Donorly — Hiring a Fundraising Consultant: 5 Steps & Top Firms (2024)

It’s no secret that one of the most essential parts of running your nonprofit is fundraising. Gathering support from the community that believes in your cause enables you to provide critical services to your constituents, maintain your facility, offer programming to the public, run your volunteer program, and more.

But the reality is that fundraising is difficult. This is especially true for small to mid-size nonprofits that may not have the same resources or connections as larger, enterprising nonprofits. If your organization finds itself in this boat, it can be frustrating to see other organizations pulling off large-scale fundraising events or successful capital campaigns when your own success is hit-and-miss.

So, if your organization is struggling to find the time or resources to build out an effective and sustainable fundraising strategy on its own, what can you do?

For many growing nonprofits, working with a fundraising consultant may be the perfect next move.

A fundraising consultant is a third-party expert that can evaluate your current fundraising strategies and help you design a plan for better future fundraising. However, if you’ve never worked with a fundraising consultant before, you may not know how to start the hiring process.

That’s where this guide comes in. In it, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about fundraising consultants and how to hire one that can help you design a winning fundraising strategy. Specifically, we’ll cover:

• Fundraising Consultant FAQs

• Choosing the Right Fundraising Consultant: 5 Steps

• 5 Top Fundraising Consultants to Consider For Your Nonprofit

Working with and learning from a fundraising consultant can set you up for success at your nonprofit’s current size and prepare you to scale up your operations in the future. If you think your organization might benefit from working with a consultant, this is the right guide for you. Let’s jump in!

Fundraising Consultants: Frequently Asked Questions

If you’re new to working with a fundraising consultant, you may have some questions. In this section, we’ll go over the basics of fundraising consulting. Gaining an understanding of what fundraising consulting is will help you determine if your organization is ready to work with a consultant and prepare you to get the most out of your consultant relationship.

What does a fundraising consultant do?

A fundraising consultant is a third-party expert hired by nonprofit organizations to guide them through the aspects of planning and running an effective fundraising campaign (or multiple campaigns). Under this broad umbrella, fundraising consultants may offer services specifically for:

• Campaign strategy development

• Prospect research and wealth screening to find major donors

• Capital campaign feasibility studies

• Ongoing campaign guidance and support

• Training on fundraising best practices

• Development support to replace or hire in-house staff

The ultimate goals of working with a fundraising consultant are to drive your campaigns to success, build stronger internal fundraising processes, and grow your fundraising capacity over time. This is why small to mid-size nonprofits, in particular, can reap many long-term benefits from their professional guidance.

Since fundraising consultants might specialize in one or more specific services, it’s important to understand your own needs before researching candidates so you’re able to hire the consultant that will help your organization the most. We’ll cover how to assess your nonprofit’s needs in the steps below.

Why is it so important to find the right nonprofit fundraising consultant?

Working with a fundraising consultant who’s the right fit for your team, mission, and goals is important because it can lay the groundwork for all of your future fundraising efforts.

The perfect consultant will not only be able to design an effective campaign strategy, but also show your team how to put into practice the best approaches that will help you continue building your fundraising capacity even after your work together has ended. However, the consultant’s guidance must be aligned with your own approach and mission, or else it won’t deliver as much long-term value as it can and should.

As you research different consultants, make sure you take into account your needs, your budget, and the consultant’s willingness to collaborate and work with you based on your current status. Since working with an expert is an important investment in your nonprofit’s future, you want to find a true partner that will work with your team and vision, not try to steer your organization where they want it to go.

How are fundraising consultants paid?

The exact cost to work with a fundraising consultant will vary greatly based on your needs, goals, and timeframe for the engagement, but there are a few common ways that consulting engagements are typically structured:

• Daily rates for support and services

• Fixed, per-project fees determined in advance

• Subscription-style fees for ongoing support, as with prospect research services

Work with your organization’s leadership to examine your budget and determine what you’re willing to spend on consulting services. In general, one of the most effective, reliable, and transparent ways to handle consultant compensation will be to set a concrete rate for daily services or the entirety of the project early on in your working relationship.

Choosing the Right Fundraising Consultant: 5 Steps

When hiring a fundraising consultant, there are a few core steps you should follow regardless of the exact type or scale of support you’re looking for. Here’s what we recommend to ensure you’re partnering with the right consultant for your organization:

Fully understanding your needs from the start will be essential for guiding the hiring process. Why do you want or need to work with a fundraising consultant? There are a few common reasons that nonprofits work with fundraising consultants:

• Campaign-specific strategy and support

• Conducting feasibility studies

• General strengthening of your fundraising approach and processes

• Prospect research support and training

• Identification and strategy development for new revenue streams

Does one of these categories jump out at you as something your organization needs help with? If so, drill down to define your needs in that category as specifically as possible.

Once you’ve defined exactly why you need the support of a consultant, consider what you want from that relationship. Work with your board and leadership to outline the specific achievements and deliverables that you’ll be looking for and how you will define success when working with your consultant. Document these decisions to use when drafting your request for proposal (RFP) later.

If you’re hiring a fundraising consultant to support a specific campaign, this process should occur early in the planning stages to ensure that your consultant’s goals fully align with the broader campaign’s goals.

A request for proposal, or RFP, is a document used by organizations to define their needs and communicate expectations with consultants that they’re considering hiring.

An RFP gives potential consultants a starting point to build from and empowers them to pitch a strategy that’s tailored to your specific needs. For nonprofit fundraising, fully-customized strategy and support services will always be the better pick above one-size-fits-all solutions. So make sure your RFP clearly and accurately explains what you want from a potential partner.

For a nonprofit fundraising consultant RFP, you’ll need to include a few key pieces of information:

• Purpose of the RFP

• Background information on your organization

• The project’s scope of work and timeframe, breaking down your expectations as specifically as possible

• Your engagement’s specific goals and how progress and success will be measured

• Any proposal submission requirements or requests, including due dates

Take your time drafting your RFP, and get input from multiple leaders or stakeholders at your organization to ensure it’s as robust and accurate as possible. A thorough RFP that clearly outlines your needs will result in more valuable proposals once it’s time to begin talking with potential candidates.

Now that you’ve completed the prep work, it’s time to get started searching for the right fundraising consultant for your nonprofit.

You can begin your research while your RFP is still in progress as long as you clearly understand and can define your own needs. Fundraising consultants can specialize in one or many different distinct services, so having a solid idea of what you’re looking for will be essential to guide the initial research process.

Here are a few tips to help you identify potential consultants and begin narrowing down your list:

• Get recommendations from peers, colleagues, and other organizations in your community that have worked with fundraising consultants in the past.

• Do some general online research to get a sense of the leaders in the space who specialize in your needs. How do they talk about their own services? What do others have to say about their work? This can help you search online more effectively.

• Explore professional organizations that can recommend consultants, like The Giving Institute or the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP).

• Look for consultants who take the time to explain their own fundraising philosophies. This will help ensure that those who make your list will align with your organization’s own size, culture, and values.

• If you’re looking at consultants outside of your local area, ensure that your potential consultant will be able to work with your team remotely and (ideally) has a proven track record of serving nonprofits from a distance.

As you begin narrowing down your list of consultants, make any final adjustments to your RFP to account for any changes in your goals or scope of needs.

Once you have a handful of potential fundraising consultants in mind, it’s time to reach out to them to get to know them and their services a bit better.

Rather than blindly submitting an RFP, you should first call or email each consultant to express your interest. The consultants will appreciate the chance to build a rapport with your team and get to know more about your organization and mission before diving headfirst into drafting a proposal.

Once the consultant has a general idea of who you are and what you’re looking for, send them your RFP and set a specific due date for when you’d like to hear back from them. Make sure to give them a reasonable amount of turnaround time, typically a minimum of two weeks, to ensure they can deliver a high-quality proposal.

We also recommend asking candidates to include a list of references with their proposals.

As proposals begin coming in from your consulting candidates, form a small team or committee to review them and follow up with references. Look for proposals that directly satisfy your needs, lay out actionable and measurable plans to achieve your goals, and follow a timeline that aligns with your expectations.

One or two proposals will likely stand out as the best fits for your nonprofit. Make amendments and reach back out to discuss specific logistical changes as needed. This is a typical part of the hiring process, and the best fundraising consultants will be happy to adjust their strategies based on your needs and preferences. A willingness to work with you to hammer out the perfect roadmap for your engagement is a hallmark of a valuable partner.

Next, pick your winning proposal and notify the fundraising consultant. Continue working with them as needed to iron out logistics like timeframes, compensation, and key performance indicators (KPIs). Once everyone is in agreement, sign a contract with your consultant and get ready to start strengthening your fundraising strategy!

5 Top Fundraising Consultants to Consider For Your Nonprofit

Now that you’re familiar with how the fundraising consultant hiring process looks, you’re ready to start looking for your own consultant. In this section you’ll find our top recommendations for consultants who can serve as true partners to your organization and will help you get great results. And remember, look for the consultant that will best meet your nonprofit’s specific needs!

1.Donorly — Our Top Recommendation

At Donorly, we offer a full range of fundraising consulting services to small and mid-size nonprofit organizations that want to fundraise beyond their size and prepare for future growth. We tailor our approach based on individual nonprofits’ goals, size, mission, and community to set you up for long-term success. To put this philosophy into action, we emphasize donor research as the single most effective way for nonprofits to begin fundraising beyond their size.

Services Offered:

• Transitional Nonprofit Staffing: A Donorly consultant can step into your open position and provide temporary support while also helping you prepare for an in-house hire.

• Prospect Research Subscriptions: With a 5, 10, or 20-hour subscription, your nonprofit can fully leverage all of Donorly’s prospect research tools and expertise to find and connect with the people who want to see your mission succeed.

• Four-Part Fiscal Year Fix Service: Over the course of one fiscal year, we’ll employ our Assess, Plan, Activate, and Donor Research steps to overhaul your entire fundraising approach.

• Telefundraising Training: Donorly can train your team in telefundraising and help you get people on the phone to raise money for your mission.

• Feasibility Studies: Feasibility studies help you determine whether your organization is ready for a capital campaign. We’ll conduct a feasibility study for you and help you create a plan to move forward no matter the results.

• Capital Campaign Counsel: The Donorly team is ready and available to coach you through your capital campaign from beginning to end — whether it’s your first or your fiftieth.

Why This Fundraising Consulting Firm Made Our List:

Donorly’s emphasis on donor research positions us as a top consulting firm that offers effective solutions now and lays the groundwork for sustained success down the road. When you work with Donorly, you’re working with experts who understand your nonprofit and are truly invested in helping you meet your specific goals.

2. Aly Sterling Philanthropy — True Partnership

Aly Sterling Philanthropy specializes in taking a holistic approach to its consulting services, ensuring that your nonprofit’s unique needs are met. This firm offers a number of services that can set your organization up for sustained success, from fundraising planning to board leadership, and specializes in helping nonprofits through turbulent times.

Services Offered:

• Fundraising Planning: Aly Sterling Philanthropy can help you better understand why your donors give to your cause and boost your strategy for cultivating donors and raising money.

• Donor Crisis Communications: This firm doesn’t shy away from helping nonprofits through tough times, like the COVID-19 pandemic. They know how to help you connect with your donors when it matters most.

• Board Leadership: The Aly Sterling team can re-energize and re-engage your board through their Board Catalyst approach, which provides an evaluation of how your board works and then empowers you to help your leaders improve.

Why This Fundraising Consulting Firm Made Our List:

The Aly Sterling Philanthropy team is a group of consultants who won’t just work on behalf of your nonprofit, but will work with your nonprofit staff to make sure your needs are met and your expectations are exceeded. This firm stands out as one that will truly partner with you to get you where you want to go, instead of chasing its own interests.

Learn more about aly sterling philanthropy

3. Averill Fundraising Solutions — Capital Campaign Assistance

Averill Fundraising Solutions brings decades of capital campaign experience to the table for nonprofits in a variety of sectors. They’ll help you assess your organization’s readiness and will customize a solution that will help you reach your capital campaign goal. They also offer a number of additional services to help you increase your organization’s fundraising capacity.

Services Offered:

• Feasibility Studies: An Averill Fundraising Solutions feasibility and planning study will help your organization identify whether you’re ready to dive into a capital campaign. Their team will assess your organization’s capacity, test your case for support, and determine whether your major supporters are ready to back you.

• Capital Campaign Planning: This consulting firm will ensure you have a customized solution and management plan for your next capital campaign, empowering you to reach the goals you’re aiming for.

• Executive Search: From recruiting to onboarding, Averill Fundraising Solutions can also help you find talented Chief Development Officers that will fit into your organization and contribute to your success.

Why This Fundraising Consulting Firm Made Our List:

Averill Fundraising Solutions has helped nonprofits raise a combined $3,000,000,000 over the years, and they bring a determination for success to every project they take on. With their all-in, hands-on approach, they can help you reach your goals, too, no matter your sector.

Learn more about averill fundraising solutions

4. Getting Attention — Google Grant Consulting

Getting Attention is a consulting firm that empowers nonprofits to leverage the Google Ad Grant. As one of the best marketing resources available, the Google Ad Grant program offers eligible nonprofits $10,000 monthly to spend on Google advertisem*nts.

After your initial consultation, the Getting Attention team will take a deep dive into your website and your Google Ad Grants account (if you have one) to figure out what is and isn’t working. If you’ve yet to get started with their program, they can get you up and running by checking your eligibility and applying on your behalf. From there, they’ll help you launch winning ad campaigns and stay compliant with Google’s regulations.

Services Offered:

• Google Grant Applications: The Getting Attention team knows its way around the Google Ad Grant application and eligibility requirements. They’ll help you submit an application with the highest possible chance for approval.

• Ad Creation: Getting Attention prides itself on helping identify keywords and develop winning ads that communicate your mission and achieve your marketing goals.

• Ongoing Compliance: Keep an organized account and stay compliant with Google’s extensive guidelines. Getting Attention understands the compliance regulations through and through, so you can keep your account in good standing.

Why This Fundraising Consulting Firm Made Our List:

Your nonprofit could be leveraging thousands of dollars worth of free advertising, but not knowing about the Google Ad Grant and how to manage that grant may be holding you back. Getting Attention aspires to change that, ensuring your mission is broadcast to the people who can help you move it forward.

Learn more about getting attention

5. Marc Pitman — Training Courses

Known as the “Johnny Appleseed of fundraising,” Marc Pitman heads The Fundraising Coach and Concord Leadership Group. Pitman offers training courses that can teach your nonprofit’s team better fundraising practices and will guide your staff through these courses. To leverage Pitman’s expertise, your nonprofit will simply book a training session or speaking engagement.

Services Offered:

• Training Courses: From fundraising asks to board member training, Pitman offers a variety of training courses and sessions. Pitman can guide you through the course materials and set you up to apply the material to your nonprofit, DIY-style.

• Speaking Engagement: Pitman can speak at your event or conference, offering a high-energy presentation that can provide a wealth of fundraising knowledge to nonprofit professionals old and new.

• Leadership Training: Through the Concord Leadership Group, Pitman will provide your leaders (or future leaders) with training that will help them maximize their influence and reach their full leadership potential.

Why This Fundraising Consulting Firm Made Our List:

Pitman is an experienced and gifted speaker who knows how to engage nonprofit professionals and encourage them to learn and grow. Plus, with a training course approach, your nonprofit has a little more wiggle room to work together in-house to apply the best practices you learn about, rather than relying on an outside expert to jump in and do work with you. If you feel this may be the right approach for your team, Marc Pitman is a great pick.

Learn more about marc pitman

Wrapping Up

Hiring a fundraising consultant is an excellent way to develop an improved and sustainable fundraising strategy that can bring your nonprofit success now and in the future. As you begin the process of looking for a fundraising consultant to work with, rely on the steps and recommendations in this guide. You will be able to narrow down what you’re looking for and find the right consultant that will act as a partner to your team and a champion for your cause.

Want to keep learning about ways to improve your approach to fundraising? Here are some recommended resources for further reading:

• Step-by-Step Fundraising Plan Template for Nonprofits. This fundraising template sums up Donorly’s many years of fundraising experience and can be an excellent resource to work off of as you take steps to strengthen your own strategy.

• Prospect Research: The Ultimate Guide for Nonprofits. Prospect research, the process of assessing your donors’ capacity and affinity for giving to your nonprofit, is essential for fundraising success. Learn everything you need to know in this guide!

• Capital Campaigns: A Crash Course for Your Nonprofit Team. Capital campaigns are in a league of their own when it comes to complexity and intensity. This crash course will walk you through the ins and outs of a capital campaign and how to get started with one.