Do Good Connections

Do Good Connections is a boutique executive search firm founded by Melissa Madzel, dedicated to supporting social justice organisations through high-touch, people-centred recruitment. The company specialises in executive searches for executive directors, CEOs, board members, and other key leaders within the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors. Do Good Connections was established to address a critical gap in leadership recruitment, emerging from years of witnessing brilliant BIPOC and LGBTQ+ leaders navigate spaces not designed for their success. Rather than fitting exceptional leaders from Black, Brown, and Queer identities into existing structures, Do Good Connections transforms those spaces to embrace their excellence.

The company's core services include executive search partnerships with nonprofit and philanthropic leadership, board recruitment where lived experience and professional expertise shape real transformation, and thought partnership that collaborates across the sector to create brave spaces for organisations to examine power, purpose, and possibility. Do Good Connections intentionally works with a small number of clients at any given time, ensuring bespoke attention and genuine care throughout each hiring process. The firm has partnered with a diverse community of changemakers including the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, Drug Policy Alliance, Southern Poverty Law Center, Innocence Project, and numerous other social justice organisations across the United States.

Based in New York, Do Good Connections serves nonprofit and philanthropic organisations nationwide, with particular strength in supporting mission-driven leadership transitions. Clients consistently praise the firm's equity-focused approach, transparency, and relational methodology that centres candidate humanity throughout the search process. The company's market leadership in executive search for social justice organisations reflects its commitment to building better hiring processes and candidate experiences that advance systemic change and transformative leadership across the sector.