Presenter

Steve Orr

Executive Director and Founder, Youth I.N.C. (Improving Nonprofits for Children)

Steve Orr and Carol Orr founded Orr Associates, Inc. (OAI) in 1991. The consulting firm is dedicated to helping nonprofit organizations, corporations and individuals advance and market philanthropic causes. Prior to founding the company, Mr. Orr built a career in the financial markets at Goldman, Sachs & Co. In 1991, he combined his 12 years on Wall Street with his social conscience to create strategic partnerships between profit and nonprofit organizations. His wife and partner, Carol Orr, helped found OAI using her extensive event management experience to create a leading production capability that for 16 years has produced some of the biggest and most effective nonprofit events in the country. In developing OAI, Steve Orr was struck by an apparent and critical need for support among youth organizations, which were often smaller, more grassroots efforts. The organizations lacked the management expertise or scale needed to expand their work, given the limited financial resources available to them. Premier organizations have turned to OAI for guidance in developing model fundraising and marketing campaigns, beginning with the National Mentoring Partnership, Youth I.N.C. and United Way. Results have included the following successes: Mr. Orr helped establish the National Mentoring Partnership starting in 1991 while at Goldman, Sachs & Co. and subsequently has helped raise a cumulative $30 million over a decade. In 1994, Mr. Orr founded Youth I.N.C. (Improving Non-profits for Children) and currently serves as the Executive Director and Founder. The organization is national in focus and has built partnerships with 75 youth programs in NY and LA. Youth, I.N.C. has helped raise over $15M to date for these youth programs. Joe Robert, of J.E. Robert Companies, tapped Steve Orr, Carol Orr and OAI to create School Night, a premier Washington, DC event that has raised several million dollars to fund scholarships for local youth. In 2000, Joe Piscopo and friend Raymond Chambers turned to OAI to manage Joe’s non-profit, the Positive Impact Foundation (PIF). Steve Orr serves as Executive Director and holds a position on its board. PIF secured a $1 million grant from Enterasys to network schools and non-profits, helping thousands of kids in New Jersey, in addition to providing many other services for youth. PIF routinely hosts entertainment events in Atlantic City and elsewhere in New Jersey and NYC. The Deafness Research Foundation (DRF), established in 1958, retained OAI and Steve Orr as Executive Director to manage the entire enterprise, from fundraising, to research grants administration to financial and database management. DRF is the leading research grant making nonprofit organization in the country supporting deafness issues. Mrs. Ethel Kennedy asked Steve Orr and Carol Orr to manage the RFK Memorial’s development efforts in New York and Washington, D.C. in conjunction with the Ripple of Hope Awards program, the event at the Democratic National Convention at the Kennedy Library in Boston, and the fundraiser in LA at the Esquire House. OAI has assisted in raising over $5 million for the RFK Memorial. In 2005, Project HOPE hired OAI to manage their black-tie fundraising gala to benefit Bashrah Children’s Hospital in Iraq. In a very short time frame (2 months), OAI assisted Project HOPE in raising over $1.1 million. The Salvation Army, National Capital Area Command has just hired OAI to conduct a feasibility study for a $30-$50 million capital campaign. Steve Orr has worked with numerous health charities including the National Sleep Foundation, Lupus Foundation, National Osteoporosis Foundation, Alzheimer’s Foundation, American Red Cross, Operation Smile, and American Geriatrics Society, United Cerebral Palsy, among others. Deutsche Bank North America tapped Steve to formalize and create a strategic plan for the DBNA Foundation, and Senator Jon Corzine retained Steve to structure his family foundation. OAI regularly works with senior executives from most of the large pharmaceutical companies, Wall Street firms, Washington, DC think tanks, entertainment conglomerates, and consumer companies across the country; however, Steve Orr is particularly focused on New York City, Washington, DC, and Los Angeles. OAI’s international focus has expanded considerably as Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan retained the firm to organize and form the strategic plan and build both the international and domestic boards for the King Hussein Foundation International. Both the American Friends of the Czech Republic and the American Bar Association for the Central East European Legal Initiative retained the OAI team to manage multiple fundraising campaigns and organizational matters. Operation Smile has OAI involved with the Russian and India missions, and OAI managed the Washington, D.C. office. The US-India Institute for Strategic Policy is managed in its entirety by OAI. And finally, Prince Khaled bin Sultan of Saudi Arabia and the Living Oceans Foundation hired OAI to manage development issues internationally. Steve Orr and Carol Orr have three children, one working on Wall Street, another is a recent Harvard graduate and the youngest at Villanova. Mr. Orr has served in several leadership roles for educational institutions including the co-chair of the National Cathedral School’s Capital Campaign, the Chairman of the Thunderbird Alumni Association. He earned his MBA at the American Graduate School of International Management and his undergraduate degree in business at Michigan State University. Currently, Mr. Orr is authoring a book titled “Success to Significance,” a chronicle of personal observations and lessons learned over the past 16 years, from Wall Street to Main Street. He is an occasional speaker at organizational conferences at George Washington University, Association of Fundraising Professionals, National Volunteer Health Associations, the American Graduate School of International Management, among others.

Become a TIGER 21 Member

Success is where we begin.
Submit Inquiry

Become a TIGER 21 Chair

TIGER 21 Chairs have achieved the kind of success most people can only imagine. Now is your opportunity to do even more – for you and for others.
Submit Inquiry