Our Services

Saad&Shaw’s counselOnDEMAND provides flexible, low-cost fund development coaching and strategy sessions for nonprofit executives, college presidents, and development directors. We help you meet your challenges and optimize your resources and staff.

EXPERT ADVICE, ON-CALL 

• You receive five hours of fundraising counsel by phone and email, and video conference each month. Conversations can be one-on-one or with your staff, board members, and others of your choosing.

AFFORDABLE AND FLEXIBLE 

• This unique and affordable service is ideal for organizations with limited budgets. For others it can be the first step in preparing for a feasibility study or creating a campaign plan. Some use it as an accountability tool to monitor monthly progress. Our guidance is tailored to your needs!

The “case for support” is at the heart of all fundraising. Different from a “case study,” a case for support is a forward-looking document that encourages engagement and giving. The target audience for this marketing piece is those who can give or influence resources at the highest level. It must be clear, concise, and compelling, data driven, and graphically engaging.  Saad&Shaw will work with you and your team to clearly define your fundraising goals and timeframes, and to clearly communicate your unique impact. We ask you questions that major donors and funders ask before they invest. This allows you to create a case for support that proactively answers the questions of those who can make a difference in the life of your organization or institution. The case for support is a must-have for nonprofit organizations and institutions. Our case for support services are available to individual organizations and institutions. The Saad&Shaw Case for Support Cohort is available to funders and philanthropists who want to help build the fundraising capacity and infrastructure of nonprofits they believe in.

Learn more:

• Case for Support Services for individual organizations and institutions
• Create a Case for Support Cohort with Saad&Shaw

• Before you launch a new fundraising initiative let us talk with your current and prospective donors, volunteer leadership, and community stakeholders to learn how they respond to your ideas and case for support.
• Our experience has shown that it is critical for a nonprofit to know if it can secure the funding required to carry out a strategic plan. You must test your vision — and the projected costs — with your funders.
• We specialize in feasibility studies for higher education capital and comprehensive campaigns, and provide feasibility services scaled to meet the needs of nonprofit organizations.
• We interact with your staff and review your reports, policies, and procedures to assess your fundraising readiness.
• This process and resulting report helps ensure that you launch your fundraising at the right time, targeting the right people with the right case for support.
• We will work with you to create the right study for your needs and budget.

• A Saad&Shaw fundraising plan is an extensive, detailed roadmap that can be used to plan for, launch, and manage your fundraising. It is a management tool that can be used to recruit (and retain) volunteer leadership, and to focus the work of fundraising staff and that of the executive director and the board. It is not a spreadsheet, an overview, nor a list of suggested actions.
• Use this unique tool to manage and evaluate your cultivation and solicitation strategies, and measure fundraising progress. Your plan will be designed to take advantage of your strengths and help address perceived challenges or obstacles to fundraising success.
• This fundraising management tool will include timetables, strategies for raising funds and rallying support, fundraising budgetary guidelines, data collection methods, and more.

• With counselCARE, we become a member of your team, coaching your staff, board members, and volunteer leadership on a regular basis.
• We work with your team as you implement your fundraising campaign plan.
• We help with strategies for engaging campaign leadership, identifying potential donors, and developing suggestions for how to engage new or continuing donors.
• We assist with accountability, offering timeframes for the important activities that comprise an annual, capital, or comprehensive campaign.
• Our unique counselCARE service can be secured for a timeframe that works for you: three months, six months, or more.

• We review your mission, vision, leadership, and programs, working with you to create a roadmap for how to bring these to life.
• We work with your board and staff to gain their insights and observations.
• We personally speak with select staff, board members, stakeholders, and funders to learn how they assess your organization and its capabilities. We ask for their insights and suggestions.
• We help you define your over-arching goals and the steps you need to take to achieve them.
• We document what we have learned – and what you have agreed to – creating a tool that can help guide your work going forward.

If you want to support the fundraising capacity and infrastructure of the nonprofits who you fund – or want to fund – we can help. We do that through our case for support cohort. You select up to six organizations you believe could benefit from working with a case and we will work with them. Our goal is for each to complete the cohort with an external facing document that communicates their uniqueness, vision and goals, how much they need to raise, and what the anticipated impact will be. We guide participants in creating a case that is rich in validated data points and that  speaks to a reader’s heart and mind, balancing emotions and facts.

Our case for support cohort brings together up to six nonprofits for a combination of group learning and individualized coaching over a three-month period. We include teaching sessions and guide participants as they create their own case. Together we can help strengthen the fundraising capacity of nonprofits you believe in.

Learn more:

• Case for Support Services for individual organizations and institutions
• Create a Case for Support Cohort with Saad&Shaw

• If your development department needs customized guidance, we’re equipped to offer it, so your nonprofit not only stays strong, but has the capacity to grow during the best of times—and during times of uncertainty.

  Saad&Shaw’s COUNSELinResidence delivers decades of fundraising expertise directly to your team, condensing months of planning into a powerful, fully customizable engagement that produces immediate results while building sustainable growth. Saad&Shaw’s team of fundraising professionals has built a reputation of zooming in on the strengths of the people we work with to boost fundraising results.

  During our COUNSELinResidence program, we will work side-by-side with your team, including your CEO/executive director, chief financial officer, development director and staff, board members, and fundraising volunteers, to create and implement strategies for more effective donor engagement.

  This service is customized to meet the needs of your organization or institution. We focus on those areas that you need to build or strengthen. We offer individual coaching, action plans, and team meetings. Most importantly we help you define targeted fundraising goals and anticipated outcomes.

  Learn more about COUNSELinResidence for Nonprofits

During our 12-week Executive COUNSELinResidence program, Saad&Shaw will work side-by-side with your team, including your president, cabinet, development staff, trustees, and fundraising volunteers, to create and implement strategies for more effective donor engagement.

Our initial interview is intensive and conducted onsite. From there, we’ll partner with your team remotely via phone, email, and video to review your fundraising results, refine your strategies, and discuss new opportunities and challenges.

In addition to reviewing donor and prospect records, we’ll also evaluate efficacy and revenue projections for special events. And we’ll support you in being accountable and transparent about what is and isn’t working when it comes to your fundraising efforts.

All members of your advancement team—including the president—will be offered weekly assignments, evaluation measures, and timetables designed to stimulate your institution’s fundraising. Our three-step program is guided by senior-level executives with decades of experience in diverse environments.

Learn more about Executive COUNSELinResidence for HBCUs