Services
Over the course of my career, I have collaborated with leaders on complex projects that have transformed local communities and shaped national movements. I have worked across fields but have particular depth of experience in the arts and creative placemaking, journalism, community development, libraries, and parks and public spaces.
While there are many excellent development consultants, I differ from most in two ways.
First, I’ve primarily worked with organizations that don’t fit traditional categories, or which are trying to create something new. As a result, they are rarely fully served by past approaches.
Second, although I’ve learned a lot, I don’t approach the work as an expert who comes with solutions but as a problem-solver who can help leaders identify opportunity, navigate change, and unlock potential. I listen. I reflect. I test. I help find the way forward that works for specific people and specific organizations.
The primary services I* provide include:
CAMPAIGN FEASIBILITY, PLANNING, STRATEGY AND EXECUTION
Capital campaigns are a special opportunity to raise unprecedented funding and to propel change by attracting new leadership, expanding a base of support, and repositioning an organization. Campaign work is a staple of my practice, with efforts ranging from $2 million to $325 million. I help organizations at every step of the process – modeling campaigns, testing feasibility, setting strategy, implementation, and transitioning from a campaign into a sustained period of greater fundraising capacity.
STRATEGIC PLANNING & OPPORTUNITY ASSESSMENTS
Where are we? Where do we want to go? How do we get there? I help organizations reach clarity about what matters most and how best to realize their ambitions. Often this takes the form of comprehensive strategic planning, but I have also found short-term “opportunity assessments” to be a powerful exercise for helping leadership teams re-set and make the changes required to achieve greater impact.
STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS
All development programs are rooted in translating the complex work of an organization into a storyline that engages and excites potential supporters. I help organizations find their most essential and compelling messages, while articulating those themes into a body of communications materials and practices that elevates how they understood by external partners, including funders. To become the organizations we want to be, we need to describe our desired future and the path to it in ways that welcome others into our journey.
LEADERSHIP SUPPORT
Prior to starting my practice, I often served as the primary strategic partner to the CEO of the organizations where I worked — helping to keep a balance between long-term ambitions and short-term realities, between new initiatives and going deeper into our known expertise.
As a consultant, I continue to work with CEOs and CDOs as a creative sounding board, a strategic partner, a trusted external perspective, occasionally a something like a coach as they guide organizations through periods of transition and create enduring legacies. I also frequently support CEOs who are growing into new roles as lead organizational fundraisers.
DEVELOPMENT ASSESSMENTS
Many organizations hit a fundraising ceiling, or even in some cases find themselves loosing capacity and support. Some organizations are ready to make a leap forward but doubt their development programs are equal to organizational ambition. In these moments, I help organizations assess their development programs to recognize assets and to detangle the internal and external barriers that are inhibiting capacity.
WHATEVER IT TAKES
*Although I have kept Hamilton & Associates a one-person shop for light overhead and maximum flexibility, some clients need more than I can individually offer. Accordingly, I have an excellent network of partners who frequently collaborate on projects and bring special expertise in program and development assessments, strategic planning, prospect research, campaign management, event planning and coordination, and grant writing.
When a team is required, I can put a special one together quickly.