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Caroline DeBerry, Founder and CEOWhat challenges prevent organizations from effectively engaging policymakers and driving government action?
A breakthrough idea can change lives, but only if it reaches the people with the power to act on it.
Every day, nonprofits, startups, and research organizations develop powerful solutions to challenges in public health, emerging technologies, and policy. Yet many struggle to gain traction within government, as they must capture policymakers’ attention, communicate effectively in high-pressure environments, and navigate the complex realities of legislation, funding, and federal agencies. The challenge is fundamentally deploying appropriate strategy and proper communication.
While these organizations excel at conveying their ideas through white papers, think tank reports, and grant proposals, direct engagement with Congress or federal officials demands a different approach. Policymakers, who sift through thousands of emails, texts, briefs, and requests each day, require messages that are immediate, precise, and tightly aligned with their priorities—conveying purpose and potential impact in a matter of moments.
Increasingly, this challenge is also shaped by how information is consumed. From concise briefs and even text messages to short-form digital content and video, the medium has become just as important as the message itself. Knowing how to adapt ideas for the right audience, format, and moment is often the difference between being ignored and being acted upon.
I help clients deliver the right message to the right stakeholders at the right time and it is all about strategy and communication.
Tenagrity® Solutions is built on the insight that influence in government hinges as much on how information is delivered as on what is said. Caroline DeBerry, Founder and CEO, brings firsthand experience navigating government institutions—understanding how congressional offices operate, how agencies evaluate priorities, and what drives decision-making under pressure. This insider perspective enables Tenagrity to identify the right format—whether a sharply written brief, targeted digital content, or concise video—and align it with policymakers’ expectations and time constraints, ensuring that ideas land with clarity and urgency.
Having worked from deep within the government ecosystem, DeBerry understands that influence is not simply about what is said, but how, when, and to whom it is communicated. Tenagrity® Solutions is built on this conviction: that tenacity and integrity, when applied with precision, can turn ideas into action.
“I help clients deliver the right message to the right stakeholders at the right time and it is all about strategy and communication,” says Caroline DeBerry, Founder and CEO.
Tenagrity has evolved into a trusted advisory partner for a diverse portfolio of organizations seeking more than just guidance, ranging from nonprofit entities focused on policy impact and social outcomes to startups, inventors, defense contractors, and academia. By combining strategic messaging with audience-aware delivery, the company ensures that critical solutions are not just understood but acted upon, turning insight into tangible policy outcomes.
It works closely with officials across key federal departments, including the Department of Defense and the Department of Health and Human Services, while also maintaining regular engagement with congressional staff. These relationships provide Tenagrity with a real-time understanding of policy priorities, institutional dynamics, and decision-making pressures—insight that informs how it positions ideas for maximum relevance and impact.
In addition to government affairs, Tenagrity offers communications and operations consulting. As clients pursue government engagement strategies, additional needs often arise—such as strengthening communication frameworks, enhancing scalability, and addressing operational challenges—or, conversely, such needs may drive policy efforts. Accordingly, Tenagrity positions itself as a comprehensive, one-stop solution for its clients.
Execution with Intent
Why is structured engagement and ongoing strategy essential for effective government affairs execution?
Tenagrity places a strong emphasis on tailoring its services to the specific needs of each client while maintaining a consistent and structured approach to engagement. The firm typically operates on a monthly retainer model, which enables both Tenagrity and its clients to plan effectively and maintain continuity. This structure supports regular strategic discussions and ongoing communication, ensuring that clients receive consistent guidance and responsiveness. Engagements generally include weekly strategy calls to align on priorities and responsibilities, complemented by continuous communication throughout the week via email and other channels.
At the core of Tenagrity’s offerings is strategic advisory consultation, which serves as the foundation for all client work. In addition, the firm provides a range of specialized services, including drafting and reviewing key materials such as government submissions, policy documents, and concise briefing materials for congressional staff. Tenagrity also conducts website content reviews to ensure alignment with policy and communication objectives.
Beyond advisory and content development, Tenagrity actively supports client engagement efforts by coordinating and leading meetings with government officials—either alongside clients or on their behalf. The firm has facilitated hundreds, if not thousands, of such engagements. It also assists with securing speakers for significant events, offers speaking support when needed, helps drive attendance and visibility for client-hosted initiatives, and attends other organizations’ events on clients’ behalf as needed.
Collectively, these services reflect a comprehensive and hands-on approach to government affairs and strategic communications consulting.
Tenagrity® Solutions’ impact is measured by how effectively it moves the needle across the broader policy ecosystem. This can take many forms, from securing the introduction of legislation or the inclusion of key language and critical ideas in committee reports or gaining traction across advocacy groups, media coverage, and public discourse.
“Our success is often reflected in growing awareness, when policymakers, organizations, and even the broader public begin engaging with the ideas our clients are advancing,” says DeBerry.
From Concept to Congressional Action
In what ways does Tenagrity® translate policy ideas into measurable legislative outcomes effectively?
In one case, a nonprofit organization known as 1Day Sooner that focuses on preventing the spread of infectious diseases developed a well-informed policy concept, alongside partner organizations, aimed at improving government processes for addressing infectious disease challenges. At an early stage, the organization shared its core materials, including draft legislative concepts, with Tenagrity. Tenagrity was instrumental in identifying and securing a congressional sponsor, which is in itself a significant milestone.
As the process advanced, Tenagrity continued to provide strategic and technical guidance. Even after securing congressional sponsorship, proposed legislation must be refined in collaboration with Congress’s legal counsel, known as the Legislative Counsel (LegCo). Tenagrity supported this phase by assisting in drafting and revising the legislative text while carefully managing relationships with the sponsoring office to ensure alignment and momentum.
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Our success is often reflected in growing awareness, when policymakers, organizations, and even the broader public begin engaging with the ideas our clients are advancing.
A second example highlights Tenagrity’s success in securing appropriations committee report language—an often underappreciated but highly influential component of the legislative process. While Congress is responsible for passing appropriations bills, accompanying committee reports provide critical context and guidance to federal agencies, shaping how priorities are interpreted and implemented beyond the statutory text. Drafting language suitable for inclusion in these reports, and successfully advocating for its adoption, is a nuanced and highly specialized effort.
Since its founding, Tenagrity has achieved such outcomes on multiple occasions, further demonstrating its ability to navigate complex legislative and appropriations processes with precision and effectiveness.
This influence often extends beyond formal policy wins. For example, in work with the Center for Addiction Science, Policy, and Research (CASPR), Tenagrity supported their efforts – including with the Department of Veterans Affairs - to highlight emerging research on the role of GLP-1 therapies in addressing substance use disorders. Over time, this contributed to increased visibility of the issue across media, nonprofit advocacy and policy conversations—demonstrating how strategic positioning can shape broader narratives as well as policy outcomes.
A Lean Team, Built for Agility and Impact
Tenagrity’s model is inherently collaborative. Clients are treated as integral members of the broader Tenagrity team, fostering a deeply aligned and partnership-driven approach to execution. In addition, the firm works with a trusted network of vendors and contractors and has engaged interns who contribute meaningfully to ongoing efforts.
Tenagrity has also explored team expansion in the past, including bringing on part-time staff, and continues to evaluate growth opportunities strategically.
To maintain this model while scaling, Tenagrity is exploring a tiered engagement approach. Introductory outreach and early-stage conversations may be supported by additional team members, while deeper policy development, legislative drafting, and high-level stakeholder engagement would remain closely led by DeBerry. This structure would ensure that growth enhances capacity without diluting the quality or strategic precision of client work.
For now, however, the emphasis remains on efficiency, precision, and hands-on execution.
“Having previously managed myself the full spectrum of operational and strategic responsibilities—from scheduling to detailed document drafting and review—I deliver work with both speed and a high degree of quality control,” says DeBerry.
This lean structure is further enhanced through the strategic use of AI and emerging technologies. Tenagrity leverages AI for tasks such as rapid research synthesis, visual and graphic development, and even experimental video content to communicate policy ideas more effectively. At the same time, all outputs are carefully reviewed to ensure accuracy and relevance, preserving the human judgment essential to government engagement.
Growth Without Compromise
Tenagrity is poised for continued growth, with a clear commitment to preserving its highly individualized and personalized approach to client service. While opportunities for expansion are evident, the firm is deliberately measured in its approach, prioritizing sustainability and quality over rapid scale. The current model has proven both effective and resilient, enabling steady growth without compromising execution.
Looking ahead, Tenagrity is particularly interested in bringing on additional senior-level expertise to complement its capabilities. This includes former government officials—including experienced career civil servants—who can offer valuable institutional knowledge and strategic insight. Such expansion will be pursued with careful attention to regulatory considerations, including applicable cooling-off periods and ethics requirements.
In the near term, the firm remains focused on advancing several client initiatives toward key policy milestones while selectively onboarding a small number of additional clients. Decisions around team expansion will be guided by these priorities, ensuring that growth is aligned with delivering meaningful outcomes rather than scaling for its own sake.
Choosing Government Affairs Strategy Consultants
Government affairs strategy consulting has shifted from episodic advocacy toward disciplined policy engagement that aligns public priorities, legislative dynamics and institutional messaging. Executives responsible for guiding their organizations through government channels face an environment defined by compressed attention spans, crowded policy agendas and increasingly technical legislative processes. Policy makers and their staff review vast volumes of information each day, which makes the ability to translate complex proposals into concise policy relevance a central challenge for organizations attempting to influence outcomes.
Many organizations approach government engagement with strong research capabilities or well-developed policy ideas yet struggle to communicate those ideas in the format government officials actually consume. Academic papers, white papers and grant proposals often fail to resonate with congressional offices that require short policy summaries tied directly to legislative priorities. Communication discipline therefore becomes a defining feature of successful government affairs strategy. Effective advisors help leadership teams convert complex policy concepts into language that congressional staff can immediately evaluate in relation to committee agendas, agency priorities or constituent concerns. When messaging fails to meet this standard, even well-supported proposals can disappear within the daily flow of policy correspondence.
Institutional navigation presents another defining challenge. Federal policymaking rarely follows a linear path. Legislative language moves through congressional sponsors, committee staff and legal counsel before reaching agencies responsible for implementation. Organizations entering this environment without experienced guidance often underestimate the procedural complexity involved. Government affairs advisors must therefore possess direct familiarity with congressional operations, committee processes and agency relationships. Insight into how legislative language evolves and how report language influences agency direction frequently determines whether an idea advances beyond early conversations.
Strategic continuity also shapes effective government engagement. Many initiatives require months or years of sustained communication with policy offices, coalition partners and legislative sponsors. Short term lobbying bursts rarely produce durable results. Executives evaluating consulting partners often look for advisors capable of maintaining disciplined engagement through regular strategy discussions, ongoing message refinement and coordinated outreach across multiple government touchpoints. Such continuity allows organizations to maintain clarity of purpose while adapting to shifting legislative timelines or emerging policy debates.
Advisors who combine policy fluency, communication discipline and long term engagement practices help organizations move from reactive advocacy toward structured government affairs strategy. The most valuable partners guide clients through each phase of policy influence: shaping the message, identifying receptive policymakers and navigating the procedural path from policy concept to legislative action. Organizations that treat government relations as a structured strategy rather than a periodic intervention consistently achieve stronger results in federal policy environments.
Tenagrity Solutions represents a notable option for organizations requiring focused government affairs strategy guidance. The firm integrates policy strategy, communications advisory and organizational scaling support to help clients translate complex ideas into concise policy messages that resonate with congressional and agency audiences. Its work frequently includes drafting or refining policy documents, preparing short briefings for legislative offices and coordinating direct engagement with policymakers. Engagements typically involve regular strategic consultation combined with continuous communication between advisor and client, allowing initiatives to evolve alongside legislative developments. Experience navigating congressional sponsorship, legislative drafting processes and appropriations language further strengthens its advisory role.
Executives seeking disciplined policy strategy combined with direct experience in congressional engagement will find Tenagrity Solutions a compelling partner for advancing complex policy initiatives within federal government channels.
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Government Affairs Strategy Consulting Services Info
Q1
What Are Government Affairs Strategy Consulting Services?
Government Affairs Strategy Consulting Services help organizations turn complex ideas, policy priorities and public-interest initiatives into focused engagement with government decision-makers. The work can involve policy strategy, stakeholder mapping, message development, legislative guidance and communications planning. Effective advisors understand that strong research or a well-developed proposal is not enough on its own. Ideas must be presented in formats that fit the time constraints and priorities of policymakers. Government Affairs Strategy Consulting Services therefore combine policy knowledge with disciplined communication and an understanding of how government institutions make decisions.
Q2
How Does Tenagrity Solutions Support Government Engagement?
Tenagrity Solutions provides Government Affairs Strategy Consulting Services built around strategic advisory work, policy communications and direct engagement with federal stakeholders. Led by Founder and CEO Caroline DeBerry, the firm draws on firsthand experience with government institutions and the way congressional offices and federal agencies operate. Its work includes developing and reviewing government submissions, policy documents and concise briefing materials, while also helping clients determine how ideas should be communicated to the appropriate stakeholders at the right time. The firm also coordinates and leads meetings with government officials as part of broader engagement efforts.
Q3
What Problems Can Government Affairs Consulting Help Solve?
Government Affairs Strategy Consulting Services can help organizations address the gap between having a policy idea and getting that idea seriously considered within government. Policymakers and their staff often work under significant time pressure, making clear and concise communication essential. Advisors can help translate technical, academic or research-heavy material into focused messages connected to policy priorities and institutional processes. They can also provide guidance on the procedural steps involved in legislative sponsorship, committee activity, agency engagement and other government actions. The goal is not simply to generate attention but to create a structured path for an initiative to move forward.
Q4
Why Is Ongoing Strategy Important in Government Affairs Work?
Government Affairs Strategy Consulting Services often require sustained engagement rather than one-time outreach. Policy priorities, legislative timelines and institutional dynamics can change quickly, requiring organizations to refine their approach while maintaining strategic continuity. Regular discussions and ongoing communication can help keep responsibilities aligned and ensure that messaging evolves with the policy environment. Tenagrity Solutions uses a structured engagement model that typically includes monthly retainer relationships, weekly strategy calls and continuous communication. This approach allows the firm to maintain responsiveness while supporting longer-term policy and government engagement objectives.
Q5
How Can Government Affairs Strategy Consulting Services Support Legislative Outcomes?
Government Affairs Strategy Consulting Services can support multiple stages of the policy process, from identifying potential congressional sponsors to helping refine legislative concepts and supporting the development of policy language. In one engagement, Tenagrity Solutions helped an organization advance an infectious disease policy concept by identifying and securing congressional sponsorship and then supporting the drafting and revision of legislative text. The firm has also worked on efforts to secure appropriations committee report language, which can influence how federal agencies interpret and act on policy priorities. These outcomes demonstrate the importance of combining communication strategy with procedural knowledge.
Q6
What Should Organizations Look for in a Government Affairs Strategy Consultant?
Organizations evaluating Government Affairs Strategy Consulting Services should look beyond broad policy knowledge. Relevant factors include experience with government decision-making, the ability to adapt complex ideas for different audiences and familiarity with legislative and agency processes. Communication discipline also matters because policymakers may require concise and immediately relevant information. Organizations may also benefit from advisors who can maintain continuity across strategy development, document preparation and stakeholder engagement. The strongest consulting relationships bring these elements together while adapting the work to the specific policy goals, institutional environment and communication needs of each engagement.
