logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Complimentary Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

Should You Hire a Fundraising Consultant? I Don’t Know – and I Am One! Part 2

Simone Joyaux
March 3, 2011
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print

Simone P. Joyaux, ACFRE is recognized internationally as an expert in fund development, board and organizational development, strategic planning, and management. She is the founder and director of Joyaux Associates. Visit her website here.

Begin by reading my previous column about hiring a fundraising consultant. Only after reading Part 1 are you ready to read Part 2.

Finding the right consultant is like finding the right staff person. After all the skills and expertise and experience, you seek the right match between people.

Evaluating the match between people requires personal conversation. Via telephone is fine if travel distances are great. Face-to-face is good if that’s possible.

If you expect the consultant to interface with your board members, then make sure some board members participate in the interview, too.

Now you’re ready for my tips. Let’s start at the beginning:

1.     Identify the strengths and weaknesses of your fund development program. Involve the board in this discussion.

2.     Identify consultant candidates. Refer to consultant directories. Ask other organizations if they’ve hired consultants and whom they liked and why. Probe!

3.     Contact 3 – 5 consultants by telephone or e-mail. Briefly explain why you think you need a consultant. Ask the consultants to send information about their practice, representative clients, and other materials that would help you learn about them.

4.     Review the consultant materials and identify 2 – 3 consultants who seem to be a potential match with your organization. Contact the consultants for an interview.

  1. a. You interview the consultant and the consultant interviews you.
  2. b. Meet face-to-face if possible. Or schedule a telephone interview.
  3. c. Make sure that several Board members participate in the interview.
  4. d. The purpose of the interview is multifold:

·       The consultant should help you better understand your issues.

·       The consultant gives you ideas about how you might work together to meet your needs.

·       You get to know each other a bit – to decide if you might want to work together. Then you can request a proposal – or not!

e.    After the interview, debrief with your colleagues. Decide which consultants you want to submit a proposal. Contact the consultant(s) and request a proposal.

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

5.         Check references. Speak with both staff and board members who worked with the consultant.

6.         Review the proposals and make your selection. Keep in mind the following:

  1.  a. A proposal is just a proposal. If you have questions, call and ask.
  2.  b. If you like the consultant but don’t like all elements of the proposal, say so. Negotiate!

7.         Call the consultant and close the deal.

Please don’t do this!

Don’t ask for proposals without an interview with the consultants! How can a consultant personalize a proposal to your agency without actually speaking with representatives from your organization?

Yes, you can certainly develop a Request for Proposal (RFP) and send it out to prospective consultants. But please! It really is better if you interview the prospective consultants before you ask them to submit a proposal.

Why? Because your RFP may raise more questions than it answers. Because there is nothing like sitting face-to-face and talking. Because you cannot understand the consultant through a proposal. And the consultant cannot decide if s/he is the right match for you based on an RFP.

You are not buying a commodity. You are creating a trusted advisor relationship.

Consulting is about the match between you and the consultant. Consultants will have the same or remarkably similar expertise and experience. But some consultants will be just right for your organization. And others will not.

Meet them. Talk with them. Ask them questions.

And listen to the questions that they ask you. Listen to the stories they tell you about their work. Ask them about their volunteer work in philanthropy. Ask them why they got into this work.

You’ll learn a lot. You’ll learn who is right for you. And the consultants will learn if you are right for them. It’s the match that counts.

So ask your organization: are we ready?

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
About the author
Simone Joyaux

Simone P. Joyaux, ACFRE is recognized internationally as an expert in fund development, board and organizational development, strategic planning, and management. She is the founder and director of Joyaux Associates.

More about: FundraisingManagementOpinionPhilanthropyUnraveling Development

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

Spring-2023-sidebar-subscribe
You might also like
The Nonprofit Sector and Social Change: A Conversation between Cyndi Suarez and Claire Dunning
Claire Dunning and Cyndi Suarez
Nonprofits as Battlegrounds for Democracy
Cyndi Suarez
Sankofa Philanthropy: Hip Hop’s Sixth Element
Jason Terrell
How to Align Assets with Mission: Small Steps That Nonprofits Can Take
Anna Smukowski
Why Social Change Films Matter
Cyndi Suarez and Saphia Suarez
Philanthropy Must Move from Charity to Solidarity
Son Chau

NPQ Webinars

April 27th, 2 pm ET

Liberatory Decision-Making

How to Facilitate and Engage in Healthy Decision-making Processes

Register Now
You might also like
The book "Nonprofit Neighborhoods" leaning against a wall
The Nonprofit Sector and Social Change: A Conversation...
Claire Dunning and Cyndi Suarez
Nonprofits as Battlegrounds for Democracy
Cyndi Suarez
An image of four men, from the waist down in athletic wear. The man in the front is wearing red sweatpants and holding a boom box.
Sankofa Philanthropy: Hip Hop’s Sixth Element
Jason Terrell

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

NPQ-Spring-2023-cover

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Careers

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.