What Fundraising Consultants Really Do - A Primer for Nonprofit Leaders
Fundraising Consultant
Are you thinking about hiring a fundraising consultant, but you’re confused about where to start, or have you been burned before by consultants who didn’t deliver?
As a five-time nonprofit executive director and a fundraising consultant myself, I’m here to pull back the curtain on the world of fundraising consultants.
What makes a good fundraising consultant? What are realistic expectations for success? How much does a fundraising consultant cost? Does my nonprofit really need a fundraising consultant?
Read on to learn all about the world of fundraising consulting—and how to make informed decisions when bringing on fundraising consultants.
What Is a Fundraising Consultant?
A fundraising consultant is someone you pay as an independent contractor, not staff, to help your organization raise revenue.
Fundraising consultants may have multiple clients at a time, or just your organization as a client. Some consultants are freelancers or only fundraising as a side-hustle, while others are full-time or incorporated companies specializing in specific areas of fundraising.
Because fundraising is an enormous field, you can find experts in highly specialized areas, such as database management, relationship-building with foundations, crypto, events, direct mail, etc.
For simplicity, I’ll group fundraising consultants into two main areas: 1) Strategy and 2) Implementation. Many fundraising strategists will also implement, and many who implement may provide a strategy. But understanding the difference is key to making sure you’re hiring the right consultant for your needs.
Fundraising Strategy Consultants: What They Do and Why It Matters
Fundraising strategy is crucial because the results of your tactics and implementation will be heavily influenced by whether you are being strategic. A fundraising strategy involves setting specific fundraising goals and arranging your choices and expenditures accordingly. Doing everything everywhere all at once is not a strategy.
“Strategy requires saying no to a lot of things so you can do three things well instead of 20 things poorly.”
A fundraising strategist will help you take stock of your current strengths (I call this an asset inventory in my own fundraising work), determine where it’s most advantageous to lean in, and develop a plan to do so.
Here’s an example of how I go about building a fundraising strategy for clients as a fundraising consultant:
Conduct an inventory to assess where an organization has the best chance at success in fundraising.
With organizational leadership, recommend and align on the two to three areas of revenue generation that make the most sense to prioritize. We then proceed to get the entire organization on board to focus on those priorities. This may mean changing language and tools on the website, doing outreach to particular program officers at foundations, or creating digital campaigns like Facebook Fundraisers.
Chart out every step in a written fundraising plan (who does what by when).
Work the plan and measure progress.
Of course, there is a lot more to it than captured here. There are meetings, brainstorming, and iterations of plans. But the magic comes from the strategy, and the strategy comes from the initial assessment.
If you need to hire additional consultants or different consultants once the strategy is set, so be it. In my consulting practice, if I am not the right fit to help you raise crypto donations, I’ll say so and refer you on to someone who does!
A fundraising strategist may be a generalist or specialist, but to be effective, they must, must, must understand the big picture. They should understand the broad field of fundraising (events, grants, digital, major gifts, campaigns, etc.)
They must also understand your organization’s overall objectives. If you have a strategic plan, annual goals, or background information on what has worked and what has failed, share it with your consultant.
“I focus on strategy in my consulting business because I believe it is where every organization must start. Believe it or not, many organizations, even some of the largest ones, don’t have a strategy; they just have tactics. ”
Fundraising Implementation Consultants: What They Do and Why It Matters
A fundraising implementation consultant is a do-er. You are hiring them to directly use tactics to bring in money.
They may even be directly soliciting your supporters. (*Make sure you have a solicitation license for any state with ongoing or significant fundraising solicitation.)
For example, a fundraising implementation consultant may be writing and even submitting grants on your organization’s behalf.
They may be contacting and lining up meetings with donors, and possibly attending those meetings and making asks. They may be planning and executing your gala or golf outing.
A fundraising implementation consultant is usually brought in to handle a lot of work that the organization is not equipped to handle internally, often because of budget or staffing challenges.
Another reason to hire an implementation consultant is that they can be fast, efficient, and highly skilled in the nuances of a particular area, like online fundraising, direct mail, or galas.
Choosing Your Fundraising Consultant and Strategy
I have seen countless nonprofits bring on the wrong type of fundraising consultant and make the wrong fundraising strategy decisions.
That’s why 90% of the time organizations should START by finding a fundraising strategy consultant—or creating their own fundraising strategy if they have the right skills and experience on their team. Strategy calls with consultants are not expensive, and the right consultant could probably help you for just a few hours a month.
As a fundraising consultant focused on strategy, I start by taking stock of an organization’s strengths. I assess who they know, what physical space they have access to, how strong their social media presence is, and how deep the connections of their board and key stakeholders are.
Once I know this, I help nonprofits focus on two to three revenue streams over a 6-12 month timeline.
“Don’t try to do it all. That is not strategy.”
Understand Your Needs BEFORE Hiring a Consultant
Be very clear about the scope of work with your consultant because it will determine the contract and the price, as well as expectations for what success looks like.
For example, here are two sample organizations with very different fundraising needs that need very different consultants.
The first nonprofit has one priority revenue stream: grants. This is the primary revenue stream they want to focus on. The organization has an in-house grant writer, but what they need is more fundraising prospects and a “door opener”: someone with deep relationships who can make introductions, get them into conferences, and use their powerful personal connections to unlock pots of money.
Our second nonprofit is at a crossroads. They have lost most of their government grants and desperately need to focus on major donors and new foundations. They need a fundraising consultant who can bring strategy AND is familiar with their sector and the donors that support it. This is especially important.
One of my clients hired a grant-writing professional who had only worked in the museum world. She lacked the connections and field knowledge necessary to be an effective grant writer for a technology and career preparedness nonprofit. Obviously, that engagement did not turn out well.
Avoid These Common Fundraising Strategy Pitfalls
For most small and medium-sized organizations from $500k -$10 million, you will be faced with whether you are hiring someone for a specific task or an overall strategy. It is very tempting to hire your first in-house fundraising staff and call them a “Development Director” when they really aren’t directing development; they’re just grantwriting or renewing lapsed members.
The same goes for hiring a consultant. Some fundraising consultants will try to stretch themselves and serve all your fundraising needs, but beware of this. It is rare that any fundraising consultant can do it all.
It should also go without saying that any external consultant should probably not be your director of development. That role should be in-house.
When Strategy Consultants Become Implementation Consultants
In many cases, a fundraising consultant will help you create your strategy and then help you implement that strategy. These consultants serve as strategy and implementation consultants.
For some organizations, especially those with limited staff capacity, this can be helpful. However, there is the risk that this approach does not allow your team to grow, learn, and build capacity the way they should.
I have always preferred to “teach my clients to fish” instead of giving them the fish. I want my nonprofit clients to learn and not need me. I guide my clients toward the work they need to do, help them co-create materials, train them on pitching, and refine their tactics.
I have found that the best way to set an organization up for success is to let them do the soliciting and the logistics themselves, so they build in-house knowledge and can continue the daily work of fundraising without needing a consultant. But some organizations need to outsource every detail, and that will come at a higher price tag.
What Do Fundraising Consultants Charge?
Fundraising consultants charge fees through a variety of models, including hourly pricing, retainer pricing, package pricing, and fractional services.
Hourly Rates for Fundraising Consultants
Because the field of fundraising is so huge and so many people are involved, you will see a wide range of fees. Some freelancers and consultants will charge hourly, but this may not be ideal if the scope of work is unclear. If you trust your grantwriter or membership renewal specialist to bill accurately, feel free to pay hourly for ongoing or short-term work.
But set out some outputs and outcomes for them to achieve (e.g., 25 phone calls placed a day, 45 renewal emails sent a week).
Hourly workers are more likely to be earlier-career fundraisers, but there are some exceptions. The more sophisticated and experienced you want, the more likely you are to pay for a package. I have seen grant writers as low as $25 an hour, but the best are creeping up to $100 an hour or more. But if they can churn out a $20,000 grant in 3 hours… it's a deal.
Retainer Pricing for Fundraising Consultants
Some consultants don’t want an hour of work here and there. They want predictability. Some fundraising consultants will handle repeatable work (thank you notes, entering data, etc.) with a minimum of three or six months. Retainers have many forms, but you either pay upfront and get a discount for guaranteed work, or you pay monthly but still commit. It is still hourly pricing, but in bulk.
Package Pricing for Fundraising Consultants
Most fundraising strategists and implementers prefer packages. A package is clear, clean, and simple. A fundraising consultant will bundle a set of deliverables for different levels of pricing; typically “Good,” “Better,” and “Best” pricing. An example would be $2,500 for three grant proposals in a month, or $5,000 to handle your end-of-year solicitations.
Each party is taking a little bit of risk that the project goes smoothly, or else the rate per hour may not be a great deal. Always get clear on the deliverables (scope of work), the timeline for deliverables, and the price. And have one clear person on staff supervising the consultant.
Fractional Fundraising Consultants
There is a new-ish term in town…fractional professionals. Essentially, you are hiring 25-50% of a full-time fundraiser so they can almost feel like they are on your team, but they are not on staff.
Fractional professionals tend to be more skilled and experienced, but they want to own their own company and have greater control over their pricing. If you want a Grants Manager but can’t pay benefits and want to stay lean, you can hire a Grants Manager who can appear on your website as “Grants Manager,” but they are not on staff. Equivalent hourly rates for fractional fundraisers may be higher than an in-house staff member.
Are Fundraising Consultants Worth the Fee?
In short, yes! There is a huge peace of mind that comes from just delegating something off your plate and freeing up your time. If your fundraising consultant does exactly what you ask, and what you asked of them was the most strategic thing (see above on strategy), then it can be a great investment.
How to Find and Choose a Great Fundraising Consultant
I always believe that referrals are best when looking for the right consultant for your nonprofit.
“Ask organizations in your network to share which fundraising consultants they LOVE, not just who they know. ”
After that, you can use Google to search for fundraising consultants. If you prefer a consultant who is geographically near you, put that in your Google search. You can also find online directories, including these two that I recommend: find grant writers here and find fractional fundraisers here.
Before signing a contract, be sure to vet all consultants. This includes getting clear estimates, talking to former clients, and ensuring the consultant can deliver expected results.
For example, if your nonprofit relies heavily on grants, you probably don’t want a grant writer who is just starting out. There is a lot of secret sauce that experienced grant writers bring.
You want to know how many grants they have written, how many proposals have been successful, and the conditions around those proposals. Don’t be fooled by the number of dollars raised. Many fundraisers can claim they raised a lot, but they may have inherited a stellar list of existing donors and high-value prospects before they raised those funds.
Similarly, if you are looking for someone in major gifts, corporate sponsorship, digital strategy, events, direct mail, etc., think about the work you’ll need them to do and screen them for those results!
Conclusion: Start Raising More Money
Fundraising consultants have helped raise many billions of dollars for good causes. After setting your fundraising strategy (which strategy consultants can help you with), decide whether to implement the plan in-house or with external help from a consultant.
Pricing for consultants varies widely, but, like in many fields, the better they are, the more they will likely charge. To find stellar fundraising consultants, get referrals from your existing network and check out the lists of consultants I provided above. If you’re interested in working with me, you can learn more about my fundraising strategy consulting services here.
