Strategic Funder Prospecting for a $1.2M Human Services Nonprofit

Project: Benchmark this organization versus a handful of sister organizations nationally plus more local orgs of similar size and mission.

Process: Drawing on 14 organizations’ funding history, I analyzed 474 contributions from 175 funders, prioritizing those with alignment to the nonprofit’s mission and geographic location. By researching how peer organizations were funded, I uncovered both new opportunities and underutilized opportunities.

Deliverables: Actionable strategies to improve funding asks. For example, we found that a private foundation gave more to sister organizations that requested Program (rather than General Operating) funds. The report summarized the benchmarking findings, new opportunities, and specific recommendations for next steps.

Results: The nonprofit reports the benchmarking report and new opportunities helped the Development Director quickly build out her strategy. After two years, they continue to reference the report. Expanding their funder base has allowed them to invest in staffing and training.

Increasing staffing for a $500K Nonprofit Supporting Incarcerated Women

A small nonprofit making a big impact, this organization was at a critical moment of growth in 2022. They had strong need for new staff, but found themselves in a familiar Catch 22. The need for headcount, without which they were able to keep up with fulfilling their mission, but not growing to meet the larger need.

Stretched thin, the executive director did not have time for a lengthy onboarding process. In addition, she’d had a poor experience previously, with consultants delivering a spreadsheet with 100+ unvetted leads.

I kept our meeting to 30-minute and leveraged a downloaded Salesforce report to analyze their funding levels, gap, and prospects. narrowed 350+ opportunities into a top 14 list using criteria such as general operating support, funder behavior with new grantees, and geographic eligibility.

Deliverables: Calendar-based road map that integrated new opportunities with existing requirements.

Results: The executive director leveraged the report to secure the funding (and ultimately staffing) she needed. She noted the prospecting report/analysis directly contributed to increased successful fundraising and the hiring of new staff.

Cohorts Receive Actionable Next Steps

Project: An artist-focused $5M nonprofit led a cohort of emerging nonprofit organizations in taking the leap to making a larger impact. As part of an intensive training session, the cohort participants were given a consultation with Mindaro and gifted a grant prospecting report.

Deliverables: A completely custom funding report for each of four cohort organizations. Each report took into account the nonprofit’s size, geography, and mission. Opportunities identified reflected the local landscape and trends.

Results: Cohort participants were thrilled by the training overall and appreciated having the reports as a tangible path to increased funding.

Some used their report as a mini business plan to convince major donors to hire development support. Others had development support who were able to hit the ground running.

As one participant from California noted: “I put my head down and got motivated by your report. Just thought you'd like to hear the effects of your work. $280,000 requested this week. Thank you for rooting for us!”