Services: How, what and why I do what I do
The goal: All of my work is dedicated to empowering those nonprofits whose missions and values resonate deeply with me. I work with Executive and Board leadership to dramatically enhance their organizations’ vitality and effectiveness through strengthened governance, management and fundraising capacity. Most nonprofits with strong and worthy missions operate at only a fraction of their potential. The focus of my work is to quickly chart the course for and then move the institution into a powerful position of flourishing in leadership and support. My background of executive management and many board positions enables me to work closely with boards, executive leadership and staffs with a deep understanding of their distinctive goals and concerns.
My work focuses on four principal areas at the very heart of nonprofits: Annual Fund-Raising Programs; Major Gift Programs; Board Strengthening and Expansion; and Capital Campaign Planning, Preparation and Oversight. If these four areas are thriving, an organization has broad vistas of future growth and vibrancy. If any is weak the organization’s future success is usually quite compromised.
My approach is to demystify nonprofit organizational theory and language and provide simple, clear, well-organized, imaginative, individualized strategies and plans that can be implemented without excessive outside support. I always aim to keep costs low. Whether an organization has an annual operating budget of $100,000 or many tens of millions the same principles apply: passionate adherence to mission, transparency of operation, rigorous financial standards, empowerment of board and staff, and the primacy of philanthropy.
I serve all my clients myself. I never turn over client relationships to associates. I love this work. If a client can benefit from the expertise of specialists in the field (e.g. planned giving, gifts of real estate) I draw on my lifetime of superb colleagues as collaborators. In areas where a client is best served by a consultant with deep experience in a particular field (e.g. health care, social service organizations) I establish partnerships with trusted consultants as needed or appropriate.
One of the great privileges of my professional life has been to work with many remarkable philanthropists. I imbue my work with nonprofit boards and staffs with the spirit of inspired philanthropy, a genuine desire to contribute to communities and the organizations that enrich them. I believe that philanthropy is a highly creative endeavor. One of the important roles of nonprofit leadership is to continuously refresh and enhance this field and enliven it for the next generation.