About us
A reliable partner for nonprofits and small businesses
Dedicated to helping purpose-driven teams build capacity with simple solutions.
Meet the Team
Dylan Bassett
Founder
Dylan grew up drawn to the outdoors, hiking, camping, days on the lake, summers at the skatepark, and somewhere along the way that translated into a genuine environmentalism and a conviction that his work should mean something beyond the bottom line.
He studied information systems and entrepreneurship at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, then spent time as an agile project manager and systems analyst before moving into corporate consulting where he advised clients on technology strategy and digital transformation. That experience shaped how he thinks about client trust, project rigor, and what he didn’t want to replicate when he built something of his own. He founded Dept.1 to bring that same discipline to organizations that exist to help people. Somewhere in that decision, any tension between who he is and what he does disappeared.
Outside of work, Dylan’s creative energy finds its outlet in skateboarding, snowboarding, golf, martial arts, and in Dept.1 itself – which he treats as an ongoing experiment in making serious operational work accessible to the organizations that need it most.
Henry Zhuo
Associate
Henry grew up with the support of his city's public library system, the kind of infrastructure that doesn't ask for credit and just shows up. He knows what it means for a community resource to actually function, and that shaped a particular interest in helping humanitarian causes expand their reach and deepen the impact of what they already do.
He brings experience delivering technology solutions across nonprofit, public sector, insurance, hospitality, and specialty distribution. That range gives him a practical, cross-sector lens that shows up in how he approaches problems as nonprofits build and evolve the operational models behind their missions. He values simplicity and candor, and clients tend to notice both.
Outside of work, Henry is someone who keeps close to the people and places that matter. Weekends with friends, good music, and time in green spaces. He's reserved by nature and delivers high-quality work with a quiet humility. It's a combination that holds up well under pressure.
Bhadra Mishra
Associate
Growing up as a refugee, Bhadra's early life was shaped by nonprofits in ways that stayed with her. She became involved in that world as early as high school, helping organize conversations around race, privilege, and gun violence and turning those conversations into real action inside her school district. When she got to college and chose a path in Math and Computer Science, she worried that career would pull her away from the work she cared about. Her contributions to Dept.1 are the “perfect blend” between her technical interest and doing impactful work.
Bhadra holds a degree in Math and Computer Science from Bowdoin College and brings four years of direct nonprofit experience alongside a professional background in data analysis and machine learning operations. Her technical credentials and history of nonprofit work means she understands not just how to build a system, but why the people using it show up every day and what's at stake when the infrastructure behind their work breaks down.
She describes herself as an ambivert, someone who can light up in a room full of people and equally needs time alone to think and reset. When she gets that time, she's usually outside, hiking somewhere quiet and looking for a waterfall.
Anthony Conner
Associate
Anthony didn't grow up with a lot, and he can look back now and see exactly where nonprofit support could have changed things for him. It's what connects him to organizations that fill those gaps for marginalized communities, and it's what brought him to Dept.1. He spent years as a music educator before finding his way into marketing, operations, and systems work, and that path shows up in how he operates. Teaching gave him the ability to read a room, build something from scratch, and make complicated things accessible to people encountering them for the first time.
He has worked across healthcare, fulfillment, and marketing, with hands-on experience in Salesforce, large-scale project coordination, and the kind of client-facing work where details actually matter. At Dept.1 he has supported the systems and content behind how the firm shows up and grows. Both feel like natural extensions of someone who moves fast, thinks clearly, and doesn't overcomplicate things that don't need to be complicated.
When he's not doing any of that, he's playing jazz in Minnetonka, finding a new restaurant to drag people to, or at home with his partner and their two cats, Elena and Oliver, who run the house.
Dylan Bassett
Founder
Dylan grew up drawn to the outdoors, hiking, camping, days on the lake, summers at the skatepark, and somewhere along the way that translated into a genuine environmentalism and a conviction that his work should mean something beyond the bottom line.
He studied information systems and entrepreneurship at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, then spent time as an agile project manager and systems analyst before moving into corporate consulting where he advised clients on technology strategy and digital transformation. That experience shaped how he thinks about client trust, project rigor, and what he didn’t want to replicate when he built something of his own. He founded Dept.1 to bring that same discipline to organizations that exist to help people. Somewhere in that decision, any tension between who he is and what he does disappeared.
Outside of work, Dylan’s creative energy finds its outlet in skateboarding, snowboarding, golf, martial arts, and in Dept.1 itself – which he treats as an ongoing experiment in making serious operational work accessible to the organizations that need it most.
Henry Zhuo
Associate
Henry grew up with the support of his city's public library system, the kind of infrastructure that doesn't ask for credit and just shows up. He knows what it means for a community resource to actually function, and that shaped a particular interest in helping humanitarian causes expand their reach and deepen the impact of what they already do.
He brings experience delivering technology solutions across nonprofit, public sector, insurance, hospitality, and specialty distribution. That range gives him a practical, cross-sector lens that shows up in how he approaches problems as nonprofits build and evolve the operational models behind their missions. He values simplicity and candor, and clients tend to notice both.
Outside of work, Henry is someone who keeps close to the people and places that matter. Weekends with friends, good music, and time in green spaces. He's reserved by nature and delivers high-quality work with a quiet humility. It's a combination that holds up well under pressure.
Bhadra Mishra
Associate
Growing up as a refugee, Bhadra's early life was shaped by nonprofits in ways that stayed with her. She became involved in that world as early as high school, helping organize conversations around race, privilege, and gun violence and turning those conversations into real action inside her school district. When she got to college and chose a path in Math and Computer Science, she worried that career would pull her away from the work she cared about. Her contributions to Dept.1 are the “perfect blend” between her technical interest and doing impactful work.
Bhadra holds a degree in Math and Computer Science from Bowdoin College and brings four years of direct nonprofit experience alongside a professional background in data analysis and machine learning operations. Her technical credentials and history of nonprofit work means she understands not just how to build a system, but why the people using it show up every day and what's at stake when the infrastructure behind their work breaks down.
She describes herself as an ambivert, someone who can light up in a room full of people and equally needs time alone to think and reset. When she gets that time, she's usually outside, hiking somewhere quiet and looking for a waterfall.
Anthony Conner
Associate
Anthony didn't grow up with a lot, and he can look back now and see exactly where nonprofit support could have changed things for him. It's what connects him to organizations that fill those gaps for marginalized communities, and it's what brought him to Dept.1. He spent years as a music educator before finding his way into marketing, operations, and systems work, and that path shows up in how he operates. Teaching gave him the ability to read a room, build something from scratch, and make complicated things accessible to people encountering them for the first time.
He has worked across healthcare, fulfillment, and marketing, with hands-on experience in Salesforce, large-scale project coordination, and the kind of client-facing work where details actually matter. At Dept.1 he has supported the systems and content behind how the firm shows up and grows. Both feel like natural extensions of someone who moves fast, thinks clearly, and doesn't overcomplicate things that don't need to be complicated.
When he's not doing any of that, he's playing jazz in Minnetonka, finding a new restaurant to drag people to, or at home with his partner and their two cats, Elena and Oliver, who run the house.
Dylan Bassett
Founder
Dylan grew up drawn to the outdoors, hiking, camping, days on the lake, summers at the skatepark, and somewhere along the way that translated into a genuine environmentalism and a conviction that his work should mean something beyond the bottom line.
He studied information systems and entrepreneurship at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, then spent time as an agile project manager and systems analyst before moving into corporate consulting where he advised clients on technology strategy and digital transformation. That experience shaped how he thinks about client trust, project rigor, and what he didn’t want to replicate when he built something of his own. He founded Dept.1 to bring that same discipline to organizations that exist to help people. Somewhere in that decision, any tension between who he is and what he does disappeared.
Outside of work, Dylan’s creative energy finds its outlet in skateboarding, snowboarding, golf, martial arts, and in Dept.1 itself – which he treats as an ongoing experiment in making serious operational work accessible to the organizations that need it most.
Henry Zhuo
Associate
Henry grew up with the support of his city's public library system, the kind of infrastructure that doesn't ask for credit and just shows up. He knows what it means for a community resource to actually function, and that shaped a particular interest in helping humanitarian causes expand their reach and deepen the impact of what they already do.
He brings experience delivering technology solutions across nonprofit, public sector, insurance, hospitality, and specialty distribution. That range gives him a practical, cross-sector lens that shows up in how he approaches problems as nonprofits build and evolve the operational models behind their missions. He values simplicity and candor, and clients tend to notice both.
Outside of work, Henry is someone who keeps close to the people and places that matter. Weekends with friends, good music, and time in green spaces. He's reserved by nature and delivers high-quality work with a quiet humility. It's a combination that holds up well under pressure.
Bhadra Mishra
Associate
Growing up as a refugee, Bhadra's early life was shaped by nonprofits in ways that stayed with her. She became involved in that world as early as high school, helping organize conversations around race, privilege, and gun violence and turning those conversations into real action inside her school district. When she got to college and chose a path in Math and Computer Science, she worried that career would pull her away from the work she cared about. Her contributions to Dept.1 are the “perfect blend” between her technical interest and doing impactful work.
Bhadra holds a degree in Math and Computer Science from Bowdoin College and brings four years of direct nonprofit experience alongside a professional background in data analysis and machine learning operations. Her technical credentials and history of nonprofit work means she understands not just how to build a system, but why the people using it show up every day and what's at stake when the infrastructure behind their work breaks down.
She describes herself as an ambivert, someone who can light up in a room full of people and equally needs time alone to think and reset. When she gets that time, she's usually outside, hiking somewhere quiet and looking for a waterfall.
Anthony Conner
Associate
Anthony didn't grow up with a lot, and he can look back now and see exactly where nonprofit support could have changed things for him. It's what connects him to organizations that fill those gaps for marginalized communities, and it's what brought him to Dept.1. He spent years as a music educator before finding his way into marketing, operations, and systems work, and that path shows up in how he operates. Teaching gave him the ability to read a room, build something from scratch, and make complicated things accessible to people encountering them for the first time.
He has worked across healthcare, fulfillment, and marketing, with hands-on experience in Salesforce, large-scale project coordination, and the kind of client-facing work where details actually matter. At Dept.1 he has supported the systems and content behind how the firm shows up and grows. Both feel like natural extensions of someone who moves fast, thinks clearly, and doesn't overcomplicate things that don't need to be complicated.
When he's not doing any of that, he's playing jazz in Minnetonka, finding a new restaurant to drag people to, or at home with his partner and their two cats, Elena and Oliver, who run the house.
Dylan Bassett
Founder
Dylan grew up drawn to the outdoors, hiking, camping, days on the lake, summers at the skatepark, and somewhere along the way that translated into a genuine environmentalism and a conviction that his work should mean something beyond the bottom line.
He studied information systems and entrepreneurship at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, then spent time as an agile project manager and systems analyst before moving into corporate consulting where he advised clients on technology strategy and digital transformation. That experience shaped how he thinks about client trust, project rigor, and what he didn’t want to replicate when he built something of his own. He founded Dept.1 to bring that same discipline to organizations that exist to help people. Somewhere in that decision, any tension between who he is and what he does disappeared.
Outside of work, Dylan’s creative energy finds its outlet in skateboarding, snowboarding, golf, martial arts, and in Dept.1 itself – which he treats as an ongoing experiment in making serious operational work accessible to the organizations that need it most.
Henry Zhuo
Associate
Henry grew up with the support of his city's public library system, the kind of infrastructure that doesn't ask for credit and just shows up. He knows what it means for a community resource to actually function, and that shaped a particular interest in helping humanitarian causes expand their reach and deepen the impact of what they already do.
He brings experience delivering technology solutions across nonprofit, public sector, insurance, hospitality, and specialty distribution. That range gives him a practical, cross-sector lens that shows up in how he approaches problems as nonprofits build and evolve the operational models behind their missions. He values simplicity and candor, and clients tend to notice both.
Outside of work, Henry is someone who keeps close to the people and places that matter. Weekends with friends, good music, and time in green spaces. He's reserved by nature and delivers high-quality work with a quiet humility. It's a combination that holds up well under pressure.
Bhadra Mishra
Associate
Growing up as a refugee, Bhadra's early life was shaped by nonprofits in ways that stayed with her. She became involved in that world as early as high school, helping organize conversations around race, privilege, and gun violence and turning those conversations into real action inside her school district. When she got to college and chose a path in Math and Computer Science, she worried that career would pull her away from the work she cared about. Her contributions to Dept.1 are the “perfect blend” between her technical interest and doing impactful work.
Bhadra holds a degree in Math and Computer Science from Bowdoin College and brings four years of direct nonprofit experience alongside a professional background in data analysis and machine learning operations. Her technical credentials and history of nonprofit work means she understands not just how to build a system, but why the people using it show up every day and what's at stake when the infrastructure behind their work breaks down.
She describes herself as an ambivert, someone who can light up in a room full of people and equally needs time alone to think and reset. When she gets that time, she's usually outside, hiking somewhere quiet and looking for a waterfall.
Anthony Conner
Associate
Anthony didn't grow up with a lot, and he can look back now and see exactly where nonprofit support could have changed things for him. It's what connects him to organizations that fill those gaps for marginalized communities, and it's what brought him to Dept.1. He spent years as a music educator before finding his way into marketing, operations, and systems work, and that path shows up in how he operates. Teaching gave him the ability to read a room, build something from scratch, and make complicated things accessible to people encountering them for the first time.
He has worked across healthcare, fulfillment, and marketing, with hands-on experience in Salesforce, large-scale project coordination, and the kind of client-facing work where details actually matter. At Dept.1 he has supported the systems and content behind how the firm shows up and grows. Both feel like natural extensions of someone who moves fast, thinks clearly, and doesn't overcomplicate things that don't need to be complicated.
When he's not doing any of that, he's playing jazz in Minnetonka, finding a new restaurant to drag people to, or at home with his partner and their two cats, Elena and Oliver, who run the house.
FOUNDER
Dylan Bassett
I always had a deep connection to the outdoors, hiking, camping, days on the lake, summers at the skatepark, and somewhere along the way that translated into a genuine environmentalism and a conviction that the work I did with my life should mean something beyond the bottom line.
I studied information systems and entrepreneurship at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, then spent time as an agile project manager and systems analyst at a large financial institution before moving into corporate consulting, where I advised clients on technology strategy and digital transformation as part of a CIO practice. The mentorship I received during that period shaped a lot of how I think about running our projects and Dept.1 as a practice. What rigor looks like. What client trust actually requires. And just as importantly, what I didn't want to replicate when I built something of my own.
When I left that world I kept coming back to the same idea: I wanted my work to mean something bigger than the sum of its parts. I didn't know much about nonprofits at the time, only that they existed to help people. That was enough. I built Dept.1 to help people help people, and somewhere in that decision, the tension between who I am and what I do disappeared. Now the work just flows.
I've always thought of myself as creative, even though I'm wholly inadequate in traditional arts. That energy finds its outlet in individual sports like skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, and martial arts, and in Dept.1 itself, which I treat as an ongoing experiment in making serious operational work accessible to the organizations that need it most.
Associate
Henry Zhuo
Henry grew up with the support of his city's public library system, the kind of infrastructure that doesn't ask for credit and just shows up. He knows what it means for a community resource to actually function, and that shaped a particular interest in helping humanitarian causes expand their reach and deepen the impact of what they already do.
He brings experience delivering technology solutions across nonprofit, public sector, insurance, hospitality, and specialty distribution. That range gives him a practical, cross-sector lens that shows up in how he approaches problems as nonprofits build and evolve the operational models behind their missions. He values simplicity and candor, and clients tend to notice both.
Outside of work, Henry is someone who keeps close to the people and places that matter. Weekends with friends, good music, and time in green spaces. He's reserved by nature and delivers high-quality work with a quiet humility. It's a combination that holds up well under pressure.
Associate
Bhadra Mishra
Growing up as a refugee, Bhadra's early life was shaped by nonprofits in ways that stayed with her. She became involved in that world as early as high school, helping organize conversations around race, privilege, and gun violence and turning those conversations into real action inside her school district. When she got to college and chose a path in Math and Computer Science, she worried that career would pull her away from the work she cared about. Her contributions to Dept.1 are the “perfect blend” between her technical interest and doing impactful work.
Bhadra holds a degree in Math and Computer Science from Bowdoin College and brings four years of direct nonprofit experience alongside a professional background in data analysis and machine learning operations. Her technical credentials and history of nonprofit work means she understands not just how to build a system, but why the people using it show up every day and what's at stake when the infrastructure behind their work breaks down.
She describes herself as an ambivert, someone who can light up in a room full of people and equally needs time alone to think and reset. When she gets that time, she's usually outside, hiking somewhere quiet and looking for a waterfall.
Associate
Anthony Conner
Anthony didn't grow up with a lot, and he can look back now and see exactly where nonprofit support could have changed things for him. It's what connects him to organizations that fill those gaps for marginalized communities, and it's what brought him to Dept.1. He spent years as a music educator before finding his way into marketing, operations, and systems work, and that path shows up in how he operates. Teaching gave him the ability to read a room, build something from scratch, and make complicated things accessible to people encountering them for the first time.
He has worked across healthcare, fulfillment, and marketing, with hands-on experience in Salesforce, large-scale project coordination, and the kind of client-facing work where details actually matter. At Dept.1 he has supported the systems and content behind how the firm shows up and grows. Both feel like natural extensions of someone who moves fast, thinks clearly, and doesn't overcomplicate things that don't need to be complicated.
When he's not doing any of that, he's playing jazz in Minnetonka, finding a new restaurant to drag people to, or at home with his partner and their two cats, Elena and Oliver, who run the house.
FOUNDER
Dylan Bassett
I always had a deep connection to the outdoors, hiking, camping, days on the lake, summers at the skatepark, and somewhere along the way that translated into a genuine environmentalism and a conviction that the work I did with my life should mean something beyond the bottom line.
I studied information systems and entrepreneurship at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, then spent time as an agile project manager and systems analyst at a large financial institution before moving into corporate consulting, where I advised clients on technology strategy and digital transformation as part of a CIO practice. The mentorship I received during that period shaped a lot of how I think about running our projects and Dept.1 as a practice. What rigor looks like. What client trust actually requires. And just as importantly, what I didn't want to replicate when I built something of my own.
When I left that world I kept coming back to the same idea: I wanted my work to mean something bigger than the sum of its parts. I didn't know much about nonprofits at the time, only that they existed to help people. That was enough. I built Dept.1 to help people help people, and somewhere in that decision, the tension between who I am and what I do disappeared. Now the work just flows.
I've always thought of myself as creative, even though I'm wholly inadequate in traditional arts. That energy finds its outlet in individual sports like skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, and martial arts, and in Dept.1 itself, which I treat as an ongoing experiment in making serious operational work accessible to the organizations that need it most.
Associate
Henry Zhuo
Henry grew up with the support of his city's public library system, the kind of infrastructure that doesn't ask for credit and just shows up. He knows what it means for a community resource to actually function, and that shaped a particular interest in helping humanitarian causes expand their reach and deepen the impact of what they already do.
He brings experience delivering technology solutions across nonprofit, public sector, insurance, hospitality, and specialty distribution. That range gives him a practical, cross-sector lens that shows up in how he approaches problems as nonprofits build and evolve the operational models behind their missions. He values simplicity and candor, and clients tend to notice both.
Outside of work, Henry is someone who keeps close to the people and places that matter. Weekends with friends, good music, and time in green spaces. He's reserved by nature and delivers high-quality work with a quiet humility. It's a combination that holds up well under pressure.
Associate
Bhadra Mishra
Growing up as a refugee, Bhadra's early life was shaped by nonprofits in ways that stayed with her. She became involved in that world as early as high school, helping organize conversations around race, privilege, and gun violence and turning those conversations into real action inside her school district. When she got to college and chose a path in Math and Computer Science, she worried that career would pull her away from the work she cared about. Her contributions to Dept.1 are the “perfect blend” between her technical interest and doing impactful work.
Bhadra holds a degree in Math and Computer Science from Bowdoin College and brings four years of direct nonprofit experience alongside a professional background in data analysis and machine learning operations. Her technical credentials and history of nonprofit work means she understands not just how to build a system, but why the people using it show up every day and what's at stake when the infrastructure behind their work breaks down.
She describes herself as an ambivert, someone who can light up in a room full of people and equally needs time alone to think and reset. When she gets that time, she's usually outside, hiking somewhere quiet and looking for a waterfall.
Associate
Anthony Conner
Anthony didn't grow up with a lot, and he can look back now and see exactly where nonprofit support could have changed things for him. It's what connects him to organizations that fill those gaps for marginalized communities, and it's what brought him to Dept.1. He spent years as a music educator before finding his way into marketing, operations, and systems work, and that path shows up in how he operates. Teaching gave him the ability to read a room, build something from scratch, and make complicated things accessible to people encountering them for the first time.
He has worked across healthcare, fulfillment, and marketing, with hands-on experience in Salesforce, large-scale project coordination, and the kind of client-facing work where details actually matter. At Dept.1 he has supported the systems and content behind how the firm shows up and grows. Both feel like natural extensions of someone who moves fast, thinks clearly, and doesn't overcomplicate things that don't need to be complicated.
When he's not doing any of that, he's playing jazz in Minnetonka, finding a new restaurant to drag people to, or at home with his partner and their two cats, Elena and Oliver, who run the house.
FOUNDER
Dylan Bassett
I always had a deep connection to the outdoors, hiking, camping, days on the lake, summers at the skatepark, and somewhere along the way that translated into a genuine environmentalism and a conviction that the work I did with my life should mean something beyond the bottom line.
I studied information systems and entrepreneurship at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, then spent time as an agile project manager and systems analyst at a large financial institution before moving into corporate consulting, where I advised clients on technology strategy and digital transformation as part of a CIO practice. The mentorship I received during that period shaped a lot of how I think about running our projects and Dept.1 as a practice. What rigor looks like. What client trust actually requires. And just as importantly, what I didn't want to replicate when I built something of my own.
When I left that world I kept coming back to the same idea: I wanted my work to mean something bigger than the sum of its parts. I didn't know much about nonprofits at the time, only that they existed to help people. That was enough. I built Dept.1 to help people help people, and somewhere in that decision, the tension between who I am and what I do disappeared. Now the work just flows.
I've always thought of myself as creative, even though I'm wholly inadequate in traditional arts. That energy finds its outlet in individual sports like skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, and martial arts, and in Dept.1 itself, which I treat as an ongoing experiment in making serious operational work accessible to the organizations that need it most.
Associate
Henry Zhuo
Henry grew up with the support of his city's public library system, the kind of infrastructure that doesn't ask for credit and just shows up. He knows what it means for a community resource to actually function, and that shaped a particular interest in helping humanitarian causes expand their reach and deepen the impact of what they already do.
He brings experience delivering technology solutions across nonprofit, public sector, insurance, hospitality, and specialty distribution. That range gives him a practical, cross-sector lens that shows up in how he approaches problems as nonprofits build and evolve the operational models behind their missions. He values simplicity and candor, and clients tend to notice both.
Outside of work, Henry is someone who keeps close to the people and places that matter. Weekends with friends, good music, and time in green spaces. He's reserved by nature and delivers high-quality work with a quiet humility. It's a combination that holds up well under pressure.
Associate
Bhadra Mishra
Growing up as a refugee, Bhadra's early life was shaped by nonprofits in ways that stayed with her. She became involved in that world as early as high school, helping organize conversations around race, privilege, and gun violence and turning those conversations into real action inside her school district. When she got to college and chose a path in Math and Computer Science, she worried that career would pull her away from the work she cared about. Her contributions to Dept.1 are the “perfect blend” between her technical interest and doing impactful work.
Bhadra holds a degree in Math and Computer Science from Bowdoin College and brings four years of direct nonprofit experience alongside a professional background in data analysis and machine learning operations. Her technical credentials and history of nonprofit work means she understands not just how to build a system, but why the people using it show up every day and what's at stake when the infrastructure behind their work breaks down.
She describes herself as an ambivert, someone who can light up in a room full of people and equally needs time alone to think and reset. When she gets that time, she's usually outside, hiking somewhere quiet and looking for a waterfall.
Associate
Anthony Conner
Anthony didn't grow up with a lot, and he can look back now and see exactly where nonprofit support could have changed things for him. It's what connects him to organizations that fill those gaps for marginalized communities, and it's what brought him to Dept.1. He spent years as a music educator before finding his way into marketing, operations, and systems work, and that path shows up in how he operates. Teaching gave him the ability to read a room, build something from scratch, and make complicated things accessible to people encountering them for the first time.
He has worked across healthcare, fulfillment, and marketing, with hands-on experience in Salesforce, large-scale project coordination, and the kind of client-facing work where details actually matter. At Dept.1 he has supported the systems and content behind how the firm shows up and grows. Both feel like natural extensions of someone who moves fast, thinks clearly, and doesn't overcomplicate things that don't need to be complicated.
When he's not doing any of that, he's playing jazz in Minnetonka, finding a new restaurant to drag people to, or at home with his partner and their two cats, Elena and Oliver, who run the house.
FOUNDER
Dylan Bassett
I always had a deep connection to the outdoors, hiking, camping, days on the lake, summers at the skatepark, and somewhere along the way that translated into a genuine environmentalism and a conviction that the work I did with my life should mean something beyond the bottom line.
I studied information systems and entrepreneurship at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, then spent time as an agile project manager and systems analyst at a large financial institution before moving into corporate consulting, where I advised clients on technology strategy and digital transformation as part of a CIO practice. The mentorship I received during that period shaped a lot of how I think about running our projects and Dept.1 as a practice. What rigor looks like. What client trust actually requires. And just as importantly, what I didn't want to replicate when I built something of my own.
When I left that world I kept coming back to the same idea: I wanted my work to mean something bigger than the sum of its parts. I didn't know much about nonprofits at the time, only that they existed to help people. That was enough. I built Dept.1 to help people help people, and somewhere in that decision, the tension between who I am and what I do disappeared. Now the work just flows.
I've always thought of myself as creative, even though I'm wholly inadequate in traditional arts. That energy finds its outlet in individual sports like skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, and martial arts, and in Dept.1 itself, which I treat as an ongoing experiment in making serious operational work accessible to the organizations that need it most.
Associate
Henry Zhuo
Henry grew up with the support of his city's public library system, the kind of infrastructure that doesn't ask for credit and just shows up. He knows what it means for a community resource to actually function, and that shaped a particular interest in helping humanitarian causes expand their reach and deepen the impact of what they already do.
He brings experience delivering technology solutions across nonprofit, public sector, insurance, hospitality, and specialty distribution. That range gives him a practical, cross-sector lens that shows up in how he approaches problems as nonprofits build and evolve the operational models behind their missions. He values simplicity and candor, and clients tend to notice both.
Outside of work, Henry is someone who keeps close to the people and places that matter. Weekends with friends, good music, and time in green spaces. He's reserved by nature and delivers high-quality work with a quiet humility. It's a combination that holds up well under pressure.
Associate
Bhadra Mishra
Growing up as a refugee, Bhadra's early life was shaped by nonprofits in ways that stayed with her. She became involved in that world as early as high school, helping organize conversations around race, privilege, and gun violence and turning those conversations into real action inside her school district. When she got to college and chose a path in Math and Computer Science, she worried that career would pull her away from the work she cared about. Her contributions to Dept.1 are the “perfect blend” between her technical interest and doing impactful work.
Bhadra holds a degree in Math and Computer Science from Bowdoin College and brings four years of direct nonprofit experience alongside a professional background in data analysis and machine learning operations. Her technical credentials and history of nonprofit work means she understands not just how to build a system, but why the people using it show up every day and what's at stake when the infrastructure behind their work breaks down.
She describes herself as an ambivert, someone who can light up in a room full of people and equally needs time alone to think and reset. When she gets that time, she's usually outside, hiking somewhere quiet and looking for a waterfall.
Associate
Anthony Conner
Anthony didn't grow up with a lot, and he can look back now and see exactly where nonprofit support could have changed things for him. It's what connects him to organizations that fill those gaps for marginalized communities, and it's what brought him to Dept.1. He spent years as a music educator before finding his way into marketing, operations, and systems work, and that path shows up in how he operates. Teaching gave him the ability to read a room, build something from scratch, and make complicated things accessible to people encountering them for the first time.
He has worked across healthcare, fulfillment, and marketing, with hands-on experience in Salesforce, large-scale project coordination, and the kind of client-facing work where details actually matter. At Dept.1 he has supported the systems and content behind how the firm shows up and grows. Both feel like natural extensions of someone who moves fast, thinks clearly, and doesn't overcomplicate things that don't need to be complicated.
When he's not doing any of that, he's playing jazz in Minnetonka, finding a new restaurant to drag people to, or at home with his partner and their two cats, Elena and Oliver, who run the house.
FOUNDER
Dylan Bassett
I always had a deep connection to the outdoors, hiking, camping, days on the lake, summers at the skatepark, and somewhere along the way that translated into a genuine environmentalism and a conviction that the work I did with my life should mean something beyond the bottom line.
I studied information systems and entrepreneurship at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, then spent time as an agile project manager and systems analyst at a large financial institution before moving into corporate consulting, where I advised clients on technology strategy and digital transformation as part of a CIO practice. The mentorship I received during that period shaped a lot of how I think about running our projects and Dept.1 as a practice. What rigor looks like. What client trust actually requires. And just as importantly, what I didn't want to replicate when I built something of my own.
When I left that world I kept coming back to the same idea: I wanted my work to mean something bigger than the sum of its parts. I didn't know much about nonprofits at the time, only that they existed to help people. That was enough. I built Dept.1 to help people help people, and somewhere in that decision, the tension between who I am and what I do disappeared. Now the work just flows.
I've always thought of myself as creative, even though I'm wholly inadequate in traditional arts. That energy finds its outlet in individual sports like skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, and martial arts, and in Dept.1 itself, which I treat as an ongoing experiment in making serious operational work accessible to the organizations that need it most.
Associate
Henry Zhuo
Henry grew up with the support of his city's public library system, the kind of infrastructure that doesn't ask for credit and just shows up. He knows what it means for a community resource to actually function, and that shaped a particular interest in helping humanitarian causes expand their reach and deepen the impact of what they already do.
He brings experience delivering technology solutions across nonprofit, public sector, insurance, hospitality, and specialty distribution. That range gives him a practical, cross-sector lens that shows up in how he approaches problems as nonprofits build and evolve the operational models behind their missions. He values simplicity and candor, and clients tend to notice both.
Outside of work, Henry is someone who keeps close to the people and places that matter. Weekends with friends, good music, and time in green spaces. He's reserved by nature and delivers high-quality work with a quiet humility. It's a combination that holds up well under pressure.
Associate
Bhadra Mishra
Growing up as a refugee, Bhadra's early life was shaped by nonprofits in ways that stayed with her. She became involved in that world as early as high school, helping organize conversations around race, privilege, and gun violence and turning those conversations into real action inside her school district. When she got to college and chose a path in Math and Computer Science, she worried that career would pull her away from the work she cared about. Her contributions to Dept.1 are the “perfect blend” between her technical interest and doing impactful work.
Bhadra holds a degree in Math and Computer Science from Bowdoin College and brings four years of direct nonprofit experience alongside a professional background in data analysis and machine learning operations. Her technical credentials and history of nonprofit work means she understands not just how to build a system, but why the people using it show up every day and what's at stake when the infrastructure behind their work breaks down.
She describes herself as an ambivert, someone who can light up in a room full of people and equally needs time alone to think and reset. When she gets that time, she's usually outside, hiking somewhere quiet and looking for a waterfall.
Associate
Anthony Conner
Anthony didn't grow up with a lot, and he can look back now and see exactly where nonprofit support could have changed things for him. It's what connects him to organizations that fill those gaps for marginalized communities, and it's what brought him to Dept.1. He spent years as a music educator before finding his way into marketing, operations, and systems work, and that path shows up in how he operates. Teaching gave him the ability to read a room, build something from scratch, and make complicated things accessible to people encountering them for the first time.
He has worked across healthcare, fulfillment, and marketing, with hands-on experience in Salesforce, large-scale project coordination, and the kind of client-facing work where details actually matter. At Dept.1 he has supported the systems and content behind how the firm shows up and grows. Both feel like natural extensions of someone who moves fast, thinks clearly, and doesn't overcomplicate things that don't need to be complicated.
When he's not doing any of that, he's playing jazz in Minnetonka, finding a new restaurant to drag people to, or at home with his partner and their two cats, Elena and Oliver, who run the house.
FOUNDER
Dylan Bassett
I always had a deep connection to the outdoors, hiking, camping, days on the lake, summers at the skatepark, and somewhere along the way that translated into a genuine environmentalism and a conviction that the work I did with my life should mean something beyond the bottom line.
I studied information systems and entrepreneurship at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, then spent time as an agile project manager and systems analyst at a large financial institution before moving into corporate consulting, where I advised clients on technology strategy and digital transformation as part of a CIO practice. The mentorship I received during that period shaped a lot of how I think about running our projects and Dept.1 as a practice. What rigor looks like. What client trust actually requires. And just as importantly, what I didn't want to replicate when I built something of my own.
When I left that world I kept coming back to the same idea: I wanted my work to mean something bigger than the sum of its parts. I didn't know much about nonprofits at the time, only that they existed to help people. That was enough. I built Dept.1 to help people help people, and somewhere in that decision, the tension between who I am and what I do disappeared. Now the work just flows.
I've always thought of myself as creative, even though I'm wholly inadequate in traditional arts. That energy finds its outlet in individual sports like skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, and martial arts, and in Dept.1 itself, which I treat as an ongoing experiment in making serious operational work accessible to the organizations that need it most.
Associate
Henry Zhuo
Henry grew up with the support of his city's public library system, the kind of infrastructure that doesn't ask for credit and just shows up. He knows what it means for a community resource to actually function, and that shaped a particular interest in helping humanitarian causes expand their reach and deepen the impact of what they already do.
He brings experience delivering technology solutions across nonprofit, public sector, insurance, hospitality, and specialty distribution. That range gives him a practical, cross-sector lens that shows up in how he approaches problems as nonprofits build and evolve the operational models behind their missions. He values simplicity and candor, and clients tend to notice both.
Outside of work, Henry is someone who keeps close to the people and places that matter. Weekends with friends, good music, and time in green spaces. He's reserved by nature and delivers high-quality work with a quiet humility. It's a combination that holds up well under pressure.
Associate
Bhadra Mishra
Growing up as a refugee, Bhadra's early life was shaped by nonprofits in ways that stayed with her. She became involved in that world as early as high school, helping organize conversations around race, privilege, and gun violence and turning those conversations into real action inside her school district. When she got to college and chose a path in Math and Computer Science, she worried that career would pull her away from the work she cared about. Her contributions to Dept.1 are the “perfect blend” between her technical interest and doing impactful work.
Bhadra holds a degree in Math and Computer Science from Bowdoin College and brings four years of direct nonprofit experience alongside a professional background in data analysis and machine learning operations. Her technical credentials and history of nonprofit work means she understands not just how to build a system, but why the people using it show up every day and what's at stake when the infrastructure behind their work breaks down.
She describes herself as an ambivert, someone who can light up in a room full of people and equally needs time alone to think and reset. When she gets that time, she's usually outside, hiking somewhere quiet and looking for a waterfall.
Associate
Anthony Conner
Anthony didn't grow up with a lot, and he can look back now and see exactly where nonprofit support could have changed things for him. It's what connects him to organizations that fill those gaps for marginalized communities, and it's what brought him to Dept.1. He spent years as a music educator before finding his way into marketing, operations, and systems work, and that path shows up in how he operates. Teaching gave him the ability to read a room, build something from scratch, and make complicated things accessible to people encountering them for the first time.
He has worked across healthcare, fulfillment, and marketing, with hands-on experience in Salesforce, large-scale project coordination, and the kind of client-facing work where details actually matter. At Dept.1 he has supported the systems and content behind how the firm shows up and grows. Both feel like natural extensions of someone who moves fast, thinks clearly, and doesn't overcomplicate things that don't need to be complicated.
When he's not doing any of that, he's playing jazz in Minnetonka, finding a new restaurant to drag people to, or at home with his partner and their two cats, Elena and Oliver, who run the house.
FOUNDER
Dylan Bassett
I always had a deep connection to the outdoors, hiking, camping, days on the lake, summers at the skatepark, and somewhere along the way that translated into a genuine environmentalism and a conviction that the work I did with my life should mean something beyond the bottom line.
I studied information systems and entrepreneurship at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, then spent time as an agile project manager and systems analyst at a large financial institution before moving into corporate consulting, where I advised clients on technology strategy and digital transformation as part of a CIO practice. The mentorship I received during that period shaped a lot of how I think about running our projects and Dept.1 as a practice. What rigor looks like. What client trust actually requires. And just as importantly, what I didn't want to replicate when I built something of my own.
When I left that world I kept coming back to the same idea: I wanted my work to mean something bigger than the sum of its parts. I didn't know much about nonprofits at the time, only that they existed to help people. That was enough. I built Dept.1 to help people help people, and somewhere in that decision, the tension between who I am and what I do disappeared. Now the work just flows.
I've always thought of myself as creative, even though I'm wholly inadequate in traditional arts. That energy finds its outlet in individual sports like skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, and martial arts, and in Dept.1 itself, which I treat as an ongoing experiment in making serious operational work accessible to the organizations that need it most.
Associate
Henry Zhuo
Henry grew up with the support of his city's public library system, the kind of infrastructure that doesn't ask for credit and just shows up. He knows what it means for a community resource to actually function, and that shaped a particular interest in helping humanitarian causes expand their reach and deepen the impact of what they already do.
He brings experience delivering technology solutions across nonprofit, public sector, insurance, hospitality, and specialty distribution. That range gives him a practical, cross-sector lens that shows up in how he approaches problems as nonprofits build and evolve the operational models behind their missions. He values simplicity and candor, and clients tend to notice both.
Outside of work, Henry is someone who keeps close to the people and places that matter. Weekends with friends, good music, and time in green spaces. He's reserved by nature and delivers high-quality work with a quiet humility. It's a combination that holds up well under pressure.
Associate
Bhadra Mishra
Growing up as a refugee, Bhadra's early life was shaped by nonprofits in ways that stayed with her. She became involved in that world as early as high school, helping organize conversations around race, privilege, and gun violence and turning those conversations into real action inside her school district. When she got to college and chose a path in Math and Computer Science, she worried that career would pull her away from the work she cared about. Her contributions to Dept.1 are the “perfect blend” between her technical interest and doing impactful work.
Bhadra holds a degree in Math and Computer Science from Bowdoin College and brings four years of direct nonprofit experience alongside a professional background in data analysis and machine learning operations. Her technical credentials and history of nonprofit work means she understands not just how to build a system, but why the people using it show up every day and what's at stake when the infrastructure behind their work breaks down.
She describes herself as an ambivert, someone who can light up in a room full of people and equally needs time alone to think and reset. When she gets that time, she's usually outside, hiking somewhere quiet and looking for a waterfall.
Associate
Anthony Conner
Anthony didn't grow up with a lot, and he can look back now and see exactly where nonprofit support could have changed things for him. It's what connects him to organizations that fill those gaps for marginalized communities, and it's what brought him to Dept.1. He spent years as a music educator before finding his way into marketing, operations, and systems work, and that path shows up in how he operates. Teaching gave him the ability to read a room, build something from scratch, and make complicated things accessible to people encountering them for the first time.
He has worked across healthcare, fulfillment, and marketing, with hands-on experience in Salesforce, large-scale project coordination, and the kind of client-facing work where details actually matter. At Dept.1 he has supported the systems and content behind how the firm shows up and grows. Both feel like natural extensions of someone who moves fast, thinks clearly, and doesn't overcomplicate things that don't need to be complicated.
When he's not doing any of that, he's playing jazz in Minnetonka, finding a new restaurant to drag people to, or at home with his partner and their two cats, Elena and Oliver, who run the house.
FOUNDER
Dylan Bassett
I always had a deep connection to the outdoors, hiking, camping, days on the lake, summers at the skatepark, and somewhere along the way that translated into a genuine environmentalism and a conviction that the work I did with my life should mean something beyond the bottom line.
I studied information systems and entrepreneurship at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, then spent time as an agile project manager and systems analyst at a large financial institution before moving into corporate consulting, where I advised clients on technology strategy and digital transformation as part of a CIO practice. The mentorship I received during that period shaped a lot of how I think about running our projects and Dept.1 as a practice. What rigor looks like. What client trust actually requires. And just as importantly, what I didn't want to replicate when I built something of my own.
When I left that world I kept coming back to the same idea: I wanted my work to mean something bigger than the sum of its parts. I didn't know much about nonprofits at the time, only that they existed to help people. That was enough. I built Dept.1 to help people help people, and somewhere in that decision, the tension between who I am and what I do disappeared. Now the work just flows.
I've always thought of myself as creative, even though I'm wholly inadequate in traditional arts. That energy finds its outlet in individual sports like skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, and martial arts, and in Dept.1 itself, which I treat as an ongoing experiment in making serious operational work accessible to the organizations that need it most.
Associate
Henry Zhuo
Henry grew up with the support of his city's public library system, the kind of infrastructure that doesn't ask for credit and just shows up. He knows what it means for a community resource to actually function, and that shaped a particular interest in helping humanitarian causes expand their reach and deepen the impact of what they already do.
He brings experience delivering technology solutions across nonprofit, public sector, insurance, hospitality, and specialty distribution. That range gives him a practical, cross-sector lens that shows up in how he approaches problems as nonprofits build and evolve the operational models behind their missions. He values simplicity and candor, and clients tend to notice both.
Outside of work, Henry is someone who keeps close to the people and places that matter. Weekends with friends, good music, and time in green spaces. He's reserved by nature and delivers high-quality work with a quiet humility. It's a combination that holds up well under pressure.
Associate
Bhadra Mishra
Growing up as a refugee, Bhadra's early life was shaped by nonprofits in ways that stayed with her. She became involved in that world as early as high school, helping organize conversations around race, privilege, and gun violence and turning those conversations into real action inside her school district. When she got to college and chose a path in Math and Computer Science, she worried that career would pull her away from the work she cared about. Her contributions to Dept.1 are the “perfect blend” between her technical interest and doing impactful work.
Bhadra holds a degree in Math and Computer Science from Bowdoin College and brings four years of direct nonprofit experience alongside a professional background in data analysis and machine learning operations. Her technical credentials and history of nonprofit work means she understands not just how to build a system, but why the people using it show up every day and what's at stake when the infrastructure behind their work breaks down.
She describes herself as an ambivert, someone who can light up in a room full of people and equally needs time alone to think and reset. When she gets that time, she's usually outside, hiking somewhere quiet and looking for a waterfall.
Associate
Anthony Conner
Anthony didn't grow up with a lot, and he can look back now and see exactly where nonprofit support could have changed things for him. It's what connects him to organizations that fill those gaps for marginalized communities, and it's what brought him to Dept.1. He spent years as a music educator before finding his way into marketing, operations, and systems work, and that path shows up in how he operates. Teaching gave him the ability to read a room, build something from scratch, and make complicated things accessible to people encountering them for the first time.
He has worked across healthcare, fulfillment, and marketing, with hands-on experience in Salesforce, large-scale project coordination, and the kind of client-facing work where details actually matter. At Dept.1 he has supported the systems and content behind how the firm shows up and grows. Both feel like natural extensions of someone who moves fast, thinks clearly, and doesn't overcomplicate things that don't need to be complicated.
When he's not doing any of that, he's playing jazz in Minnetonka, finding a new restaurant to drag people to, or at home with his partner and their two cats, Elena and Oliver, who run the house.
FOUNDER
Dylan Bassett
I always had a deep connection to the outdoors, hiking, camping, days on the lake, summers at the skatepark, and somewhere along the way that translated into a genuine environmentalism and a conviction that the work I did with my life should mean something beyond the bottom line.
I studied information systems and entrepreneurship at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, then spent time as an agile project manager and systems analyst at a large financial institution before moving into corporate consulting, where I advised clients on technology strategy and digital transformation as part of a CIO practice. The mentorship I received during that period shaped a lot of how I think about running our projects and Dept.1 as a practice. What rigor looks like. What client trust actually requires. And just as importantly, what I didn't want to replicate when I built something of my own.
When I left that world I kept coming back to the same idea: I wanted my work to mean something bigger than the sum of its parts. I didn't know much about nonprofits at the time, only that they existed to help people. That was enough. I built Dept.1 to help people help people, and somewhere in that decision, the tension between who I am and what I do disappeared. Now the work just flows.
I've always thought of myself as creative, even though I'm wholly inadequate in traditional arts. That energy finds its outlet in individual sports like skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, and martial arts, and in Dept.1 itself, which I treat as an ongoing experiment in making serious operational work accessible to the organizations that need it most.
Associate
Henry Zhuo
Henry grew up with the support of his city's public library system, the kind of infrastructure that doesn't ask for credit and just shows up. He knows what it means for a community resource to actually function, and that shaped a particular interest in helping humanitarian causes expand their reach and deepen the impact of what they already do.
He brings experience delivering technology solutions across nonprofit, public sector, insurance, hospitality, and specialty distribution. That range gives him a practical, cross-sector lens that shows up in how he approaches problems as nonprofits build and evolve the operational models behind their missions. He values simplicity and candor, and clients tend to notice both.
Outside of work, Henry is someone who keeps close to the people and places that matter. Weekends with friends, good music, and time in green spaces. He's reserved by nature and delivers high-quality work with a quiet humility. It's a combination that holds up well under pressure.
Associate
Bhadra Mishra
Growing up as a refugee, Bhadra's early life was shaped by nonprofits in ways that stayed with her. She became involved in that world as early as high school, helping organize conversations around race, privilege, and gun violence and turning those conversations into real action inside her school district. When she got to college and chose a path in Math and Computer Science, she worried that career would pull her away from the work she cared about. Her contributions to Dept.1 are the “perfect blend” between her technical interest and doing impactful work.
Bhadra holds a degree in Math and Computer Science from Bowdoin College and brings four years of direct nonprofit experience alongside a professional background in data analysis and machine learning operations. Her technical credentials and history of nonprofit work means she understands not just how to build a system, but why the people using it show up every day and what's at stake when the infrastructure behind their work breaks down.
She describes herself as an ambivert, someone who can light up in a room full of people and equally needs time alone to think and reset. When she gets that time, she's usually outside, hiking somewhere quiet and looking for a waterfall.
Associate
Anthony Conner
Anthony didn't grow up with a lot, and he can look back now and see exactly where nonprofit support could have changed things for him. It's what connects him to organizations that fill those gaps for marginalized communities, and it's what brought him to Dept.1. He spent years as a music educator before finding his way into marketing, operations, and systems work, and that path shows up in how he operates. Teaching gave him the ability to read a room, build something from scratch, and make complicated things accessible to people encountering them for the first time.
He has worked across healthcare, fulfillment, and marketing, with hands-on experience in Salesforce, large-scale project coordination, and the kind of client-facing work where details actually matter. At Dept.1 he has supported the systems and content behind how the firm shows up and grows. Both feel like natural extensions of someone who moves fast, thinks clearly, and doesn't overcomplicate things that don't need to be complicated.
When he's not doing any of that, he's playing jazz in Minnetonka, finding a new restaurant to drag people to, or at home with his partner and their two cats, Elena and Oliver, who run the house.
FOUNDER
Dylan Bassett
I always had a deep connection to the outdoors, hiking, camping, days on the lake, summers at the skatepark, and somewhere along the way that translated into a genuine environmentalism and a conviction that the work I did with my life should mean something beyond the bottom line.
I studied information systems and entrepreneurship at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, then spent time as an agile project manager and systems analyst at a large financial institution before moving into corporate consulting, where I advised clients on technology strategy and digital transformation as part of a CIO practice. The mentorship I received during that period shaped a lot of how I think about running our projects and Dept.1 as a practice. What rigor looks like. What client trust actually requires. And just as importantly, what I didn't want to replicate when I built something of my own.
When I left that world I kept coming back to the same idea: I wanted my work to mean something bigger than the sum of its parts. I didn't know much about nonprofits at the time, only that they existed to help people. That was enough. I built Dept.1 to help people help people, and somewhere in that decision, the tension between who I am and what I do disappeared. Now the work just flows.
I've always thought of myself as creative, even though I'm wholly inadequate in traditional arts. That energy finds its outlet in individual sports like skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, and martial arts, and in Dept.1 itself, which I treat as an ongoing experiment in making serious operational work accessible to the organizations that need it most.
Associate
Henry Zhuo
Henry grew up with the support of his city's public library system, the kind of infrastructure that doesn't ask for credit and just shows up. He knows what it means for a community resource to actually function, and that shaped a particular interest in helping humanitarian causes expand their reach and deepen the impact of what they already do.
He brings experience delivering technology solutions across nonprofit, public sector, insurance, hospitality, and specialty distribution. That range gives him a practical, cross-sector lens that shows up in how he approaches problems as nonprofits build and evolve the operational models behind their missions. He values simplicity and candor, and clients tend to notice both.
Outside of work, Henry is someone who keeps close to the people and places that matter. Weekends with friends, good music, and time in green spaces. He's reserved by nature and delivers high-quality work with a quiet humility. It's a combination that holds up well under pressure.
Associate
Bhadra Mishra
Growing up as a refugee, Bhadra's early life was shaped by nonprofits in ways that stayed with her. She became involved in that world as early as high school, helping organize conversations around race, privilege, and gun violence and turning those conversations into real action inside her school district. When she got to college and chose a path in Math and Computer Science, she worried that career would pull her away from the work she cared about. Her contributions to Dept.1 are the “perfect blend” between her technical interest and doing impactful work.
Bhadra holds a degree in Math and Computer Science from Bowdoin College and brings four years of direct nonprofit experience alongside a professional background in data analysis and machine learning operations. Her technical credentials and history of nonprofit work means she understands not just how to build a system, but why the people using it show up every day and what's at stake when the infrastructure behind their work breaks down.
She describes herself as an ambivert, someone who can light up in a room full of people and equally needs time alone to think and reset. When she gets that time, she's usually outside, hiking somewhere quiet and looking for a waterfall.
Associate
Anthony Conner
Anthony didn't grow up with a lot, and he can look back now and see exactly where nonprofit support could have changed things for him. It's what connects him to organizations that fill those gaps for marginalized communities, and it's what brought him to Dept.1. He spent years as a music educator before finding his way into marketing, operations, and systems work, and that path shows up in how he operates. Teaching gave him the ability to read a room, build something from scratch, and make complicated things accessible to people encountering them for the first time.
He has worked across healthcare, fulfillment, and marketing, with hands-on experience in Salesforce, large-scale project coordination, and the kind of client-facing work where details actually matter. At Dept.1 he has supported the systems and content behind how the firm shows up and grows. Both feel like natural extensions of someone who moves fast, thinks clearly, and doesn't overcomplicate things that don't need to be complicated.
When he's not doing any of that, he's playing jazz in Minnetonka, finding a new restaurant to drag people to, or at home with his partner and their two cats, Elena and Oliver, who run the house.
FOUNDER
Dylan Bassett
I always had a deep connection to the outdoors, hiking, camping, days on the lake, summers at the skatepark, and somewhere along the way that translated into a genuine environmentalism and a conviction that the work I did with my life should mean something beyond the bottom line.
I studied information systems and entrepreneurship at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, then spent time as an agile project manager and systems analyst at a large financial institution before moving into corporate consulting, where I advised clients on technology strategy and digital transformation as part of a CIO practice. The mentorship I received during that period shaped a lot of how I think about running our projects and Dept.1 as a practice. What rigor looks like. What client trust actually requires. And just as importantly, what I didn't want to replicate when I built something of my own.
When I left that world I kept coming back to the same idea: I wanted my work to mean something bigger than the sum of its parts. I didn't know much about nonprofits at the time, only that they existed to help people. That was enough. I built Dept.1 to help people help people, and somewhere in that decision, the tension between who I am and what I do disappeared. Now the work just flows.
I've always thought of myself as creative, even though I'm wholly inadequate in traditional arts. That energy finds its outlet in individual sports like skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, and martial arts, and in Dept.1 itself, which I treat as an ongoing experiment in making serious operational work accessible to the organizations that need it most.
Associate
Henry Zhuo
Henry grew up with the support of his city's public library system, the kind of infrastructure that doesn't ask for credit and just shows up. He knows what it means for a community resource to actually function, and that shaped a particular interest in helping humanitarian causes expand their reach and deepen the impact of what they already do.
He brings experience delivering technology solutions across nonprofit, public sector, insurance, hospitality, and specialty distribution. That range gives him a practical, cross-sector lens that shows up in how he approaches problems as nonprofits build and evolve the operational models behind their missions. He values simplicity and candor, and clients tend to notice both.
Outside of work, Henry is someone who keeps close to the people and places that matter. Weekends with friends, good music, and time in green spaces. He's reserved by nature and delivers high-quality work with a quiet humility. It's a combination that holds up well under pressure.
Associate
Bhadra Mishra
Growing up as a refugee, Bhadra's early life was shaped by nonprofits in ways that stayed with her. She became involved in that world as early as high school, helping organize conversations around race, privilege, and gun violence and turning those conversations into real action inside her school district. When she got to college and chose a path in Math and Computer Science, she worried that career would pull her away from the work she cared about. Her contributions to Dept.1 are the “perfect blend” between her technical interest and doing impactful work.
Bhadra holds a degree in Math and Computer Science from Bowdoin College and brings four years of direct nonprofit experience alongside a professional background in data analysis and machine learning operations. Her technical credentials and history of nonprofit work means she understands not just how to build a system, but why the people using it show up every day and what's at stake when the infrastructure behind their work breaks down.
She describes herself as an ambivert, someone who can light up in a room full of people and equally needs time alone to think and reset. When she gets that time, she's usually outside, hiking somewhere quiet and looking for a waterfall.
Associate
Anthony Conner
Anthony didn't grow up with a lot, and he can look back now and see exactly where nonprofit support could have changed things for him. It's what connects him to organizations that fill those gaps for marginalized communities, and it's what brought him to Dept.1. He spent years as a music educator before finding his way into marketing, operations, and systems work, and that path shows up in how he operates. Teaching gave him the ability to read a room, build something from scratch, and make complicated things accessible to people encountering them for the first time.
He has worked across healthcare, fulfillment, and marketing, with hands-on experience in Salesforce, large-scale project coordination, and the kind of client-facing work where details actually matter. At Dept.1 he has supported the systems and content behind how the firm shows up and grows. Both feel like natural extensions of someone who moves fast, thinks clearly, and doesn't overcomplicate things that don't need to be complicated.
When he's not doing any of that, he's playing jazz in Minnetonka, finding a new restaurant to drag people to, or at home with his partner and their two cats, Elena and Oliver, who run the house.
FOUNDER
Dylan Bassett
I always had a deep connection to the outdoors, hiking, camping, days on the lake, summers at the skatepark, and somewhere along the way that translated into a genuine environmentalism and a conviction that the work I did with my life should mean something beyond the bottom line.
I studied information systems and entrepreneurship at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, then spent time as an agile project manager and systems analyst at a large financial institution before moving into corporate consulting, where I advised clients on technology strategy and digital transformation as part of a CIO practice. The mentorship I received during that period shaped a lot of how I think about running our projects and Dept.1 as a practice. What rigor looks like. What client trust actually requires. And just as importantly, what I didn't want to replicate when I built something of my own.
When I left that world I kept coming back to the same idea: I wanted my work to mean something bigger than the sum of its parts. I didn't know much about nonprofits at the time, only that they existed to help people. That was enough. I built Dept.1 to help people help people, and somewhere in that decision, the tension between who I am and what I do disappeared. Now the work just flows.
I've always thought of myself as creative, even though I'm wholly inadequate in traditional arts. That energy finds its outlet in individual sports like skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, and martial arts, and in Dept.1 itself, which I treat as an ongoing experiment in making serious operational work accessible to the organizations that need it most.
Associate
Henry Zhuo
Henry grew up with the support of his city's public library system, the kind of infrastructure that doesn't ask for credit and just shows up. He knows what it means for a community resource to actually function, and that shaped a particular interest in helping humanitarian causes expand their reach and deepen the impact of what they already do.
He brings experience delivering technology solutions across nonprofit, public sector, insurance, hospitality, and specialty distribution. That range gives him a practical, cross-sector lens that shows up in how he approaches problems as nonprofits build and evolve the operational models behind their missions. He values simplicity and candor, and clients tend to notice both.
Outside of work, Henry is someone who keeps close to the people and places that matter. Weekends with friends, good music, and time in green spaces. He's reserved by nature and delivers high-quality work with a quiet humility. It's a combination that holds up well under pressure.
Associate
Bhadra Mishra
Growing up as a refugee, Bhadra's early life was shaped by nonprofits in ways that stayed with her. She became involved in that world as early as high school, helping organize conversations around race, privilege, and gun violence and turning those conversations into real action inside her school district. When she got to college and chose a path in Math and Computer Science, she worried that career would pull her away from the work she cared about. Her contributions to Dept.1 are the “perfect blend” between her technical interest and doing impactful work.
Bhadra holds a degree in Math and Computer Science from Bowdoin College and brings four years of direct nonprofit experience alongside a professional background in data analysis and machine learning operations. Her technical credentials and history of nonprofit work means she understands not just how to build a system, but why the people using it show up every day and what's at stake when the infrastructure behind their work breaks down.
She describes herself as an ambivert, someone who can light up in a room full of people and equally needs time alone to think and reset. When she gets that time, she's usually outside, hiking somewhere quiet and looking for a waterfall.
Associate
Anthony Conner
Anthony didn't grow up with a lot, and he can look back now and see exactly where nonprofit support could have changed things for him. It's what connects him to organizations that fill those gaps for marginalized communities, and it's what brought him to Dept.1. He spent years as a music educator before finding his way into marketing, operations, and systems work, and that path shows up in how he operates. Teaching gave him the ability to read a room, build something from scratch, and make complicated things accessible to people encountering them for the first time.
He has worked across healthcare, fulfillment, and marketing, with hands-on experience in Salesforce, large-scale project coordination, and the kind of client-facing work where details actually matter. At Dept.1 he has supported the systems and content behind how the firm shows up and grows. Both feel like natural extensions of someone who moves fast, thinks clearly, and doesn't overcomplicate things that don't need to be complicated.
When he's not doing any of that, he's playing jazz in Minnetonka, finding a new restaurant to drag people to, or at home with his partner and their two cats, Elena and Oliver, who run the house.
Mission & Values
Dept.1 leads with integrity and practicality, shaping strategy into simple steps your team can sustain.
Deliver High Value
Deliver
High Value
Every project is defined by the outcomes it creates, time saved, costs reduced, and stronger fundraising results.
Price Transparency
You know exactly what you are getting, and exactly what it will cost, before we start.
Incremental Steps
We deliver in manageable, clear steps, à la carte rather than all or nothing.
FAQ's
Frequently
Asked QuestionsWhat types of organizations do you work with?
We partner with small-to-midsize nonprofits and purpose-driven businesses that want practical, affordable consulting to get things done.
How is Dept.1 different from traditional consulting firms?
We focus on doing over talking. Our projects are 30–50% lower cost, lean on planning, and prioritize solutions your team can implement quickly.
What services do you offer?
We help organizations plan strategically, build systems, set up fundraising infrastructure, provide ongoing advisory support, and even offer pro-bono assessments for qualifying nonprofits.
How long does a typical project take?
Our engagements are designed to deliver results quickly. Planning and assessment projects usually run 6–8 weeks, while system implementations vary greatly depending on scope.
What free services do you provide?
We have a pro-bono program for nonprofits making under $200k/year. For these businesses, we provide a focused, no-cost review of strategy, systems, and fundraising to help you prioritize growth without straining your budget.
Is there a contract?
Yes, we use simple, clear agreements for all projects. They outline the scope, timeline, and fees (no hidden clauses or confusing legal jargon) so both sides know exactly what to expect.
How do we get started?
Just reach out via our Calendly link or contact form. We’ll set up a brief conversation to understand your needs and recommend the best next steps.
