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Blending corporate strategies with a social mission sounds straightforward — until you try to do it inside an academic institution. Without a clear framework for evaluating opportunities or the resources to pursue them, the challenge becomes not just sustaining the work, but figuring out how to grow it without compromising its purpose. 

Those are some of the hurdles that Dr. Crimmins and the National Phenology Network (NPN) faced when developing Nature’s Notebook (NN) – a platform used by 24,000 nationwide to collect phenology data critical for environmental forecasting. 

• The challenge: The platform’s trajectory was uncertain. NPN had weathered multiple cycles of waning government funding, though Dr. Crimmins had successfully lobbied for a federal appropriation at least through 2025. These funding cuts had severely curtailed the team’s size, leaving it stretched very thin.  

• The approach: NobleReach helped connect the founders with a joint team of commercial and philanthropic advisors who designed a multi-faceted approach to the venture’s funding and financing. 
  • NobleReach’s workshop with NPN focused on demystifying business terminology and concepts and delving deeply into a series of potential business models, so participants could see the wide range of possibilities for their work to reach a new audience. 
  • NobleReach also connected the NPN team with Valerie Conn and Sandra Laney, who brought decades of fundraising experience, and helped them create funder-facing materials and talking points, and brokered introductions to several relevant foundations. 

• The impact: Dr. Crimmins and the NPN team emerged from this process with a multi-pronged plan to monetize ongoing activities, launch a membership program, and secure continued philanthropic and investor support. 

As technology translation becomes an increasingly valued and essential priority for universities, awareness of the many pathways to translation must grow. NPN was one of those projects that significantly deviated from the tried-and-tested models of technology commercialization. This serves as a reminder that there are many ways for science to have a public impact, and universities may miss out on opportunities if they persist in subscribing to a one-size-fits-all approach.