March 12, 2010 | Read Time: 1 minute
Hartsook Companies, a fund-raising consulting company in Kansas City, Mo., is offering charities located in or near Baltimore and Washington the chance to receive a free, customized consulting session during a three-day period next month.
The sessions, which the company is billing as its “Growing Philanthropy Tour,” will be held on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, April 9-11, in advance of the annual conference of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, in Baltimore.
Each consultation will last 90 minutes to two hours. Charities that qualify for one of the free sessions must fill out an online application, send three key officials, including a board member, to the in-person meeting, and agree to a pre-consultation telephone interview. Consultants will also offer follow-up communications with each organization about 90 days after the in-person session.
Issues that nonprofit groups can seek help with include how to organize employees for fund-raising projects, how to seek corporate and foundation support, marketing and communications help, advice for recruiting board members, and many other topics related to fund raising.
In addition to advising nonprofit organizations, the company, which plans to send eight of its consultants to conduct the sessions, hopes to generate new clients with the free consultations. Other consulting companies, feeling the effects of the recession themselves, have offered similar services. For example, a “speed consulting” event was organized by several New York consultants in early December.
