What We Do
Nonprofit fundraising strategy that helps your organization raise more money and do more good.
Lately, it has become harder than ever to fundraise effectively. It’s also become more necessary. Smart fundraising begins with a smart plan, and that’s where Prosper Strategies comes in.
Each of our fundraising strategy engagements are based on the Nonprofit Strategy System,TM which positions us to build ambitious, yet achievable fundraising plans that can be clearly measured and tracked with objectives and key results. Our approach is also guided by the Shared Power StrategyTM philosophy and strength-based communication practices, which center the priorities of the people you serve in your fundraising, and ensure that your fundraising communications represent them in away that feels true and empowering to them.
Fundraising Consulting Services
Our fundraising and development strategy projects typically fall within one of these four categories:
Organization-Wide Fundraising Strategy
Create a comprehensive, digital-first plan for your organization’s entire fundraising and development function that includes clear objectives and tactics ranging from direct mail to crowdfunding, a calendar for what must happen when and accountability for who must do what. Then, make your plan measurable with a fundraising objective and key results dashboard.
Campaign-Specific Fundraising Strategy
Create a focused plan for a specific campaign, such as an end-of-year campaign or capital campaign. Then, discover the creative concepts and tactics that will make the campaign a success.
Donor Identification and Acquisition Strategy
Identify the donors and funders most likely to give to your organization, find out what will compel them to support you, profile them and create target lists, and then run digital campaigns to acquire their contact information and nurture them toward the decision to make a gift.
Stewardship Strategy
Keep your donors engaged in and excited about your work, thank them for their support, and build strong relationships so they’ll be more likely to give next time you ask.
Each fundraising engagement is customized to your organization’s unique circumstances. Here’s how our nonprofit fundraising strategy process works, at a high level.
People
We begin all fundraising strategy projects with an assessment of your nonprofit’s stakeholders to understand how they perceive and are affected by the way your organization approaches fundraising and development. Then, we tap them for input and feedback at key points in the fundraising strategy development process through surveys, interviews, focus groups, listening sessions, and/or stakeholder committees.
Involving your current and prospective donors and funders in this way ensures your campaigns will resonate with them. And when it comes to your beneficiaries, seeking their input is critical to ensure you’re not exploiting their stories in your fundraising materials, but rather sharing them in a way that is strength-based and aligned with their lived experience.
NEXT: Strategy
Strategy
The Strategy phase of our process for fundraising engagements typically begins with auditing your organization’s current approach to development and assessing how similar nonprofits are approaching their fundraising.
Next, we facilitate a series of workshops with members of your team to work through developing the key elements of your fundraising, campaign, acquisition or stewardship strategy. Plans often include elements like goals and objectives, tactics, messaging, calendars and budgets. We bring everything together into a written, easy-to-follow strategy document.
We seek feedback and input from your stakeholders, especially your prospective donors and your beneficiaries, on fundraising and strategies as they are developed.
NEXT: Progress
Progress
The Progress phase is all about ensuring your fundraising and development team has the systems and processes in place to bring your plans to life.
During this phase, we help you develop measurable key results for every objective in your fundraising strategy. We also help you determine who is responsible for executing on each tactic, based on a careful evaluation of your team’s skill sets and bandwidth.
Finally, we help you put dashboards in place that make it easy to see how your organization is performing against the fundraising objectives you set out to achieve.
Case Study
Learn how Prosper Strategies partnered with Feeding America to develop a plan for building fundraising capacity among their food banks.
Portfolio Categories
Case Study
Find out how VOA Illinois (Volunteers of America – Illinois) collaborated with Prosper Strategies to create transformative messaging and an updated brand identity.
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Case Study
Find out Comer Education Campus partnered with Prosper Strategies to rebrand and develop the accompanying marketing and communications plan — leading to a 13.8% increase in fundraising from the previous year.
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Case Study
Let us show you how the Robert R. McCormick Foundation Communities Program partnered with Prosper to transform their messaging, grow their donor base and exceed their fundraising goals.
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Case Study
Learn how iMentor Chicago partnered with Prosper Strategies to develop their messaging, identify new donors and build their case for support.
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Alyssa and Lindsay expertly guided us through the strategic process, collaborating closely with people facing hunger, our CEO and executive team. If your nonprofit is considering making a commitment to developing strategies that center your constituents, there is no one better to guide you than Prosper Strategies.
Vice President, Feeding America
Fundraising Strategy Insights
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![Aligning Marketing and Fundraising to Build Campaigns that Last]({"default":"https://prosper-strategies.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/pexels-kindelmedia-7688173.jpg","2x":"","mobile":"","responsive":"true"} "Aligning Marketing and Fundraising to Build Campaigns that Last")
Frequently Asked Questions about Our Nonprofit Fundraising Strategy Process:
Q: How long does fundraising strategy and planning take?
A: It depends on the scope of the fundraising project. A comprehensive fundraising strategy typically takes 3-6 months to develop, with the variability due to both organization size/complexity and the availability of stakeholders to be involved in the research portion of planning. Other engagement types, such as campaign-specific fundraising strategy, new donor identification and stewardship strategy can be much shorter in duration, often from 1-4 months.
Q: Do we need to meet in person to develop our nonprofit’s fundraising strategy?
A: Not necessarily. While it can be helpful to conduct strategy sessions in-person, most fundraising strategy projects can be completed virtually, especially if your team is comfortable with working virtually.
Q: Who should be involved in fundraising planning for my nonprofit?
A: For most fundraising projects, Prosper Strategies partners closely with a fundraising department lead such as a chief development or philanthropy officer or vice president of development. Others on your nonprofit’s fundraising and development team may also be involved, and because fundraising and marketing/communications are so intimately intertwined, it may make sense to include marcom team members as well. In some cases, your CEO or other executive leaders may wish to be involved or have final sign off on major decisions that are made during fundraising planning. Based on our Shared Power Strategy™ philosophy, we also aim to bring in perspectives from stakeholders such as those who use your programs and services, and your donors and funders to ensure your fundraising strategy lands with them. When we begin working together, Prosper Strategies will help you make decisions about the best way to involve your stakeholders in the fundraising strategy process.
Q: What differentiates Prosper Strategies from other fundraising strategy consultants?
A: Our most important differentiator is our Shared Power™ philosophy, which guides our expertise in building fundraising planning processes that deeply engage a nonprofit’s many diverse stakeholders. This approach produces fundraising strategies that are both respectful to the people you serve, and effective at driving revenue.
Additionally, we only work with nonprofits, and have 12+ years of experience leading complex strategy engagements for nonprofits of all shapes and sizes. Many of our clients are large, federated or umbrella-structure organizations like Feeding America, Horizons National and Boys & Girls Clubs of America. We also have extensive experience with mid-size and large organizations in mission areas ranging from health and the environment to education and human services. Through our years of work with such diverse organizations, we’ve built deep expertise in fundraising planning, measurement and reporting, organizational dynamics, revenue forecasting, digital strategy development and more.
Finally, our unique team structure sets Prosper Strategies apart. We are a small team by design, meaning you’ll always work directly with one or both of our firm’s principals, Lindsay Mullen and Alyssa Conrardy. But we also have a deep bench of specialized and diverse consultants in everything from financial management, to law, to philanthropy who partner with our principals, and we build teams for each fundraising planning engagement based on your specific needs.
Q: What does nonprofit strategic planning cost?
A: Each engagement is custom designed based on a wide variety of factors. Please contact us to discuss your needs, and we’ll happily share more about pricing.
Q: Who are the best fundraising strategy consultants for nonprofits?
A: Prosper Strategies is a leading fundraising strategy firm that works with some of the world’s most impactful nonprofits, from Feeding America to Comer Education Campus. If we’re not the right fit for you, please contact us and we’d be happy to recommend another firm.
Q: Will you respond to our RFP?
A: We do not typically respond to RFPs. Here’s why. That said, we’d be happy to take a look at the requirements you’ve put together and discuss the best way to move forward. Please email your RFP to hello@prosper-strategies.com.
Q: What kind of results can we fundraising?
A: At the conclusion of a successful fundraising planning engagement, you’ll have a clear, actionable, stakeholder-informed plan for your organization’s entire fundraising function or for a specific campaign or initiative. You’ll also have the actionable systems you need to bring your fundraising plan to life, including an OKR dashboard, activity plans for everyone on your development team, and a meeting cadence to keep you all aligned about how implementation is going and what may need to shift.
The results you can expect from implementing your plan will vary based on the fundraising pillars and OKRs your team selects in the planning process. It is not uncommon for organizations that work with Prosper Strategies to double or even triple their fundraising revenue in the 2-3 years following a fundraising planning process.
Q: How can I learn more or get started?
A: If you’re simply looking to learn more about fundraising planning but don’t have a specific need at this time, browse our resources here. If you are planning to embark on a fundraising planning process soon and want to discuss partnering with Prosper Strategies, we’d be delighted to set up a time to talk. Please contact us here.
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Everything we did with Prosper exceeded my expectations. It was all clearly based in research and strategy. Plans were well laid out and easy to follow, giving us a clear vision for our work. We also have the ability to reference and update these materials for years to come. We are excited to launch our new campaign concept this year as well as donor acquisition programming.
VOA of Illinois
Contact Us | Start Your Nonprofit Fundraising Strategy Project
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