencing what came first, keeping the name and story consistent as recognition grew, preparing for and debriefing donor presentations, and reporting back to people who had already invested.When I left, the program had attracted well over $10M in donor investments, launched Canada's first nursing fellowship in concurrent disorders with donor funding and was gaining international recognition for its work. I had just finished the funding case for its next stage, one of the Foundation's key fundraising priorities, ready to go public.Read the founding gift announcement I wrote →
Learn more about IMAPP and Azar Labs →
A lot of good ideas and the people deciding which to back
Busy teams and the systems slowing them down
Need help with something like this?
Let's chat.
Systems Improvement
Busy teams and the systems slowing them down.
The challenge
When a process has always worked this way, nobody asks who each step is actually for.
Example
A lottery fund for 50+ hospital programs
Manager, Strategic Partnerships, VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation | 2023-2026
Rebuilding a twice-yearly approval process so it served the hospital, kept the board informed and could run without me.
I inherited a twice-yearly approval process distributing roughly $6–8M across more than 50 hospital programs. It worked, but it was slow, manual and built around layers of approval that no longer served the people using it.I mapped the process from end to end, asked what each step was actually accomplishing, and redesigned it around the people who needed to use it. Sign-off moved to the CEO up front, with the board reviewing after, so programs could receive critically-needed funding faster without losing oversight.I then semi-automated the approval letters and built out procedure documentation so the process could be more easily delegated rather than depending on me.
A new research program and the donors who could help it grow
A community and the institution it wants to change
Need help with something like this?
Let's chat.
Community Engagement
A community and the institution it wants to change.
The challenge
Hospitals are hard to navigate from the outside, and a community's money carries its trust.
Example
Butterfly Run BC
Manager, Community Partnerships, BC Women's Health Foundation | 2019-2022
Working alongside the bereaved parents who founded it, so their community's money made the difference they wanted inside the hospital.
I worked alongside the bereaved parents who founded Butterfly Run BC (now called Butterfly Support Network) as they raised money for perinatal loss and bereavement care.Part of my role was to act as their Foundation representative and partner: creating promotional/awareness content, advising on fundraising strategies and supporting sponsorship acquisitions.I was additionally responsible for sitting between their community-based leadership and the hospital: advocating for their priorities internally, navigating complex stakeholder dynamics, facilitating accountability, and making sure the money they raised went where they intended.The results I was most proud of included playing a role in novel collaboration within the hospital departments and helping the community's money reach work like a project where bereaved parents shaped what better stillbirth care could look like.Read about a stillbirth care project it supported, in the BC Medical Journal →
Busy teams and the systems slowing them down
Businesses and a cause that needs partners
Need help with something like this?
Let's chat.
Corporate Partnerships
Businesses and a cause that needs partners.
The challenge
Goodwill isn't enough. A partnership has to make sense for the business too.
Example
Changemaker's Market
Manager, Community Partnerships, BC Women's Health Foundation | 2019-2022
Running an auction supporting women's health as a fundraiser and a province-wide mobilization and awareness campaign, with 200+ women-led businesses.
Changemaker's Market was BC Women's Health Foundation's (BCWHF) annual online auction around International Women's Day. It began in 2020, and by the time I took it over for its third year, the idea was set: women-led businesses across BC donated items, and the pitch was that they were changemakers themselves.I ran the 2022 market as a fundraiser and a mobilization effort at once. Businesses got visibility with a new audience, and in return we asked them to carry the conversation about women's health to theirs. I built the content to make that easy: partner videos on our channels, regional features, and social media kits with fact-based women's health information they could share on their own.It ran alongside the rest of the Foundation's International Women's Day work, including cause marketing partnerships and an event for women in business, which I was also responsible for as Manager of Community Partnerships and interim marketing lead. More than 200 businesses took part, over half shared it with their own audiences, and the market exceeded its fundraising goal for breast health.In the same role, I managed the Foundation's major corporate cause marketing, charity-of-choice and sponsorship partnerships, from proposal development to ongoing management, including Shoppers Drug Mart, Save-On-Foods, Denny's and BlueShore Financial.See the 2022 market →
More details about my BCWHF roles on LinkedIn →
A community and the institution it wants to change
Organizations and the funders they haven't reached yet
Need help with something like this?
Let's chat.
Access to Funding
Organizations and the funders they haven't reached yet.
The challenge
Funders reward organizations that already speak their language. Small ones rarely get the chance to learn it.
Example
Historika Cultural
INDEPENDENT CONSULTANT, PRO BONO · SAN CRISTÓBAL DE LAS CASAS, MEXICO · 2026
Supporting a transfeminist collective in Chiapas as it reaches into the funding world.
Historika is a transfeminist collective in San Cristóbal de las Casas: a community house, refuge, cultural space and hostel, built around care, art and autonomy. Their community is asking them to grow, and that means reaching funders and organizations they haven't worked with before.Initially spending three weeks on site, I've worked alongside them in a supporting role, helping them articulate their core messaging and fundraising strategy. I also built their website in Spanish, ensuring it was developed to be sustainably manageable by a small grassroots team; their customized events page, for example, updates from a simple Google Sheet. The goal was one clear home where they tell their story in their own words: somewhere credible for funders and partners to land, and easy for their community to share.Now I'm helping them explore new sources of funding.
Businesses and a cause that needs partners
Small businesses and the people looking for them
Need help with something like this?
Let's chat.
← 07 / 07
Websites & Digital Presence
Small businesses and the people looking for them.
The challenge
Most small businesses are better than they look online. And the way people search is changing faster than they can keep up.
Example
Ray's Sport Fishing Charters
Independent Consultant · Tahsis, BC · 2019 & 2026
Helping an owner-guided fishing charter look as good online as it is on the water.
I've worked with Ray's Sport Fishing Charters on and off since 2019, supporting the development of administrative processes, merch design and more. This year, I reviewed the business's entire digital presence, refreshed the brand, rebuilt and rewrote the website in Carrd, and set up analytics and Google Search Console so we can see how people are finding it.The goals were to make sure the business stays findable as more people search through AI tools, and that how it looks online matches the quality of the trips. The site also comes with a care plan, so it stays current without Ray having to manage it, instead of slowly falling out of date the way small-business sites often do.
Organizations and the funders they haven't reached yet
A lot of good ideas and the people deciding which to back
Need help with something like this?
Let's chat.
Privacy policy
Last updated: September 2026This site belongs to Marissa Kingzett, an independent consultant based in British Columbia, Canada. This policy explains what personal information I collect through it, why, and what I do with it. I handle personal information in line with Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and British Columbia's Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA).What I collectInformation you give me. If you use the contact form, I collect your name, your email address and whatever you write in your message. If you email me directly, I receive the same kind of information. If we go on to work together, I collect what I need to scope, contract and invoice the work.Information collected automatically. This site doesn't use analytics, advertising or tracking cookies. Like any website, the service that hosts it may log basic technical information, such as your IP address and browser type, to keep the site running and secure.Why I collect itTo reply to you and, if we work together, to run the project and handle contracts and payment. I won't add you to a mailing list or use your information for marketing without your consent.Who I share it withI don't sell, rent or trade your personal information.A few services help run this site. Carrd hosts it and processes contact form submissions. Google Fonts supplies the fonts, so your browser connects to Google's servers when a page loads. My email provider stores our correspondence. Some of these services are based outside Canada, so your information may be stored or processed in other countries, including the United States.I may also disclose information where the law requires it.Links to other sitesThis site links to LinkedIn and to other organizations' websites. Their privacy practices are their own, so check their policies when you visit.How long I keep itI keep correspondence for as long as it's useful to our conversation or working relationship, and business records for as long as tax and legal rules require. After that, I delete them.SecurityI take reasonable steps to protect your information from loss, theft and unauthorized access. No method of sending information over the internet is completely secure, so I can't guarantee absolute security.Your rights and questionsYou can ask what personal information I hold about you, ask me to correct it, or ask me to delete it. Questions about this policy go to the same place. Email [email protected] and I'll respond within 30 days.ChangesIf I update this policy, the new version will be posted here with the date it changed.