Kendra Beach, Director

Kendra Beach develops and implements communications strategies for nonprofit organizations working on issues from college access to health care to sustainable seafood. At Spitfire, Kendra provides support to clients including strategic communications planning, materials development, technical assistance and media outreach. She works with foundation clients, such as the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Hewlett Foundation and the Dodge Foundation, as well as nonprofits including Young Voter Strategies, Ashoka’s Changemakers and Children’s Futures.

Kendra’s extensive writing experience includes the development of communications toolkits for the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, Better Jobs Better Care and Demos. She worked with Demos, an advocacy and research organization, on messaging tools and media samples for its state-based advocates to advance conversations and policies addressing the economic challenges facing the middle class.

During the 2004 and 2008 election seasons, Kendra drafted messages, conducted media outreach and placed op-eds as part of an effort to position young voters as a permanent and engaged voting bloc. For AYUSA International, a nonprofit that brings high school students from predominantly Muslim countries to the United States to live and study, she developed a media strategy and secured coverage for the program in the Washington Post, Reuters, NPR and other national and regional outlets.

Kendra has worked on a range of other projects, including managing the production of three videos for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Connect Project, which brings foundation grantees to Washington, D.C., to develop relationships with their members of Congress. This video series is an integral part of RWJF’s current training program, with the videos serving as tools to prepare grantees for the experience of navigating Capitol Hill and building long-term relationships with their policymakers.

Prior to Spitfire, Kendra conducted research projects on campaign finance and planned media events while at the Campaign Finance Institute, a D.C.-based nonprofit. She began her career in Virginia politics, serving as deputy finance director at the Virginia Democratic Caucus and as a staffer in the office of former U.S. Senator Charles S. Robb (D-Va.).

Outside of her work at Spitfire, Kendra has served on the board of Community Bridges, a D.C.-area nonprofit organization working with disadvantaged middle and high school girls. Kendra holds a B.A. in political science and communications from Virginia Tech, and after five years in Spitfire’s D.C. office, now calls Austin home.