Clients and Work Samples

From gun violence prevention to renewable energy; film & television production to veteran empowerment, we help our clients build a new narrative.

EveryTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY

Bringing Veterans’ Voices to Gun Violence Prevention
Cultural Advocacy & Program Development

Everytown for Gun Safety / Moms Demand Action is the nation’s leading gun violence prevention organization. When they saw a need to diversify their messaging strategy by adding veteran voices, they brought in Marvin Strategies. The ongoing project involves building a national veteran advisory council, defining the veteran voice in gun violence prevention, executing a communications and publicity strategy, and spreading the movement to the field.

LEgion M

Sharing the Veteran Narrative
Program Development & Messaging

Marvin Strategies was involved with the feature film MY DEAD FRIEND ZOE going back beyond it’s roots as a 15-minute short impact film called MERIT X ZOE. Chris Marvin served as an impact producer for both film, and a co-producer for the feature. Legion M understood the value of social impact to both the financial bottom line and the moral success of a film like MY DEAD FRIEND ZOE. Working with Marvin Strategies, the award winning film ensured that it would reach the audience in a powerful and actionable way, and it continues to have impact as it’s screened and shared on streaming platforms.

WE THE VETERANS AND MILITARY FAMILIES

Profiling the Civic Lives of Veterans
Research & Messaging

For the third time in a decade, Marvin Strategies / Chris Marvin was called on to author the Veteran Civic Health Index (VCHI). The 2025 VCHI was commissioned by We the Veterans and Military Families, and it demonstrated the leaders and civic assets that veterans are and should be in our communities, using imperical evidence drawn from US Census Data. The VCHI has celebrated major released in 2015 (Got Your Six), 2021 (The Mission Continues and IAVA), and 2025, all of which were primarily authored by Chris Marvin.

VET THE VOTE

Standing Up for Democracy
Cultural Advocacy & Program Development

Vet the Vote is a nonpartisan campaign the empowers veterans and the family members to serve again as election poll workers. This effort not only helps to staff American elections, but also lends credibility to the idea that free and fair elections lead to the promise of self-governance. Marvin Strategies began work with Vet the Vote in 2022 with work that includes partnership building, media exposure, and strategic planning. Along with great success at the 2022 and 2024 elections, highlights of the partnership included trips to multiple Super Bowls to represent the program on the NFL’s “Radio Row.”

THE VET VOICE FOUNDATION

Advocating for Gun Safety
Program Development & Legislative Strategy

The Vet Voice Foundation took a strong position on the prohibition of assault weapons at the state level, launching campaigns in 2024 and 2025 in multiple states, including Colorado, Rhode Island, New Mexico, Hawai’i, Maine, and others. There are no better voices to support restrictions on military style assault weapons than the men and women who carried those same guns in to combat. Marvin Strategies provided deep subject matter expertise in the gun violence prevention world as well as narrative building for advocacy and media efforts.

HBO

Shaping the Portrayal of Veterans in Film & Television
Media Production & Program Development

HBO has long been a supporter of veterans through original content and philanthropic support of nonprofits. They hired Marvin Strategies to work on specific film and television projects that featured veteran characters, as well as to advise on a reshaping of their veteran-related corporate social responsibility strategy. Amongst others, the firm worked most directly on the HBO feature film Nightingale and Cinemax’s series Quarry. Previous related work included collaboration on HBO’s Concert for Valor.

PRESIDIO TRUST

Planning a Campus for Social Innovation
Cultural Advocacy

Fort Winfield Scott is the last major un-renovated parcel at the Presidio of San Francisco. The Presidio Trust brought in Marvin Strategies to work with an internal team on the development of a vision for Fort Scott. The result was a plan outlining a campus for social innovation that allowed the Trust to enter a formal process of receiving and reviewing multi-million dollar proposals. The final product was entitled Fort Winfield Scott: Reactivating a Legacy of Service.

CROOKED MEDIA

Reclaiming the Idea of Patriotism for All Americans
Media Production

Crooked Media brought in former Navy pilot and congressional candidate Ken Harbaugh to speak to audiences about the true meaning of Patriotism. Marvin Strategies served as a producer to develop the vision of the show and design interviews with prominent Americans that would capture a new point of view on a subject often considered to be owned by the political right. Reclaiming Patriotism aired as part of the Crooked Minis series in July 2019.

Listen to Reclaiming Patriotism

USO

Listening and Understanding the Lives of Military Spouses
Cultural Advocacy

For decades the USO has served troops overseas and at home. As they endeavored to expand their services within the military spouse community they sought the services of Marvin Strategies. Dozens of interviews conducted using a human centered design approach informed a detailed report on military spouses and how they can be better served. The final product was The Backbone of Our Military: Perceptions and Experiences from Modern Military Spouses.

BIPARTISAN POLICY CENTER

Building a Modern, Agile Military
Cultural Advocacy

The Bipartisan Policy Center is known for convening high-level former government, military, and policy leaders to develop solutions to difficult political challenges. They retained Marvin Strategies to help assemble their Task Force on Defense Personnel and construct the resulting report. The outcome was a diverse task force that pushed for novel ideas and innovations within the Pentagon’s HR function. The ultimate outcome will be policy and legislation that will serve to enhance the quality of the U.S. military. The final report was entitled Building a Fast Force: A Flexible Personnel System for a Modern Military.

HISTORY / A&E NEtWORKs

Creating a Campaign Around Creative Content
Media Production & Program Development

For HISTORY’s second scripted dramatic show, the network focused on Navy SEALs through the show SIX. To ensure the fair and accurate portrayals, HISTORY brought in Marvin Strategies. From script review to partnership development, the engagement spanned the entire life of the show and allowed HISTORY to have a unique engagement with the veteran community.

THOUGHtFul robot Productions

The Power of Documentary Storytelling
Media Production & Cultural Advocacy

The production team behind the Emmy-nominated Almost Sunrise sought out Marvin Strategies to design and build an impact campaign for the documentary. When PBS requested additional content to air along side the film’s premiere, Thoughtful Robot Productions partnered with Marvin Strategies to write and produce a 15-minute doc short called Voices of Resilience, which explored moral injury and society’s role in war in a way never seen on broadcast television.

MILITARY CHIld education coalition

Capacity Building for Military Families
Program Development

When the Military Child Education Coalition received a capacity building grant from the Gates Foundation, they targeted Marvin Strategies to lead the exploration. From funder relationship to collaborative partnership, the engagement allowed a small nonprofit to build their network in an ever more crowded space.

Bob Woodruff Foundation

Assessing Impact of Charitable Giving
Measurement and Evaluation

After a decade of work in the veteran space, the Bob Woodruff Foundation wanted to know more than if their money was being used properly; they wanted to understand the ripple effect their funding had for the entire ecosystem. They enlisted Marvin Strategies to design and implement a research project that will answer their questions and help define the next ten years of giving.

HU HONUA BIOENERGY

Introducing a Community to a New Way to Produce Energy
Cultural Advocacy

Hu Honua Bioenergy was primed to be Hawai‘i’s first timber-fed bioenergy power producer, but after losing a contract with the local power company a new ownership group had to re-establish relationships with the utility, the government, and locals. Marvin Strategies was part of a team of consultants and lawyers that helped redefine the mission and approach of Hu Honua (now called Honua Ola) and convince the community of the benefits of renewable energy from biomass. The result was a re-approval of the power purchase agreement and a resumption of construction.

Marvin Strategies is certified by the Small Business Administration as a service-disabled veteran owned small business.