How I partner
Impact Investment Capital Raises
I am passionate about making impact investing accessible to more nonprofits through education and strategic guidance. I offer support in marketing investments to pre-existing donors, advertising the raise to impact investing networks, building out internal controls, and strategizing on investment prospects.
To learn more about how impact investing can bring an ambitious project to scale, you can read this article about the Strong Communities Fund, a fund that I helped raise.
Capital Campaigns
Campaigns demand creativity and long-term strategy. I offer support for feasibility studies, prospect development, case development and management of all campaign phases.
Success, however, does not just mean reaching your fundraising goal. Outcomes from our work will be a larger fundraising team, a CRM that can track and manage more financial sophistication, a culture of philanthropy across your organization, and confidence around launching successful fundraising efforts that depend on big gifts and grants.
To learn more about how I’ve approached capital campaigns, here is an interview with Capital Campaign Pro on a $30M integrated capital campaign I led recently.
Major Gifts
Successful major gifts strategy must be rooted in real relationships between staff and donors. I will help your team build out a strong prospect portfolio and coach you and your board on how to cultivate, steward and solicit your largest supporters. I present at board meetings about the key steps for major giving, provide 1:1 coaching for staff and attend donor meetings with staff as appropriate.
Development Assessments
Developing a plan to build your fundraising capabilities often starts with an assessment of what skills your board and volunteers bring to the table, what systems (calendar, strategic plan, a high-functioning CRM) you need to have in place to fundraise at a higher level, and an analysis of what you are missing to optimize donor giving.
Based off what is learned in the assessment, I build fundraising plans that fit the size of the organization and set you on a path for fundraising success.
Annual Fundraising
Annual fundraising is all about incremental wins that build over time. I will guide your team to create compelling messaging that attracts funding and build the internal machinery that will lead to income you can depend on year over year.
Deliverables could include segmented messaging for various audiences, automated emails for stewardship and cultivation, an annual calendar to increase efficiency and a strategy that can be adapted as your organization grows.
Case Development
Strong writing has powered my most successful campaigns. I will work with you to translate your programmatic needs into exciting donor-facing materials. The materials developed will be customized for your specific needs and may include case statements, annual reports, donor proposals, and/or pitch decks.
“Lila helped to create and implement fundraising initiatives that were transformative to our organization."
– Rob Riley, Executive Director of the Northern Forest Center