For founders, small businesses, creative people and performers, and the organizations that serve their communities. I help you turn a big idea or a messy operation into a plan you can follow, systems that hold up, and the right people and money around you.
You have an idea, or a business that has outgrown the way you run it. When the plan lives in one person's head and the systems run on memory, the next step stays unclear. I work on the problem you bring, with the people and tools you already have.
Two meetings. I learn how your business actually works, then give you a plain read of where you stand and a 90-day plan with the first three moves named. Most clients start here.
Bring one job that eats your week. In two sessions I set it up with AI and hand it over with a one-page guide.
One clear page with your photos and your words, live.
Towns, recreation departments, senior communities and nonprofits book outside programs every season.
Youth, camp and engagement programs designed to launch, and the strategy behind them, from 30 years in youth leadership, education and nonprofits.
Larger projects (launch and operations setup, a new venture, an operation that has outgrown itself) are scoped and quoted after a short call.
In person around Rochester, or on Zoom anywhere. Talks from $150; workshops from $300.
This year I built my own AI system to keep track of mail, money and every project I have going. Some of it works every day; some of it failed in useful ways. A practical talk on what AI does well for a small business or nonprofit, what it gets wrong, and where to start. For small-business groups, chambers, libraries and nonprofit networks.
Jewish history told through one family's paper trail: who left, who stayed, what they carried, and what the records got wrong. I trained in anthropology and did field research in Cuba; this talk applies that method to my own family. For genealogy societies, congregations, libraries and senior communities.
Towns, recreation departments and senior communities hire outside performers, instructors and programs every season, and most of it is never advertised. Who books, when they decide, what they pay and what to send them, from research on hundreds of venues around Rochester. For makers, instructors, bands and small-business groups.
30 years in youth leadership, education and nonprofits, including Camp Sisol at the JCC: up to 300 campers a session, 80 staff, and ACA accreditation. How a program keeps its values as it grows, in hiring, training, parents and the budget. For JCCs, congregations, schools and camps.
Hands-on: the AI talk, done with your own work. Bring one job that eats your week and leave with it set up.
A beginner's workshop using free sources: FamilySearch, JewishGen, census and immigration records, and what your library already gives you. Bring one name and leave with what the records say and a plan for the next search. For libraries, congregations and senior communities.
One family line researched and turned into a short illustrated story, delivered in three weeks.
A guided family-history project that ends with a few slides the student presents.
The JCC ran its children's programs (early childhood, after-school care, Camp Sisol and Camp Seneca Lake) as separate programs, and families felt it. I studied them through staff and leadership interviews, parent surveys and a century of the camps' own history. I delivered a plan to run them as one path for a child, from preschool to teen leadership, with shared values and clear steps to rebuild families' trust. Delivered December 2025.
Katie Beyer was launching a craft-beer education business in Rochester. I researched the market and the competition, then rebuilt her plan around how the business could run: ticketed events for 10 to 20 people at partner venues, private parties and corporate settings. Her Beer 101 events are running.
“Dan helped me turn LiBREWry from an idea into a plan I could run. He researched my market, rebuilt the business around events, and gave me a roadmap I still use.”Katie Beyer, LiBREWry
Justin Gurnsey's band had hours of concert footage and no time to sort it. I cut an hour of gimbal footage into whole songs, kept the stage banter between them, and filed everything by show and set so Justin could hand it straight to his editor. Next: the band's website.
“Dan helped me get Big Logic organized at a point when the band was changing and I had more ideas than time. He listened to everything I wanted, from booking and rehearsals to promo video, and turned it into a clear plan. He checked what tools already existed before building anything, then took hours of our concert footage and cut it into song-by-song clips, filed with the charts, so we could actually use it. He’s a straight shooter who cares about getting it right.”Justin Gurnsey, Big Logic & The Truth Serum
Ben Mayer-Fried brings the clay to you. I built his plan: who buys (independent-living communities, town recreation programs, private parties), how to price it like gig work, and a materials budget to launch on.
A 25-slide listening talk on a prolific songwriter: one song in depth, four song stories, his process and how critics heard him. An example of the research-to-presentation work behind every talk.
Cover photo: Say_No_To_Turtles, CC BY 2.0, cropped.
“Daniel is a compassionate, visionary professional whose combination of strategic thinking, operational execution, and deep community values make him an extraordinary asset.”Leslie Berkowitz, former Executive Director, Louis S. Wolk JCC of Greater Rochester
I've spent 30 years in youth leadership, education and nonprofits, building programs, teams and systems.
I spent 23 years at the Louis S. Wolk JCC of Greater Rochester, from 1996 to 2019 and full time from 2001, more than 20 of them leading Camp Sisol and the Gesher after-school program: up to 300 campers a session and more than 80 staff, hired and trained every year, which meant hundreds of interviews. I led the camp through ACA accreditation, raised about $1.2 million over those years, including the capital campaign for the Wolk Dining Hall, and in 2008 started a program for campers with special needs that still runs today. At Hillel Community Day School I taught K-8 and led the International Baccalaureate candidacy.
Since 2024 I've run Irving Insights, helping businesses, artists and organizations get clear and get moving. I hold a BA in anthropology from SUNY Geneseo, with original field research in Cuba, and a certificate in nonprofit management from St. John Fisher University.
I also teach, write songs, research family history and build my own tools with AI. I live in Rochester, New York.
Tell me what you're building and where it's stuck. I reply within two business days.
Or email daniel@irvinginsights.com
