Nurture & Grow:
The 1:1 partnership for missions too complex for a cookie-cutter fundraising plan
If you've tried to apply standard fundraising advice to your organization and watched it fall flat, you're not imagining it. Most strategy is written for causes with a tidy before-and-after. Advocacy, arts, disability services, historic preservation, policy work — that's a different shape of problem, and it needs a different recipe.
Nurture & Grow is a 6-month 1:1 partnership where we build that recipe with you: a strategy shaped around your actual mission, not adapted from someone else's playbook. No full-time hire required.
Why is Nurture & Grow Different?
Most fundraising consultants know the standard industry practices, and they'll try to fit your organization into it. They’ll teach you best practice. They’ll lean into their strengths. They’ll convince you there’s a specific way to go about fundraising that works for everyone.
We do the opposite: we start with your mission — the parts of it that are hard to explain, hard to photograph, hard to compress into an elevator pitch — and build the strategy around that.
Founder Kelly McLaughlin built her fundraising career on causes exactly like yours: policy advocacy, human rights, historic preservation. She knows that best practice doesn’t always work. She’s seen organizations try to improve email or social media strategies, only to have it fall flat.
She also knows that the secret to fundraising success is integrating donors into your mission, and that’s complicated for messy missions like yours. And she’s made it work for dozens of organizations that also break the mold.
What to Expect
Over six months, you'll get a custom individual giving strategy, the messaging to bring it to life, the systems to run it, and a team trained to keep it going without us.
Month 1: Groundwork for Growth
We start with a deep dive into your donor data, current systems, and past fundraising efforts to see what's working and where the openings are — for your organization specifically, not a generic benchmark.
Deliverables: Coded Donor Base Assessment, Formal Analysis of Assessment
Month 2: Mission-Alignment for Fundraising
We dig into your programming and mission goals to understand how fundraising can support — and be supported by — the actual work, sharpened by a SWOC analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Challenges).
Deliverables: SWOC Survey for Board & Staff, Formal Analysis of SWOC added to donor base analysis, Outline of Proposed Fundraising Strategy
Month 3: A Strategy That Fits
Your custom fundraising strategy, tailored to your goals, values, and team capacity — built for your mission, not retrofitted from someone else's.
Deliverables: Individual Giving Strategy Plan (minimum 18-month timeline guaranteed, though we aim for 3-5 years wherever possible)
Month 4: Messaging That Inspires
We bring your strategy to life with a case for support rooted in your mission as it actually is — complexity included, not smoothed over — plus donor-ready language for appeals, your website, and conversations with supporters.
Deliverables: Case for Support (written; graphic design available at additional cost); messaging templates for any base copy identified in your strategy plan
Month 5: Systems That Support You
We identify the tools and tech that make your plan easy to run: a curated platform list, an implementation checklist, and support setting up or migrating your Donor CRM if needed.
Deliverables: CRM setup or migration support; CRM customization per your fundraising plan, including messaging integration; additional tech platform integration as needed
Month 6: Train Your Team As Fundraisers
This is where it comes together. We hand off your strategy, messaging, and systems, and teach your team how to run with it — plus a practical board toolkit and training session so your board understands how to talk about a mission that doesn't fit in a soundbite.
Deliverables: Staff Implementation Training, Board Fundraising Toolkit, Board Fundraising Training (if desired)
Real Results
A sample of what clients have seen working with us:
A brand-new organization secured their first major gift of $5,000 just one week into working with us.
50% year-over-year growth from $371k to $689k in just two years after our engagement.
Donor retention leapt from 13% to 57% in six months.
A fundraising campaign grew from $50,000 the year before working with us to $183,000 the year after.
Average gift size grew from $795 to $1,489 in six months.
A capital campaign aiming for $2 million over four years hit that target in a year and a half — the goal was raised to $3 million, and is on track to hit before the two-year mark.
We smoothed over an executive director transition where the organization gained donors instead of losing them, as usually happens during a transition.
How We Work
Nurture & Grow is a true partnership. We do the bulk of the work, but you are actively engaged throughout.
We start by setting realistic timelines and clear expectations on day one, and we keep that trust and connection for the entire six-month engagement.
And we keep you connected to every piece of the work we do, not with more meetings, but with clear, consistent communication.
Monthly Strategy Sessions — We start each month together, reviewing the prior month's deliverables and previewing what's ahead.
Weekly Check-ins — Every Monday, you get a progress update via email that details completed deliverables, your weekly assignments, and clear next steps. (Clients love our emails!)
Ongoing Support — Email access throughout the week, with responses within 2-3 business days.
Open Office Hours — Weekly opportunities to meet on deliverables or current questions.