Charity consultants can’t perform magic

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

To the Editor:

As a longtime independent consultant to nonprofits, I read your article on freelance fund raisers with interest (“When Fund Raisers Go Solo,” December 12). While I agree with the points made by the writer, I feel it’s important to emphasize a few key points: an organization’s understanding why it is engaging the consultant, and what outcomes the organization can reasonably expect.

As your writer mentions, it’s very easy to view the presence of a consultant as a magic bullet that will generate grants and contributions. However, that is wishful thinking. Individual consultants and consulting firms can make good things happen — but no one person or small group, either paid or a volunteer, can have that comprehensive an influence.

What an effective consultant can do is help an organization: think strategically, with an eye toward desired outcomes; get its management, leadership, and development house in order; create organizational and development plans; identify people who can strengthen the team; train volunteers and staff; serve as a writer or researcher; and much more.

In the best situations, the consultant becomes a catalyst for increased capacity and ability within the organization.

What no consultant can do is: raise a predetermined amount of money in a predetermined amount of time; guarantee that a certain number or percentage of proposals or solicitations will be funded; stand in for the actual leadership of the organization in the development process; achieve a total mind-meld with the organization, so that written materials need no rewriting or tweaking; or successfully sell or help the organization sell an initiative that is poorly conceived and organized or demonstrably ineffective; make it possible for staff and leadership not to concentrate on development. (In fact, if the consultant is effective, the in-house development workload usually grows.)

In addition to understanding these considerations, organizations should enter into only those contracts that are as specific as possible. The contracts should delineate clearly what the responsibilities of both the consultant and the organization will be, as well as the anticipated outcomes or benchmarks, within the parameters I have just mentioned.

Going into a consulting relationship with a clear perspective will help any organization avoid some of the common pitfalls and move forward in achieving its goals.

Jane Tennen
Jane Savitt Tennen & Associates
Montclair, N.J.