Connecting Leaders With
Today's Most Pressing Missions

A Different Kind of
Search Partner

As the Founder and Principal of Do Good Connections, Melissa Madzel brings a high-touch, people-centered approach to supporting social justice organizations through executive searches for executive directors and CEOs, board members, and other key leaders.

Do Good Connections was born from years of witnessing brilliant BIPOC and LGBTQ+ leaders navigate spaces not designed for their success. 

It emerged as the answer to a question too many are afraid to ask:
What if we stopped trying to fit exceptional leaders from Black, Brown, and Queer identities into existing spaces and instead transformed those spaces to embrace their excellence?

Our Services

Building nonprofit and philanthropic boards where lived experience and professional expertise can shape real transformation

Board Recruitment

Executive Search

Partnering with executive leadership of social justice organizations to connect visionary leaders through an equitable process

Thought Partnership

Collaborating and partnering across the sector to create brave spaces for organizations to examine power, purpose, and possibility

What We Do

We connect visionary leaders with transformative expertise to executive and governance roles in the social justice sector.

  • Do Good Connections recognizes the extraordinary in leaders and leverages a process that centers respect and transparency. We do everything we can to connect with the humans in every part of a search process. Understanding that the best person for the role — whether on the board or in the C-suite — will represent the community that’s being served. And that's exactly the point.

  • Traditional executive search wasn't built with transformative leaders in mind. Do Good Connections works from a different playbook. Here, every placement becomes an act of intentional disruption. Every board seat becomes a power shift. Every leadership transition opens the door for systemic change.

  • A childhood mandate to "do good" has evolved into a clear mission: Place leaders who bring both exceptional credentials and lived experience to the table. Ensure they have the support to thrive, not just survive. And ultimately, prove that when leadership truly reflects our communities, everybody wins.


Do Good Connections intentionally works with a small number of clients at a given time.

Learn about our active projects and apply here. 

Opportunities

Do Good Connections Partners and Clients 

Ready for leadership that drives
genuine change?

Let's connect to explore together.

  • “I’ve worked with Melissa on at least five executive director and board member searches. Each time I am ever more grateful for her smarts, thoroughness, grace, and, of course, excellent results.”

    Richard Burns
    Board Member and Interim Executive Director

  • "I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the brilliant, thoughtful, thorough and just utterly delightful search consultant we worked with Melissa Madzel. We worked with her both on board recruitment and our recent COO search which yielded a candidate I am absolutely thrilled to work with. I cannot recommend Melissa enough, for a bespoke professional matchmaking rooted in deep care and attention across all the stakeholders."

    Yamani Yansá Hernandez
    CEO, Groundswell Fund

  • "I've had the pleasure of working with Melissa Madzel on multiple executive searches and I cannot recommend her enough. She is whip smart, well connected to strong candidates, incredibly knowledgeable of the philanthropic and nonprofit landscape, immeasurably generous with her time, and always equity-focused. (And as an added plus, she is fun to work with!)"

    Lyle Matthew Kan
    Former Interim Executive Director, CHANGE Philanthropy

  • “Melissa's thorough approach to each hiring process shows genuine care for candidates. She is transparent, supportive, generous and relational, which feels like putting the candidate's humanity in the center of the search process. Melissa has a passion for helping people find roles that are a good fit and her intuition is spot on!”

    Amber Banks
    Vice President of Programs, Decolonizing Wealth Project

Do Good Connections Clients

Our clients represent a diverse community of changemakers who share our commitment to transformative leadership and systemic change

Transformative Partnerships

Over the years, we’ve had the privilege to partner with a wide range of organizations on the front lines of advancing social justice.

Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice

Brooklyn Academy of Music

Brooklyn Community Services

Cause Effective

CHANGE Philanthropy

Community Change 

Community Resource Exchange

Community Voices Heard

Demos

Drug Policy Alliance

Foundation for a Just Society

Hetrick-Martin Institute

Innocence Project

Meyer Foundation

MoveOn

New York City AIDS Memorial

Office of the Appellate Defender

Proteus Fund

Public Welfare Foundation

Southern Poverty Law Center

The American LGBTQ+ Museum

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Center of New York (The Center)

Union for Reform Judaism

U.S. Human Rights Network


Do Good Connections builds strategic alliances in executive search to transform nonprofit leadership and create meaningful change.

Affiliations