About Us

Building Capacity. Increasing Impact.

Our Theory of Change is depicted as a champagne tower: Engaging and Overflowing.

We believe growth is fueled by others who know more than we do– subject matter experts! There are people out there that have so much information in their brains that they write and create about it all over the internet, in books, in webinars and more.

Our team is overflowing with knowledge, capacity, and eagerness to help your team; knowing it will change your organization and have a tremendous impact on your community.

What Matters To Us

We believe impactful organizations must cultivate their professionals. We meet YOU where you are at – service level, service type, timeline.

Why it Matters

Only 3% of philanthropy supports aging services. Yet, across the country, the population of older people in communities continues to exceed children. Hence, the aging sector struggles to maintain and grow its service delivery and impact. If genuine action is to manifest, the sector must assemble like never before to build each other up, and we are here for it.

How We Address It

Kovir recognizes the strengths of your organization, so the majority of our services are customized for the agency or initiative we are partnering with.

Coaching Your Leadership, Training Your Group, Assessing and Implementing Service Delivery Changes, Organizational Development, Grant Strategy

– we are here for it.

Approaches & Methods

Strength Based

(Eco)System Based

Person Centered

Human Centered Design

Interdisciplinary

Evidence Based

Visionary Organizations

SMARTER

SAGE ADVICE

GATED Communities

NASW Code of Ethics

NASW Supervision Code of Ethics

NASW Technology Code of Ethics

Our Core Ideology

We believe all communities can be better places to live. We strive for all communities to be positively impacted by the professionals and organizations serving them. We hope all communities being served by our clients become more inclusive, healthier places to thrive.

We believe organizations want to be sustainable – financially, programmatically, etc. We want all organizations to do more with their available resources and access additional resources. We hope all organizations will have a more meaningful impact on the communities they serve.

We believe all professionals have something to learn and something to contribute. We desire all professionals to be competent, informed, equipped, and empowered to grow and collaborate. We hope professionals will be seekers and improvers.

As a social enterprise, we believe we should be profitable to remain sustainable and achieve reasonable growth. We should also elevate our commitment to values and purpose over pursuing profits. We desire to create or find affordable, quality solutions for our clients and utilize their available resources best. We hope we can serve our clients and communities to the fullest by investing in our organization and professionals.

Meet The CEO

Marie Gress is a licensed master-level macro social worker specializing in older adults and technology, working at the intersection of capacity, competency, and community in the aging sector. She is the CEO at Kovir LLC, serves on Washtenaw County’s Commission on Aging, and provides supervision and mentorship to macro social workers in the aging sector.

Marie started providing grant writing and grant strategy services with the mission to increase the capacity and impact of small non-profits with limited resources, along with low-cost websites and outreach methods. Since then, she crafted a Grant Writing for Novices workbook and has made it available for free on various platforms, created a self-paced online course, and has led grant writing courses and seminars for groups like NASW-MI, NAAP, and Volunteer Florida.

She enjoys offering mentorship to macro social workers in the aging sector. Connect with Marie at Kovir.org/Marie, Linkedin, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Clubhouse.