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Patrick Chesnut

PAA-trick CHESS-nut | He/Him
Vice President, Communications LinkedIn

“Good communications rely on more than language; ideas are at the heart of it all. By clarifying and advancing your ideas, you can crystallize your vision, express what makes your mission matter, and bring everyone together around the purpose you share.”

About Patrick Chesnut

An experienced writer, facilitator, and big-picture thinker, Pat works with nonprofit organizations throughout the country to clarify their visions—and to shape the ideas and messages that help advance them.   

Since 2010, Pat has worked with hundreds of clients across the the country and throughout the nonprofit sector, bringing his enthusiasm, creative mindset, and commitment to flexible, genuine partnership to each engagement. Above all else, he enjoys the opportunity to engage deeply with what makes each nonprofit truly unique: its mission, its community, and its people.   

Pat graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude from Harvard University, where he studied American History and Literature and was a member of the prestigious Signet Society for arts and letters. While there, he also crafted both journalism and cultural criticism as Arts Chair of The Harvard Crimson and wrote original plays for local children’s hospitals.  

A native Midwesterner and longtime Chicagoan, Pat now lives, reads, hikes, explores, and works from his home in Cumberland, Maine. 

Areas of Expertise

Case Development, Institutional and Philanthropic Visioning, Donor Communications, Campaign Planning Studies, Board Facilitation

Recent Clients Served

  • Alabama A&M University (Huntsville, AL) 
  • Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ) 
  • The Boston Foundation (Boston, MA) 
  • The Burke Museum (Seattle, WA)  
  • Chicago Community Trust (Chicago, IL) 
  • Chicago History Museum (Chicago, IL) 
  • Chicago Shakespeare Theater (Chicago, IL) 
  • Greater Milwaukee Foundation (Milwaukee, WI) 
  • Jackson Hole Children’s Museum (Jackson, WY) 
  • Lesley University (Cambridge, MA)  
  • Lewis & Clark College (Portland OR) 
  • Meharry Medical College (Nashville, TN) 
  • Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (Milwaukee, WI) 
  • The Nature Conservancy (multiple chapters) 
  • NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital (New York, NY) 
  • Roger Williams University (Bristol, RI) 
  • School of the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, IL) 
  • Shedd Aquarium (Chicago, IL) 
  • St. Luke’s Wood River Foundation (Ketchum, ID) 
  • Teton Science Schools (Jackson, WY) 
  • The Wilderness Society (Washington, DC)  
  • Woodland Park Zoo (Seattle, WA) 
  • Yellowstone Forever (Bozeman, MT) 
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