The Ultimate Guide to Hiring a Nonprofit Fundraising Consultant: Maximizing Impact and Achieving Your Organization's Goals

Fundraising Consultants for Nonprofits

Fundraising consultants are data-driven individuals that use donor analytics and their nonprofit expertise to advise nonprofit strategies. Your fundraising consultant will help your nonprofit grow and nurture your database by leveraging your nonprofit’s data to enhance your direct mail and digital campaigns. Consultants can be helpful in critical business areas like creating a capital fundraising campaign, a new social media engagement plan, or a corporate partnership strategy.

HOW TO FIND NONPROFIT FUNDRAISING CONSULTANTS FOR A NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION

Whether you’re launching a capital campaign, reevaluating your fundraising strategy, or looking to build capacity, a fundraising consultant should be part of your plan. Check out these important steps to follow when finding the best consultant for your nonprofit’s needs. We will also look at the importance of a Marketing consultant for nonprofits.

Search for the right fundraising consultant.

Your team may well know that you need a consultant to step in and help straighten out your fundraising efforts. Let’s break down some of the top services fundraising consultants offer so your team can find the right nonprofit consultant. When searching for a fundraising consultant, your nonprofit might be interested in:

• Campaign planning/feasibility studies.

• Fundraising direction.

• Nonprofit training or education.

Once your team knows what kind of fundraising consultant services to search for, you’ll need to start looking. Luckily, there are lots of ways for your team to find a number of possible partners to choose from. Your nonprofit can start its search by:

• Asking for recommendations from peers.

Ask your peers in the nonprofit sector to find out which firms have a proven track record of success. Reach out to professionals at other nonprofits, individuals on your team with a history at other organizations, and others.

• Using a search engine to build a list.

Use a search engine like Google to search for keywords like “fundraising consultant” or “nonprofit consultant”. Build a general list of prospects, and then refine the list with regional keywords, specific services, and other details.

• Referencing a fundraising consultant directory.

There are many nonprofit directories that include information on top nonprofit consultants in your field. These are categorized by fundraising sector, price, reputation, and other key metrics.

8 TIPS TO SELECT NONPROFIT FUNDRAISING CONSULTANTS FOR NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS

Finally, after building a list of the top fundraising consultants and refining the contenders, it’s time to pick your top choice (or choices). At this stage, you’ll want to select your best-fit fundraising consultant as well as 3-5 backup options. Your final selections should meet at least some of the following criteria:

1) Does the consultant's technical experience match your needs?

Look at the consultant's educational background, work history, references/testimonials, and portfolio of similar work. Does the consultant understand the hardware, operating system, and software that your organization uses or is likely to use? Has the consultant worked on similar projects before?

2) Does the consultant understand how nonprofits work?

A consultant who has experience working with nonprofits may have a better understanding of nonprofit needs and challenges. If you use consultants who work mainly with commercial businesses, make sure they understand the nonprofit world. It helps to make sure that consultants understand your agency's specific mission as well. They should also grasp why the project is important to you, and what organizational goals you hope to reach with that technology.

3) How well does their solution fit?

Talk through your needs as you see them. Ask them what solution they would propose. Can they articulate how the solution would address your needs better than other alternatives? Some consultants have a special relationship with certain vendors and will recommend their products even if they are not what you need. Others may recommend something simply because they are more familiar with it.

4) How well do they communicate?

The fundraising consultant should be able to communicate technical ideas in a way a non-techie can understand. So when the consultant uses technical terms, they should explain what they mean, and make you feel comfortable in asking for more clarification, even if they are basic questions.

5) Is the consultant clear about their responsibilities?

Ask them to articulate what their role will be and what specific tasks they will have to accomplish for your nonprofit organization. The best way to determine this is to ask them to submit a proposed work plan or scope of work.

7) What fee structure does the consultant use?

Some nonprofit consultants charge by the hour, some charge by fulfilling specific deliverable tasks, and some charge for the whole project. Are they willing to break the project down into stages, with an estimated fee for each stage? The bottom line, of course, is whether you can afford their rates or get them to negotiate.

8) What kind of future support is available?

For example, you could hire a consultant to create a new website for your organization. Their contract may end once the site launches, but they may also have a regular maintenance retainer included in their contract to continue to provide support long after it launches. This may be just what your organization needs, but it also may not. It's always best to know up-front what their terms will be.

HOW TO HIRE CONSULTANTS FOR NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS

Finding a fundraising consultant is just half the battle. Now that you’ve selected your top choice (and backup options), it’s time to reach out and make your proposal. Check out these tips for finalizing the hiring process and securing your partnership.

Reach out to your top-choice fundraising consultant.

Once you’ve chosen your preferred fundraising consultant, your nonprofit will need to formally reach out to the firm to initiate your partnership by submitting a Request for Proposal, or RFP.

An RFP is a document outlining several key topics such as:

• Your history as a nonprofit

• The scope and success of your past fundraising campaigns

• The types of services you’re looking for.

Once you send your RFP, the fundraising consultant will either develop a proposal or turn your team down. If they decide against pursuing a relationship, they may offer some helpful details as to why they aren’t interested. A consultant who accepts your RFP will create a detailed document outlining their understanding of your nonprofit’s needs and a step-by-step plan for how they’ll address them. After receiving their formal proposal, your nonprofit will evaluate both the proposal and the fundraising consultant. This final stage will include:

• Conducting interviews.

Your team should always meet in person or speak over the phone with your fundraising consultant. There’s a lot you might not be able to gauge about a firm on paper that can be crucial to the success of your partnership.

• Evaluating their presentation.

Meet with the firm (or set up a video chat) where they formally present their proposal. Your team will then convene to evaluate their plan and decide if they’re the right partner with whom to move forward.

• Signing your contract.

The process won’t be over until your team negotiates and signs a contract for the partnership. You’ll want to thoroughly understand their terms, agree to a timeline for their services, and be sure that they are being transparent.

While including a stranger on your organization’s team for one of the most important aspects of your work might seem like a strange proposal, hiring a fundraising consultant has worked for thousands of other nonprofits already. Bringing a new person on board will revitalize your campaign strategies and improve your results.

NONPROFIT CONSULTANTS – HOW DO THEY WORK AND WHAT DO THEY CHARGE?

Nonprofit consultants serve to fulfill many roles, primarily acting as advisors for the nonprofit with which they are employed. From providing advice to diagnosing problems, assisting in fundraising, and finding creative solutions to said problems—the overall goal is to nurture expansion and aid in the overall development of an organization. Much like any other profession that involves consulting, there are several different types of nonprofit consultants out there, specializing in everything from technology and special events to marketing and foundation and grant writing. So, if you find yourself dealing with any of the aforementioned issues or something similar within your nonprofit organization, looking into hiring a nonprofit consultant may prove truly beneficial in solving these issues. Before pulling the trigger and hiring a nonprofit consultant, however, you might be wondering what you can expect to pay.

As we mentioned in the previous paragraph, there are several different kinds of nonprofit consultants. And when it comes to prices, that too varies from one specialization to another. The list below provides some insight into hourly rates and who charges what on average.

·        Grant Writing and Proposal Management - $150-$400/HR and an additional fee per draft

·        Donor Research and Prospecting - $200-400/HR and an additional 15%-20% for larger projects

·        Event Management Consulting - $100-$150/HR

·        Cause Marketing Consulting - $100-$150/HR

·        Social Media Consulting - $100-$150/HR

·        Professional Fundraiser - $50-$150/HR

·        Technology Consultant - $70-$115/HR

·        Marketing Consultant - $75-$225/HR

Now that you know what a nonprofit consultant can do for you and what to expect in terms of pricing on average, you can decide if hiring a consultant is the right thing for your organization. In the end, if you have the funds to do so, hiring a nonprofit consultant can prove highly useful for any nonprofit in need of assistance.

Interested in learning more about our digital marketing and fundraising consultant services? Contact us to set up a free consultation call. You'll gain access to expert insights, personalized guidance, and a roadmap to fundraising success.

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