We are based in beautiful Northwest Arkansas.
Who we are
We ❤️ nonprofit goodmakers.
Your cause shouldn't be "the best kept secret" — it's too important.
We get it, nonprofit and ministry leadership can be heavy and stressful.
Our heart is to champion and advocate for your mission.
We’ve developed a framework to help nonprofits and ministries rapidly grow their reach and funding.
Our proven process involves:
- clarifying your unique brand personality and message
- identifying and understanding your target audience
- developing a digital strategy for reaching more people
- executing with excellence
The goal of it all: reach more people and do more good.
HOW WE WORK
We do things a little differently ✨
We seek to remain in Christ, through prayer — and we might just pray for and with you.
We search Scriptures for strategy — there’s a reason it’s the best-selling book of all time.
We pursue creative & innovative solutions — we live in an ever-changing world and nonprofits can’t afford to lag behind.
We believe remarkable is the standard — let’s raise the bar.
HELLO!
This is us...
Our team is prayerful, focused, fun, and world-class. This is more than a job for us.
(Not pictured: Theo & Penny our office pups)
DIGITAL MARKETING LEAD
Kelsey Blankenship
Kelsey is a proud Northwest Arkansas native. She lives in Bentonville, Arkansas with her husband, Travis, and two dogs, Baker and Frankie. When she's not supporting her incredible clients, you can find Kelsey with a good book in hand, going on a walk, painting, or "supervising" a home project her husband is doing.
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
Ben Richards
Ben Richards brings over 20 years of experience, holding senior leadership roles in both the nonprofit and for-profit sectors. Ben combines his passion for driving revenue for good with a proven track record in sales and fundraising. As a proud father of three, happy husband, hobby farmer, and disability advocate, Ben brings a unique perspective and unwavering commitment to supporting nonprofit leaders in their mission to create positive change.
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Alayna Marmon
Alayna is an artist, a reader, and a traveler. She lives in (and loves!) Kansas City, is a strong believer in the importance of community and investing in people well, and will never turn down a pickleball challenger. While Missouri is home, Alayna visits Arkansas whenever she can to spend time with the Branches team and clients.
AGENCY DIRECTOR
Scott Wood
Scott Wood is a seasoned leader with over 25 years in visual arts, project management, and ministry. He's also a devoted husband and father who places people at the heart of everything he does. As an entrepreneur with vast and unique work experiences, Scott employs a people-first philosophy to creatively solve problems and discover innovative solutions.
FOUNDER + CEO
Jesse Lane
Jesse Lane, founder of Branches Mission Lab and goodmakerU, has worked in the nonprofit and ministry space for over a decade and helped raise over $100 million. Through his work Jesse has helped thousands of nonprofits and ministries grow their reach, raise more money, and have greater impact. Jesse is passionate about making Jesus famous in all nations and lives in Northwest Arkansas with his wife and three daughters.
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
Laurie Hilsinger
Laurie Hilsinger helps keep things running smoothly as the Executive Assistant. With over 20 years of experience supporting others in their work, she schedules meetings, serves as hostess for clients and keeps our leadership well-fed with their favorite snacks, all without breaking a sweat. But what brings her the most joy is sharing a word of encouragement with anyone who needs it, even if they didn’t know they needed it. Laurie is a wife, mom and Nonna to her sweet grandchildren. If she isn’t answering her phone, she’s probably out on another adventure in the great outdoors.
Next-Level Goodmakers
Humble and Hungry
All in for All Nations
Abide or Die
Core Values
HOW IT ALL STARTED
In 2011, while praying with friends in the Fayetteville Prayer Room...
I (Jesse) was struck by the contrast I found in John 15.
Here Jesus tells us: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
Much fruit or nothing. Nothing.
“Nothing” scared me.
This marked the beginning of a lifelong exploration for me that has already led to unexpected places.
What exactly does it mean to “remain” in Jesus, or “abide” in Christ, as others translate it?
What does it look like to “abide” in the context of my work in digital marketing and fundraising?
Unfortunately, I saw very few examples of people and organizations abiding in Him and bearing “much fruit”, the way Jesus taught about.
The status quo is often: a lack of prayer…a lack of creativity & innovation…… resulting in a lack of growth.
In the summer of 2011, my wife Stephanie and I started Branches Missional Marketing (now Branches Mission Lab) to help encourage a change in this status quo.
After working with hundreds of nonprofits and helping raise over $100 million, we believe in this work more than ever.
In everything we do, our deepest desire is to remain in Him and encourage others to do the same. We truly believe that there is no marketing strategy we could employ or fundraising technique we could teach that is more important as the power of a prayerful, God-led, organization.
With that said, we believe nonprofits and ministries should approach their work with excellence and creative innovation in order to maximize impact.
Our framework for nonprofit marketing and fundraising leverages innovative strategies for growth.
We can’t wait to tell you about it.