Resources for Nonprofits

Advancement Advisors

An independent women-owned consulting firm, Advancement Advisors focuses on building fundraising capacity and sustainability in nonprofit organizations. With a broad range of experience, our consultants provide customized services to assist you in meeting your fundraising objectives, including:

  • Fundraising Audits – Measure the capacity of your fundraising program, taking into consideration the budget size and staff resources of your nonprofit. An audit helps your organization address challenges head-on to set the course for future fundraising success.
  • Feasibility Studies – Evaluate the likelihood of campaign success, identify best strategies, and spark interest with donors and potential volunteers.
  • Fundraising Plan Development – Develop a comprehensive fundraising plan to bring focus to your programs, identify priorities and prevent pitfalls.
  • Campaign Planning and Implementation – An organized and strategic approach to campaign preparation and a step-by-step process for moving effectively through all phases of campaign fundraising.
  • Training – Professional training on a variety of fundraising topics.
  • Coaching – Working with CEOs, executive directors, board members and fundraising staff, coaching to build confidence, reduce anxiety, grow as a leader and raise more money!
  • Board Development – Comprehensive board training on fundraising.
  • Speaking – With customized topics, attendees leave inspired and armed with practical fundraising strategies to put to work immediately.

Maureen Mahoney Hill, CFRE, Principal
maureen@advancementadvisorsgroup.com
412-780-4708
https://advancementadvisorsgroup.com/ 

Bonner Consulting

Bonner Consulting is a Pittsburgh based nonprofit consulting firm whose clients include regional nonprofits, foundations, associations, and public/government entities.

Consulting: 

  • PLANNING & STRATEGY: Guiding the creation of Strategic, Sustainability, Implementation, and Project plans.
  • ASSESSMENTS: Conducting Organizational, Perception, and Needs Assessments.

Coaching, Training, & Capacity Building:

  • DEVELOPING LEADERS: Identifying and developing nonprofit leaders and managers. Guiding smooth leadership transitions.
  • STRENGTHENING YOUR TEAM: Working with nonprofit teams to strengthen cohesion, improve engagement, and create healthier organizations.
  • BUILDING YOUR BOARD: Assessing, Developing, and engaging your Boards.
  • CHANGE, CULTURE & INNOVATION: Using our understanding of nonprofits and team dynamics, and deep understanding of the challenges of cultural and individual change, to help nonprofits build agile and sustainable organizations

Facilitation:

  • FACILITATING COMPLEX CONVERSATIONS: Guiding groups through their agendas, ensuring active participation, and working through challenging topics.
  • EXPLORING COLLABORATIONS & ALLIANCES: Facilitating exploration and providing an objective process to create agreements for coalitions, alliances, and partnerships.

Leslie Bonner
Leslie@bonner-consulting.com
412-427-7033
https://www.bonner-consulting.com

Kate Sphar Consulting

Kate Sphar Consulting works with organizations of all disciplines, including human services, arts and culture, community development, education, and environment, as well as with foundations and philanthropies. Areas of specialty include business and strategic planning, organizational business modeling, capitalization and financial planning, mergers and alliances, and building collaborative models.

Principal Kate Sphar is a consultant and financial strategist with over 25 years of experience in nonprofit consulting, nonprofit management, and foundation grantmaking. Kate’s work focuses on helping organizations develop strong, resilient, and sustainable businesses models. She has designed and taught courses and workshops in social enterprise, business planning, financial health and management and nonprofit collaborations for numerous institutions in Pittsburgh and beyond.

Kate also has a deep understanding of philanthropy and regional capacity building from her recent tenure as Assistant Director for the McCune Foundation, a limited-life foundation in Pittsburgh. She played a critical role in developing McCune’s sunset grantmaking strategy and was a program officer to over 100 nonprofit partners in arts and culture, human services, education, environment, and community development.

Services offered:

  • Capitalization & Strategic Financial Planning: Working with organizations to assess their current financial health and develop plans for their business model and balance sheet with the aim of becoming more financially sustainable and resilient.
  • Organizational Business Modeling: Using strategically designed and customized financial tools to help organizations identify strengths and areas in need of further development to achieve their financial goals.
  • Feasibility Studies & Business Planning: Helping organizations understand the impact of new programs, services and initiatives through developing a thorough understanding of market demand, resource requirements and financial impact.
  • Strategic Planning: Guiding leadership staff and board members through each step of creating and implementing plans that help them match money with mission.
  • Mergers and Collaborative Models: Assessing opportunities for collaboration and restructuring through partnerships, alliances, or mergers to build capacity and share services.

Kate Sphar
kate@spharconsulting.com
412-443-0411
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-sphar-2595661/

Procopia

Procopia was founded in 2012 by Anne Marie Toccket to fill a gap that she saw in the Pittsburgh area: access to high quality, out-of-the-box, affordable consulting services. Anne Marie continues to own Procopia, but has since transitioned to leading a family foundation in the Pittsburgh region.

Procopia is now led by a horizontal leadership team of two managing directors who are former nonprofit leaders and talented project managers. Together, they oversee and work with a team of a dozen consultants who directly serve our client base. One member of the leadership team was a previous client of Procopia before joining the firm – which we believe is a testament to our model and effective consulting services.

Originally founded to serve the Pittsburgh region, Procopia’s client list now reaches into several states while maintaining a healthy home base of Pennsylvania-based clients. About half of our engagements are fundraising and grant writing related, while the other half we describe as Strategic Initiatives – strategic plans, program evaluation projects, feasibility studies, and coaching.

Procopia prides itself on delivering high-quality deliverables on time and within budget, and has built a reputation as a reliable, clear-eyed, and ethical consulting partner. Procopia is a woman-owned business that served more than 50 clients in the 2023 calendar year.

Our services are wide-ranging, but a snapshot of what we offer includes:

  • Grantwriting Support and Strategy: We work behind-the-scenes to provide professional, timely grant proposals and reports, at a fraction of the cost of a full-time grantwriter. For small nonprofits, we help develop and strengthen a grants strategy through personalized instruction, coaching, and systems-building.
  • Strategic Initiatives and Planning: We provide hands-on strategic planning facilitation that is experienced, equitable, and impartial, guiding leadership and engaging stakeholders to identify the best path forward for the agency. We offer a variety of levels of support based on an agency’s size, budgets, and needs. Our team also possesses expertise in leading and developing special projects such as feasibility and research reports.
  • Fund Development: We support nonprofits of varying sizes develop a blueprint for sustainability through the creation of fund development plans, annual fund collateral, and development audits. We can also help your board understand their fundraising role through board education and training, board development coaching, and board material standardization.
  • Prospect Research: With decades of experience and a subscription to funder databases such as the Foundation Directory, we work efficiently to identify potential funding prospects for your programming, general operating, or capital needs.

Hannah Sherer, Managing Director, Grantwriting and Fund Development
hannah@procopia.co
Jake Seltman, Managing Director, Strategic Initiatives
jake@procopia.co
www.procopia.co

Wilbanks Consulting Group

The Wilbanks Consulting Group (WCG) is a human resources consulting and executive coaching firm with offices in Pittsburgh, PA, and Houston, TX. We offer a suite of customized, scalable services to professionals from nonprofits, philanthropies, associations, educational institutions, government entities, and private sector businesses of all sizes.

WCG’s team includes HR industry veterans and professional writers with over 20 years of HR experience.

Key Services:

  • Executive Coaching: Individual and group coaching for nonprofit leaders, executive directors, and their teams.
  • Career Coaching: Tailored and empowering strategies for career exploration and job search execution.
  • Resume & LinkedIn Optimization: Enhancing profiles to attract opportunities.
  • Interview Preparation: Developing skills and confidence for successful interviews.
  • Offer Negotiation: Expertly navigate job offer negotiations to maximize your compensation and benefits.
  • Job Search Strategy: Proven methods to craft effective and targeted job search plans.

WCG is committed to empowering professionals with personalized guidance to reach their career goals with impactful solutions for leadership, career advancement, and more.

For more information, visit The Wilbanks Consulting Group, or book a free 30-minute consultation.

Info@WilbanksConsulting.com
833-924-9675
https://www.wilbanksconsulting.com/