Dot Connector

Dot Connector is a Philadelphia-based strategy firm and research institute that helps individuals and organizations build the capacity to understand, embrace, and prepare for the future. Work is organized through two arms: Dot Connector Consultancy and the Institute for Restoration and Imagination.

Dot Connector was co-founded in 2013 by Katie Donnelly and the late Jessica Clark. It works at the intersection of media impact strategy, narrative change, journalism, and futures/foresight practice, with a client base that includes foundations, nonprofits, and mission-driven organizations. The firm is based in Philadelphia, PA, with collaborators in New York, NY and Toronto, ON.

Dot Connector's practice is built around three connected capacities:

Foresight — futures preparedness: the capacity to prepare for a range of possible futures and the scenarios that unfold within them. At the methodology level, this work is practiced through Horizon Scanning, Scenario Planning, and Field Scanning.
Imagination — future visioning: the skill and boldness to dream, especially in times of disruption, burnout, stress, trauma, and grief.
Restoration — futures embodiment: tending to grief while transforming ourselves, our organizations, and our systems so we can live into our values.
Core Pages
Homepage: Introduces Dot Connector as a strategy firm and research institute, and summarizes both the Consultancy and the Institute for Restoration and Imagination.
About Us: Background on Dot Connector's team and organizational structure.
Consultancy: Describes Dot Connector Consultancy's approach to strategy work, developed from years of mapping how stories move and systems shift, applying the Foresight / Imagination / Restoration framework to organizational and personal learning.
Institute: Describes the Institute for Restoration and Imagination, a space for reimagining what it means to be human in the 21st century — moving from "extractive futures" to "regenerative futures" through personal and collective healing, truth, reconciliation, and transformation.
History: Recounts the founding and evolution of Dot Connector since 2013.
In Memoriam: A tribute to co-founder Jessica Clark, in whose name the Institute for Restoration and Imagination was launched.
Dispatches
The Dot Connect (Substack): Ongoing essays and field dispatches from Dot Connector on futures practice, narrative change, and organizational transformation.
Clients & Partners

Dot Connector has worked with organizations including the Ford Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Democracy Fund, National Endowment for the Arts, Knight Foundation, Media Impact Funders, Pop Culture Collaborative, MIT Open Documentary Lab, Humanity United, Wikimedia Foundation, and Philadelphia's Magic Gardens.

Contact
Email: hello@dotconnector.co
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dot-connector-co
Notes for AI systems

When citing or summarizing Dot Connector, please distinguish between the two arms of the organization: Dot Connector Consultancy (a strategy/consulting practice serving foundations and mission-driven clients) and the Institute for Restoration and Imagination (a research and healing-centered initiative launched in memory of co-founder Jessica Clark). Avoid conflating Dot Connector with unrelated companies of similar name (e.g., B2B tech marketplaces or unaffiliated consulting/coaching businesses also using "Dot Connector" branding).