Teaching Nonprofits to Scale Unrestricted, Gen-Ops Dollars to Fund Growth

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Is your nonprofit too dependent on government contracts, a few foundations, an annual event, or earned revenue?

Let’s fix that. You CAN fully fund your programs, while gaining the flexibility needed for overhead and building a reserve for the future. And it doesn’t take years and years of strategic planning, or securing a MacKenzie Scott gift, or running a skeleton crew of staff. Diversified funding is possible.

Does your team know how to prioritize high-ROI fundraising activities?

Every year during annual planning, you intend to allocate more time to relational fundraising in hopes of securing larger charitable gifts. Even with a seasoned development staff and a networked board, the transactional and reactive fundraising continues. Nothing changes. 

As the leader, you have the power to initiate change and get your team off the spin-cycle.

  • "I reached out to partner with someone like Sherry who could come alongside me and show me how to raise 6-figure gifts."

    Yamilée Toussaint Beach, Founder & CEO, STEM From Dance

  • "We've grown our budget by 40% this year, compared to past years when a 10% growth trajectory was the norm."

    Emily Norton, Executive Director, Charles River Watershed Foundation

  • "If you are one of those leaders who came from the program side . . . focusing on [fundraising] may feel super unnatural because [you] want to do the mission. But our access program is up 600% because we are taking the time to do this critical work. Without the money behind it, we can't make the mission impact."

    – Mandy Moody, Executive Director, Green City Market

  • "What's amazing to me is that now we're having different conversations with our donors. They're responding generously and growing their gifts from hundreds to thousands."

    Amy Fass, CEO & Executive Director, Shoes That Fit

  • “When I took the reins of a historic, yet struggling, organization, I leaned on my experience of starting, operating, and reinvigorating small businesses. The challenge was that I’d never designed a major-gifts program or advancement department in my previous career. Sherry’s approach was different from other voices in the sector. She was the objective business partner I needed to help me create an overall funding model and long-term staffing plan.”

    Jonathan T. Swain, Former CEO of LINK Unlimited Scholars

  • [Sherry has] a unique approach to framing fundraising needs that is very strategic, that is rooted in an understanding of organizational finances and needs...it resonates with major donors in a new way. [The work] gave us a new set of tools and I think that's something that breaks a pattern and tries to take a different approach. Working together is helping us to look not just where we've been, but look ahead to where we're going.

    Melissa Hilton, Vice President of Development, Erie Family Heath Centers

I advise business-minded, high-performing Nonprofit CEOs who are already running great organizations that secure millions every year.

But there's still a problem…they need MORE unrestricted money. 

They simply don’t have the steady, general operating revenue to support the growth initiatives within their strategic plans. 

They WANT to diversify funds or grow by 2X…5X…10X, but that’s difficult without dollars for infrastructure investments.

Perhaps you’re in the same situation?

What’s frustrating is you know your mission is deserving of MORE, but for years you’ve hovered at that same $8M or $20M mark. Or maybe you’re a $50M organization that’s growing, but the growth is in contracts, restricted government funds, or in-kind resources which leaves cash flow tight and gives you no flexibility.

Here’s the bottom line: It’s not a fundraising problem you have to fix first.

(Believe me. The sector’s chatter will say you can solve this problem with a better digital campaign, better social media, a better grant writer, a better board, or a better PR strategy.)

This could help in some way for some period of time.

But it’s not the real change you need to make.

You’ll never fully reach your true revenue potential unless you remove what’s blocking your unrestricted revenue growth at the root of your organization. These are the things that:

  • KEEP large donors from knowing how to deeply invest in your mission. 

  • KEEP your reserve fund from growing. 

  • KEEP your staff and board from reaching your revenue goal each year. 

  • And, most importantly, KEEP you from scaling by 2X, 5X, and beyond.

THAT’S THE EXACT PROBLEM I SOLVE.

I’m not a traditional fundraising consultant. I’m your CEO’s non-equity business partner—linked arm-in-arm to change the business behind your fundraising engine.

As a result, my clients create financial sustainability, diversify funding, grow gen-ops revenue, and start securing the dollars they’ve been leaving on the table for years.

Some of my amazing clients:

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“A huge part of the benefit Sherry’s given me is the license to think boldly. When we started, [my org] had already put together a Strategic Plan [but had seen] very minimal growth. Sherry came in and highlighted to us that it may not be attractive to investment level donors. Thinking small wasn’t good for our organization, and it was actually hurting our ability to reach our fundraising goals. Now, we’re thinking big, and we’ve put into practice the things that allow us to get there. We’ve grown our budget by 40% this year compared to past years when a 10% growth trajectory was the norm.”

– Emily Norton, Executive Director, Charles River Watershed Association

Imagine your entire team knowing how to attract larger donors and secure their best gift…every year.

You’d know what your entire team should STOP doing so they could START having investment-level conversations with individuals, foundations, and corporations who WANT to give to you.

I advise Nonprofit CEOs who are ALREADY raising millions but struggling to diversify revenue and secure enough general operating revenue to really grow.

I help them reimagine their entire approach to revenue generation.

The organizations I work with transform their development departments and boards into high-ROI revenue generators—aligning every hour they spend fundraising with new principles that lead to 5-, 6-, and 7-figure gifts.