25 Top Fundraising Consultants: Standout Firms for Any Need
How can your organization more quickly and confidently reach its fundraising goals? By enlisting an experienced fundraising consultant or fundraising consultant firm who can guide your team to pursue new approaches and winning fundraising strategies.
What’s key is choosing a consultant who has a proven track record and specialized expertise to fill your organization’s most urgent gaps.
We have compiled a comprehensive list of the top consulting firms with standout services in the following categories:
- Grant Funding
- Full Service and Campaign Support
- Prospect Research, Development, and Partnerships
- Organizational and Strategic Improvements
Jump down in the list to the category of fundraising consultant whose specialty best matches your needs—or review the entire list below of all the fundraising consultants we recommend!
Best Fundraising Consultants for Grant Funding
Grants Plus: Best Consultant for Grants Fundraising
Grants Plus is the national leader in helping nonprofits secure grant funding.
We have honed a proven method for finding grant opportunities, building better relationships with funders, and writing winning grant proposals.
As a result, our clients see a twelve-fold return on their investment in our services.
Overview of This Fundraising Consulting Firm
Our consulting firm offers a variety of strategic consulting services to help your team reach its grants potential, including:
- Comprehensive Grant Prospect Research
- Writing Grant Proposals to Private, Corporate, and Government Funders
- Reviewing and Improving Grant Proposals
- Short-Term Management of the Grant Seeking Program
- Long-Term Management of the Grant Seeking Program
We also offer interactive training and virtual coaching to teach your staff the steps to successful grant seeking. With these tailored sessions, your team will be ready to find and pursue grant funding for your organization.
Why Grants Plus Stands Out
Grants Plus has a proven track record of helping nonprofits secure grant funding. Since 2007, our expert team has helped its nonprofit partners secure $250 million in funding by submitting thousands of winning grant requests.
When we partner with an organization, we’ll proudly treat your team as our own and help you overcome any obstacles you face when seeking grants. Reach out to the Grants Plus team to get started achieving your grant goals.
Getting Attention: Best Fundraising Consultant for Google Ad Grants
Getting Attention is a fundraising consulting agency that helps nonprofits increase their search visibility and connect with more prospects through effective Google Ad Grant management. Backed by a team of seasoned professionals, they help nonprofits confirm their eligibility and put their grant money to the best use possible through plenty of research on what qualified prospects are searching online.
If you’re unfamiliar with this program, Google offers up to $10,000 in ad credits to eligible nonprofits every month. These nonprofits can use these credits to bid on different keywords and amplify their most important pages, like volunteer registration pages, donation forms, and educational content regarding their mission.
Overview of This Fundraising Consulting Firm
Getting Attention’s consulting firm will handle every step of the Google Ad Grant Management process, including:
- Google Ad Grants eligibility check and application
- Full initial account setup or existing account audit
- Maintenance of up to 5 active campaigns per month
- Comprehensive keyword research report and recommendations
- Reactivation of lapsed or suspended accounts
- Complete landing page relaunch, including design
Why Getting Attention Stands Out
Getting Attention eliminates the learning curve that comes with creating and managing your Google Ads account. They make it much simpler to keep your digital marketing strategy fresh and productive over time, so you can keep your pipeline full of motivated supporters.
Best Fundraising Consulting Firms for Full Service and Campaign Support
Aly Sterling Philanthropy: Best Full-Service Fundraising Consultant
Aly Sterling Philanthropy is a partnership-driven consulting firm that empowers nonprofits to reach their fundraising goals. Their team takes pride in helping organizations boost funding, engage their leadership, and grow their missions.
They’ll encourage you to develop a deeper understanding of your donors, help you align your goals and values, and strengthen your team.
Overview of This Fundraising Consulting Firm
Aly Sterling consultants will help you design and implement a strong strategy to support any changes your organization experiences. They offer an array of services, with a focus on three core areas:
- Fundraising solutions and guidance
- Strategic planning for organizational growth
- Board management and optimization
Why Aly Sterling Philanthropy Stands Out
Aly Sterling creates a tailored plan for each of its nonprofit partners. The firm is devoted to pinpointing gaps in your fundraising strategy and improving key aspects of your organization’s operations.
With their stellar experience, they have helped nonprofits raise millions of dollars and build stronger relationships with donors.
Gail Perry Associates: Best Fundraising Consultant for Capital Campaigns
Gail Perry Associates helps organizations of all sizes launch and lead successful capital campaigns.
Their team begins with a hands-on approach and gradually cuts back their involvement, allowing your team to take over when ready. Gail Perry Associates sets your team up for success so you can exceed your campaign goal and increase visibility within the community.
Overview of This Fundraising Consulting Firm
Gail Perry Associates offers strategic guidance to organizations of all sizes, from local grassroots agencies to large international organizations. This fundraising consultant offers end-to-end services for running a capital campaign:
- Feasibility studies to test the market before launching a campaign
- Assessment of current challenges and opportunities
- High-energy training for board members
- Campaign strategy implementation
Why Gail Perry Associates Stands Out
The team at Gail Perry Associates carefully limits the number of capital campaigns it takes on at any given time to ensure that you receive the most strategic guidance and can make the most of your campaign.
Ignite Philanthropy: Best Strategic Fundraising Consultant
Ignite Philanthropy is a fundraising consulting firm that works with nonprofits of all sizes to assess, research, and design effective fundraising strategies.
For each client, Ignite combines its unique set of services into custom solutions, so your organization can expect a tailored approach. To maximize your organization’s fundraising potential, their team will collaborate with yours to better understand your needs and potential avenues for success.
Overview of This Fundraising Consulting Firm
As part of its strategic fundraising consulting services, Ignite Philanthropy provides unique insights and approaches to the following:
- Community needs research and assessment
- Organizational assessment, such as operational, financial, and fundraising
- Revenue modeling for capital projects
- Strategic planning
- Ideation and meeting facilitation
Why Ignite Philanthropy Stands Out
As a fundraising consultant, Ignite Philanthropy has ample experience helping nonprofits launch and sustain bold fundraising ideas and initiatives. When Ignite Philanthropy partners with a new client, their team assumes full responsibility for aligning all of the elements needed to successfully achieve desired outcomes.
Klein & Roth Consulting: Best Fundraising Consultant for Small Organizations
Through practical and hands-on advice that’s grounded in social justice values, Klein & Roth Consulting helps smaller organizations build strong fundraising programs.
Each fundraising consultant at the firm has their own specific area of expertise, including capital campaigns, planned giving, and major gifts.
This way, your team can receive specialized consulting based on the areas where you most need help.
Overview of This Fundraising Consulting Firm
Klein & Roth Consulting works with various grassroots causes. Some of the services they provide to these organizations are:
- Training on all aspects of grassroots, community-based fundraising
- Board training, from understanding responsibilities to developing skills
- Keynote addresses
- Fundraising coaching
- Short- and long-term consulting
Why Klein & Roth Consulting Stands Out
While Klein & Roth Consulting works with a wide range of causes, most of their clients have budgets of less than $2 million. As a result, they have a great deal of expertise in working with low-income and marginalized communities and start-up organizations.
BWF: Best Consultant for Alumni & Healthcare Fundraising
For nearly 40 years, nonprofits have turned to BWF for their philanthropic needs.
BWF provides specialized fundraising services to higher education institutions, hospitals, academic medical centers, and more.
As experts in philanthropy, they stimulate the industry through thought leadership and are constantly testing and exploring innovative ways for growing support.
Overview of This Fundraising Consulting Firm
BWF’s customized services enable you to make the best use of your staff, supporters, programs, and systems. Their expert team offers the following specialized services:
- Alumni relations
- Communications
- Annual giving
- Data science
- Healthcare philanthropy
- Board engagement
Why BWF Stands Out
Few consulting firms specialize in the higher education and healthcare sectors. BWF’s growing team has diverse expertise and extensive years of experience in these areas. By working side-by-side with industry professionals, they’re better able to address the unique challenges and opportunities institutions and organizations face today.
Graham-Pelton: Best Fundraising Consulting Firm for Large Nonprofits
From campaigns and operations to growth to managing donors and constituents, Graham-Pelton leverages its wide-ranging direct fundraising experience to help large nonprofits elevate their philanthropy.
They offer both on-site staffing and high-level strategic counsel tailored to the needs of each client.
Overview of This Fundraising Consulting Firm
In order to maximize impact, Graham-Pelton uses its proven Confidence and Clarity™ Framework across its wide range of fundraising consulting services. These include:
- Campaign planning studies
- Campaign counsel and strategy
- Campaign audits
- Development assessments
- Database optimization
- Annual fund optimization
- Growth planning
- Transitional and Interim staffing
- Board development
Why Graham-Pelton Stands Out
Graham-Pelton partners with clients around the world to launch billion-dollar campaigns and land historic and transformative major gifts. As a thought leader in fundraising consulting, their writing has appeared in Fast Company, The Wall Street Journal, and MarketWatch.
Best Fundraising Consultants for Prospect Research, Development, and Partnerships
DonorSearch: Best Consulting Firm for Prospect Research
DonorSearch is a tech-based fundraising firm that helps nonprofits reach more philanthropic prospects. With their expert guidance, your nonprofit can conduct effective prospect research based on accurate and actionable wealth analytics.
Through prospect development, DonorSearch’s expert team can help you gain deeper insights into your supporters so that you can improve your fundraising strategy and effectively reach your donors.
Overview of This Fundraising Consulting Firm
To help you gain a strong sense of who your most qualified leads are, DonorSearch offers a handful of prospect research services, including:
- Prospect identification based on wealth data
- Manual verification of top prospects by their team
- Free unlimited training and support for implementing their technology
Why DonorSearch Stands Out
DonorSearch is backed by the nation’s largest philanthropic database of 150+ million records. With access to this database, you’ll gain insight you won’t find anywhere else. They’re also forward-thinking when it comes to product creation and are constantly looking for better ways to serve their nonprofit partners.
Johnson, Grossnickle & Associates: Best Consulting Firm for Acuity Donor Scoring
Johnson, Grossnickle & Associates is a philanthropic consulting firm that primarily serves education, healthcare, culture, and community organizations.
They provide tech solutions combined with professional consulting services so organizations like yours can focus their advancement efforts and solicit more donations.
Overview of This Fundraising Consulting Firm
Johnson, Grossnickle & Associates has developed a proprietary scoring system to help forecast donor potential. Building on DonorSearch’s electronic wealth screening data, their tools analyze donor engagement activities, such as:
- Capacity to give
- Giving history
- Volunteer history
- Committee involvement
Why Johnson Grossnickle & Associates Stands Out
Johnson Grossnickle & Associates stands out for its unique combination of technology and expertise. Once the technology has gathered engagement data on a prospect, the team then overlays these factors with wealth data. They’ll help you develop a deeper understanding of the capacity and passion your donors have, so you can create stronger, lasting connections.
Amy Eisenstein: Best Fundraising Consultant for Major Gifts
Amy Eisenstein has been a development professional and fundraising consultant for more than 20 years.
In addition to consulting, she is a speaker, trainer, and published author. Furthermore, she devotes time to creating resources for nonprofit professionals via her weekly blog.
Overview of This Fundraising Consulting Firm
Major gifts are a crucial component of nonprofit fundraising. To secure these impactful contributions, Amy Eisenstein’s major gift services will empower your team to:
- Determine what constitutes a major gift for your organization
- Identify strong prospects for your cause
- Create cultivation plans for each prospect
- Craft effective major gift asks
- Develop a stewardship plan
Why Amy Eisenstein Stands Out
To better advise her nonprofit clients, Amy Eisenstein has committed to continuously improving her fundraising expertise. Now, she holds the highest certification in the field—the Advanced Certified Fundraising Executive (ACFRE).
Plentiful Philanthropy: Best Fund Development Consulting Firm
Plentiful Philanthropy is a strategic fundraising consultant that focuses on the connections between nonprofits and their supporters.
They help organizations of all sizes embed themselves into the life and energy of a community in order to connect with supporters.
Overview of This Fundraising Consulting Firm
Plentiful Philanthropy offers its nonprofit partners an abundance of customized services:
- Assessment and analysis
- Strategy and planning
- Adoption and implementation
- Board and staff development
- Training and coaching
- Metrics and evaluation
Why Plentiful Philanthropy Stands Out
Plentiful Philanthropy concentrates on the intersections between beneficiary and benefactor to maximize philanthropic impact. In other words, they focus on the connections between nonprofits and those who support them.
The Plentiful Philanthropy team emphasizes the idea that connecting donors to your mission requires establishing a relationship-driven culture, not just creating more campaigns.
The Alford Group: Best Firm for Corporate Partnership Consulting
Since 1979, The Alford Group has been driving social change through fundraising consulting.
In practice, this means that they help nonprofits reach immediate organizational or fundraising goals while building capacity for the future.
Overview of This Fundraising Consulting Firm
As part of their corporate partnership offerings, this team of consultants works with organizations of all sizes to develop a comprehensive strategy for tapping into corporate philanthropy. Below, you’ll find a brief overview of the types of corporate social responsibility they target:
- Volunteerism
- Workplace giving programs
- Promotional partnerships
- Sponsorships
- Event participation
Why The Alford Group Stands Out
What makes The Alford Group unique is that they put a major emphasis on corporate partnerships. They work with both nonprofits and corporations that are seeking to make a major impact on causes that align with their values. Because of this, they understand what companies are looking for when seeking partnerships with nonprofits.
Parkes Philanthropy: Best Consulting Firm for Corporate Sponsorships
Parkes Philanthropy works with nonprofit organizations, businesses looking to create or enhance a social impact strategy, and individuals looking to engage strategically in the social sector.
The firm’s mission is to equip constituents with the ideas, resources, and support they need to positively impact the world.
Overview of This Fundraising Consulting Firm
Parkes Philanthropy helps nonprofits by providing them with customized consultant teams that fit a variety of needs. This includes:
- Strategic and organizational development action planning
- Recruitment and talent acquisition
- Fundraising, including corporate sponsorship and individual giving
Why Parkes Stands Out:
Parkes Philanthropy’s consultants have more than 90 years of combined experience in the social sector, and have raised more than $90 million for nonprofits of all sizes. Every Parkes Philanthropy client is served by a team custom built based on individual needs and goals.
Donorly: Best Prospect Research Consultant for Small Nonprofits
Donorly was “founded on the premise that donor research is an essential element for all successful development operations.”
Their team offers professional donor research and consulting services to support nonprofits both small and large.
Overview of This Fundraising Consulting Firm
Donorly offers a range of holistic services that focus on building foundational systems that support your fundraising. Donorly’s consulting services and fundraising solutions include:
- Transitional nonprofit staffing
- Prospect research subscriptions
- Four-part fiscal year fix service
- Telefundraising training
- Feasibility studies
- Capital campaign counsel
Why Donorly Stands Out
Donorly has helped nonprofits raise over $150 million. With their systematic method, Donorly will assess your organization’s systems, research and plan strategies, and provide consistent maintenance along the way.
Best Fundraising Consultants for Organizational and Strategic Improvements
Campbell & Company: Best Fundraising Consultant for Executive Search
Campbell & Company is a nonprofit fundraising consultant that works with nonprofits to recruit passionate, professional leaders who believe in their mission.
The Executive Search team works closely with its partners to understand each organization’s unique needs, vision, and culture. Drawing on original research, an extensive database, and personal connections, they help organizations recruit passionate leaders to drive their missions forward.
Overview of This Fundraising Consulting Firm
Campbell & Company will help your organization through the process based on a strategic 16-month plan. Here are the leadership recruitment services this fundraising consultant offers:
- Discovery and strategy
- Research, outreach, and screening
- Interviewing and assessment
- Selection and offer
Why Campbell & Company Stands Out
In the past two years alone, Campbell & Company has helped its partners raise more than $1.3 billion for the nonprofit sector. Moreover, 85% of its development professional placements stay with Campbell for at least two years.
CCS Fundraising: Best Consulting Firm for Fundraising Analytics
CCS Fundraising is a strategic fundraising consulting firm that specializes in fundraising analytics. Its team of professionals provides a range of analytics-driven solutions by combining its industry-leading analytics and research methodologies.
Overview of This Fundraising Consulting Firm
CCS Fundraising helps plan, implement, and manage fundraising initiatives to strengthen organizations for the future. Here’s a list of the firm’s analytics-based services:
- Fundraising performance assessment
- Predictive modeling
- Portfolio optimization
- Prospect research and prioritization
Why CCS Fundraising Stands Out
When working with a client, CCS Fundraising creates actionable solutions based on the client’s resources, needs, and implementation ability. To develop a strategic approach and more effectively identify untapped opportunities, the team draws from multiple resources, including the client’s data, the firm’s proprietary data, and publicly available data.
Arthur Alley: Best Fundraising Consulting Firm for Mission Planning
If you’re looking to build your fundraising potential through mission planning, take a look at the fundraising consulting firm, Arthur Alley. Their team helps you create a strong foundation to build a strategic plan and efficiently gain traction in your community.
Overview of This Fundraising Consulting Firm
Arthur Alley offers a handful of fundraising services to help your organization develop a thoughtful and effective approach, including:
- Community needs assessment to determine unmet needs in your service area
- Board engagement to help drive your mission forward
- Strategic planning to align your goals and organizational values
Why Arthur Alley Stands Out
Arthur Alley takes pride in their working relationships with clients. Their approach involves working as an extension of your team to develop and implement thoughtful, effective strategies that help you achieve your mission.
Saad&Shaw | Best On-Demand Fundraising Counsel
Saad&Shaw provides flexible, cost-effective fund development coaching that prepares organizations of all sizes to launch their fundraising efforts forward.
Overview of This Fundraising Consulting Firm
Through on-demand counsel services, the experts at Saad&Shaw can help your organization tackle what’s most urgent and needed, such as:
- Creating a case for support
- Building fundraising capacity and infrastructure
- Identifying and engaging new donors
- Increasing revenue with your events
Why Saad&Shaw Stands Out
Saad&Shaw offers clients five hours of on-call fundraising expertise each month in person, by phone, or by email. Conversations can be one-on-one or can include your staff and board members.
Ahern Donor Communications | Best Donor Communications Consultant
Ahern Donor Communications is the leader in crafting donor communications that win hearts and raise dollars. Ahern helps clients transform their revenue capabilities through the power of “donor-centered” case statements and fundraising appeals.
Overview of This Fundraising Consulting Firm
Ahern Donor Communications can help your team improve communication strategies through a handful of core services, including:
- Evaluating the state of your current supporter communications
- Training your staff in donor-centric communications
- Improving direct mail appeals
- Case writing for capital campaigns
Why Ahern Donor Communications Stands Out
With a background in sales copywriting and over 15 years in the nonprofit sector, Tom Ahern, the firm’s founder, brings a new perspective to fundraising and donor communications. With his help, you’ll develop a donor-centric approach to campaigning and propel your fundraising efforts forward.
The Yunker Group | Best Consultant for Leadership Development
Founded in 1995, The Yunker Group offers private coaching and advice to nonprofits. Through their leadership development offerings, your organization can become financially and programmatically sound. With their advice, your leadership will learn to approach any obstacles with an optimistic outlook that achieves positive results.
Overview of This Fundraising Consulting Firm
As part of their leadership development services, The Yunker Group works to encourage leadership to accept the vital role they play in keeping your organization strong. To do this, they offer the following services:
- Volunteer coaching
- Board retreat facilitation
- Leadership recruitment
Why The Yunker Group Stands Out
The Yunker Group aims to remain behind the scenes so that your organization takes full credit for its successes. They believe that this approach is imperative when providing effective counseling for development and enhancing your organization’s reputation.
Jaros Strategy | Best Fundraising Consultant for Strategic Planning
Jaros Strategy, a fundraising consulting firm, integrates fundraising and communications strategies on every project with every client. Their team works with mission-driven organizations of all sizes and sectors, helping nonprofit executives create strong relationships with staff and board members.
Overview of This Fundraising Consulting Firm
As part of its offerings, this fundraising consulting firm helps organizations of all shapes and sizes identify strategies that will advance their missions. Here’s an overview of Jaros Strategy’s strategic planning services:
- Governance and board development strategies
- Donor, member, and community research studies to gain insights into fundraising planning
- Financial sustainability strategies
- Organizational development and structure for fundraising and communications teams
Why Jaros Strategy Stands Out
Through decades of working as in-house senior leaders and as external consultants with nonprofits, Jaros Strategy has the experience needed to help organizations succeed. They’ve worked on a wide range of fundraising efforts with goals from $3 million to $350 million.
BrightDot | Best Consulting Firm for Fundraising Coaching
Passion combined with developed skills is what drives your organization’s fundraising efforts. A guiding hand with plenty of experience can take your efforts to the next level. BrightDot’s fundraising consulting services provide invaluable insight into the fundraising process.
Overview of This Fundraising Consulting Firm
By investing in this fundraising consultant’s services, your organization can accomplish the following:
- Assess and train prospective and existing staff to avoid turnover
- Solicit longer-term investment so you can turn first-time donors into lifetime supporters
- Cultivate relationships with prospective donors and boost engagement
- Develop your staff to be resilient and accountable
- Use communications tools to better engage donors at a higher impact level
Why BrightDot Stands Out
The BrightDot approach to fundraising embraces three elements: the donor, your organization’s goals, and high-impact results. With their consulting services, you’ll learn to reduce donor cultivation time, secure long-term support, keep team members motivated, and develop your staff to deliver to their potential and beyond.
Barber & Associates: Best Consultant for Fundraising Training
Barber & Associates is a team of fundraising consultants that focuses on helping nonprofit organizations achieve their full fundraising potential. Whether you’re a small or large organization, their team will work to integrate best practices and grow your donor pool.
Overview of This Fundraising Consulting Firm
Training is the key to producing sustainable fundraising results. Barber & Associates recognizes this and has developed strategic services to target common gaps and obstacles that nonprofits often encounter:
- Individual major gift training to prepare your major gift team for successful cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship
- Fundraising boot camp to ensure you understand the fundamentals of building a successful fundraising program
Why Barber & Associates Stands Out
This fundraising consulting firm has a donor-centric approach to fundraising. Their team of expert fundraising consultants will work to fully train your team so that you can effectively target your donors. With their powerful training, your staff will develop innovative and exciting approaches to engage your donors and secure long-term funding.
Mission Minded | Best Consulting Firm for Capital Campaign Brand Strategy
Mission Minded is a team of fundraising and communication consultants who work exclusively with nonprofit organizations. By working with Mission Minded, you can achieve a brand that sets your organization apart and propels your mission to the next level.
Overview of This Fundraising Consulting Firm
From your online presence to your business cards, the look of your organization conveys meaning and impacts support. Because of this, Mission Minded believes organizations must pay deep attention to their brand when launching a capital campaign. They provide these capital campaign branding services:
- Brand strategy
- Naming and taglines
- Key messages and storytelling
- Visual identity and logo design
- Website creation
Why Mission Minded Stands Out
Mission Minded’s unique emphasis on brand development enables organizations to reach their campaign messaging potential. By working with Mission Minded to elevate your brand, you’ll be ready to launch and lead a winning capital campaign with confidence.
Additional Fundraising Consultants Resources
Regardless of which areas your organization needs to improve, your team can benefit from seeking help from a fundraising consulting firm.
Fundraising consultants can empower your team and give them the tailored guidance they need to drive results. The right fundraising consultants can help you maximize funds through multiple revenue sources and ensure the success of your future fundraising efforts.
Now that you know some industry leaders in the nonprofit fundraising space, get to work selecting the best fit for your organization. To better develop your strategies, continue your research with these resources:
- Nonprofit Grant Writing: How to Secure Grants for Your Cause. Grants play a vital part in maximizing your organization’s funds. To secure more grants, consider these best practices for creating strong proposals.
- Top Nonprofit Consulting Firms. With many fundraising consultants available, it can be difficult finding the right ones to fulfill your nonprofit’s needs. Continue exploring your options with this list of top nonprofit fundraising consulting firms from Re:Charity.
- What’s a Donor-Advised Fund? Understanding the Essentials. Donor-advised funds represent a major revenue opportunity for nonprofits. Learn how to make the most of them with this guide from the Grants Plus team.
As a top fundraising consulting firm, Grants Plus works with nonprofits of all sizes to secure grants using proven strategies and best practices. To make the most of your opportunities, reach out to our team of grant professionals!
