About Lynn
Lynn Taliento leads McKinsey’s Social Sector Practice in the Americas.
After joining McKinsey in 1999, Lynn co-founded the firm’s first practice dedicated to serving nonprofits. She works exclusively with nonprofits, philanthropies, and private and corporate foundations on strategic planning, organizational design, board governance, and advocacy.
Lynn works closely with leading philanthropic organizations on their programmatic and advocacy strategies, as well as those of their grantees. For example, she has led strategic planning and organizational design efforts for innovative advocacy efforts, including Bono’s ONE Campaign. She also works with high-net worth individuals to create new foundations or initiatives.
Lynn leads McKinsey’s work on women in development, where she advises corporate and nonprofit clients on their strategies for empowering women. She serves on the World Bank’s Private Sector Leaders Forum, which engages private sector leaders in promoting women’s economic empowerment.
In addition, Lynn has been a strategic advisor to Venture Philanthropy Partners for nearly a decade. In that role, she has developed strategic plans for a variety of local service providers, including health clinics and charter schools, such as KIPP DC.
Lynn serves on the boards of the Clinton Health Access Initiative and Water.org.
Videos
“Book Notes: A conversation about non-profit management in an era of scarcity,” Leap of Reason, 2011
Published work
Co-wrote the introduction to “Leap of Reason: Managing Outcomes in an Era of Scarcity,” by Mario Morino, Venture Philanthropy Partners, 2011
“A development agenda for Haiti’s new government,” McKinsey Quarterly, March 2011
“Supply chains matter: Lessons from Haiti,” McKinsey on Society, March 2011
“Building support for your cause,” McKinsey on Society, March 2011
“How helping women helps business,” McKinsey Quarterly, January 2010
“Activists, Pundits, and Quiet Followers: Engaging the public in social issues,” August 2010
“Learning for social impact: What foundations can do,” McKinsey & Co., April 2010
“The Business of Empowering Women,” January 2010
“And the winner is… Capturing the value of philanthropic prizes,” McKinsey & Co., 2009
“Navigating the advocacy maze,” August 2009
“What business execs don’t know—but should—about nonprofits,” Stanford Social Innovation Review, Summer 2006
“Capacity Building in Nonprofit Organizations,” a study for Venture Philanthropy Partners, August 2001, has been translated into eleven languages
Education
| John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University |
MPP |
| Yale University |
BA |