Consulting
Empowering your Philanthropic Mission with services designed to create positive change
We offer full-service consulting, so feel free to reach out for a specific need. Our model for general support evaluates current fundraising practices and determines funding needs. Very often those two things need to be better aligned. Then we get into the nitty-gritty of building cases-for-giving, identifying potential donors, and developing critical programs to cultivate and steward donors.
Are you struggling with:
Fundraising that feels transactional?
Staff in need of professional training?
Punitive management models that take the heart out of philanthropy?
Fundraising income directed by donors instead of supporting organizational priorities?
We learned how to overcome these issues like so many in the nonprofit sector: the hard way through trial and error. A successful fundraising program is one that aligns philanthropic giving with the real needs of the organization and the mission it serves.
We want to help fundraisers and nonprofit organizations in a way that makes an impact on philanthropic missions and leaves donors feeling really great about being a partner with your organizations.
Working with us
What’s different about working with us is that we integrate philanthropy research and ethics in this work ensuring that your organization is facilitating philanthropy that provides public goods, respects and includes all parties involved, and really does help to make the world a better place. When we say research, we mean research conducted by social scientists and humanists published in peer-reviewed journals and academic monologues - not blogs and publications that offer anecdotes or studies conducted by private businesses to sell their products.
We take academic theory on human behavior and organizations, ethical frameworks, and the history of philanthropy to build new models for donor engagement, fundraiser assessment, and workplace well-being that result in fundraising success, happy fundraisers, and a nonprofit workplace that reflects the culture of philanthropy (which, by the way, in Greek means “love of humanity”).
Some of our popular services
Building Cases-for-Giving
There is a lot of research on donor behavior that can tell us what they care about. This service identifies what your donors and potential donors hope to achieve through their giving to your organization, and how you can build cases for support that align with those interests while ensuring that your actual funding needs are met.
Deliverables: Portfolio of cases for giving with collateral to use in donor engagement
Getting to Know Your Donors
There are ways to evaluate donors and potential donors on the macro and the micro. The mission of your organization is a starting point for developing a donor profile that can guide donor prospecting and development. Research on real life current donors and potential major gift donors builds a profile for individuals who are interested in your mission, already give, and have capacity to support your organizations.
Deliverables: Engagement plan for real donors and potential donors including philanthropic foundations
Building Proposals that Leverage Social Capital
The solicitation needs to meet the social goals of the donor. Is this about a gala or a named building? Not really. Proposals that leverage social capital align with how their various networks, life experience, and values collide with your organization’s mission.
Deliverables: Real Proposals for real donors or potential donors
Benefits of empowerment:
Outcomes We Focus On:
Teaching you so much more about how and why fundraising works
Building a stronger sense of how your organization’s mission aligns with your donor ecosystem
Providing you the tools to build and sustain strong donor engagement
Building confidence for fundraising success
By the time you complete training with us, you will have a stronger appreciation for the power of philanthropy to make positive change and best practices to deliver on that promise. We also hope that it strengthens humility in practitioners and organizations and dignity for those who benefit from nonprofit missions.
Each Service Includes:
4 Consecutive Weeks
Course Materials
Weekly Trainings
Homework
Who We Work With
We work with all kinds of nonprofit organizations from libraries to museums to conservation organizations to universities. Our team has been in a wide variety of nonprofit organizations, so we understand how they can be very different from each other. Whether you are big or small, we can provide support for fundraising with individuals, corporations, or philanthropic foundations. With experts on the annual fund, major gift fundraising, corporate philanthropy, grant writing, and corporate communications; we can also build you a fundraising program from the ground up or help you tweak your current program.
The Purdue Honors College at Purdue University
Building fundable cases-for-giving and supporting grant writing with faculty in the college and the directors of the Happiness Learning Collaborative.
Happiness Alliance
Providing strategic leadership for fundraising program and developing grant proposals with Seattle-based nonprofit providing tools, resources and knowledge for grassroots activism around happiness and well-being.
Art Scene West
Conducting research and identifying philanthropic partners for a community-based philanthropy program for West Coast art gallery.
Ready to take the next step with us?
Let’s Connect!
Are you ready to try a fundraising model that actually makes you love your job? Having trouble keeping fundraisers? Are donors just not getting why they should support your work? Call us. We can help with that.