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What we do

Counsel & Coaching

We want your organization to embrace a transformational mindset around fundraising and growth. That means setting bold visions for what you could achieve with the right donor support, asking for investments at the level truly needed to realize those big goals, and building long-term donor partnerships centered around shared values versus short-term transactions.

It will require making space for intentional cultivation by integrating donor outreach into regular calendars and habits. Staying continually connected to supporters through authentic relationship building that energizes them around your mission. This fosters a culture of sustainable philanthropy across the organization.

Our relational approach to coaching goes beyond chasing volume and small gifts to targeting carefully selected corporate and individual prospects who can become engaged partners in your work. It's about determining shared priorities with those donors, crafting unique value propositions that resonate with them, and tying their interests to customized opportunities for transformational investment in your mission. Rather than sporadic proposals and scattershot asks, we focus on helping you build genuine, long-term relationships where the initial gift marks just the beginning rather than the endpoint. This leads to partners that provide expanding support, guidance, and connections over many years of fruitful collaboration.

The key is embracing an ambitious vision for growth, centered around your mission and donor relationships versus monetary targets.

How the engagement runs

  1. Set the cadence

    We agree on what the counsel covers, who is being coached, and the rhythm that fits: weekly, biweekly, or monthly. The structure is light on purpose. The value is in the conversations, not the paperwork.

  2. Work the live agenda

    Standing sessions focus on what is actually in front of your team: a solicitation to prepare, a board dynamic to navigate, a hire to make, a donor to win back. Between sessions, you can pick up the phone. We answer it.

  3. Keep the long arc in view

    Every few months we step back from the week-to-week and look at the trajectory: pipeline health, team growth, board engagement. Coaching that only reacts to the urgent is not coaching. It is triage.

  4. Adjust or conclude

    When your team has built the muscle, we say so, and the engagement winds down or shifts focus. The goal is a stronger team, not a permanent retainer.

What you receive

  • Standing sessions with agreed next steps, in writing
  • Counsel by phone between sessions, when things move
  • Preparation and debrief for key solicitations
  • A periodic written read on progress against goals

Who does the work

You are coached by a partner, not assigned to junior staff. The same person stays with you for the full engagement, learns your organization, and is reachable between sessions. We answer our own phone, and that is most valuable in exactly this work.

How fees work

A monthly retainer sized to the cadence we agree on. Engagements run quarter to quarter, with no long lock-in. If the counsel is not earning its place in your budget, you should be free to say so.

Senior consultants stay in the room from kickoff through implementation.

How we work

Let's talk

Ready to have a conversation?

We would be glad to learn about your organization. Please reach out any time. We answer our own phone.

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Offices
Toronto | Chicago