Fundraising & Organizational Development
Helping social change organizations succeed - building the structures, cultures, and resources to best meet their missions and the needs of their communities.
Organizations seek out consulting support for many different reasons. Some need help clarifying their theory of change, mission, or strategy. Some have structural needs and challenges, such as facing a merger or leadership transition, needing help hiring and onboarding new staff, or building trust and role clarity within and between staff and boards. Some have organizational culture needs—wrestling with high turnover and demoralized staff, or wanting to build new practices for feedback, transparency, and accountability. And almost all organizations want and need to build their revenue—to grow their programs, weather downturns, and address shortfalls.
What makes me unique is that I am rooted at the intersections of all of these interconnected needs. In my consulting work on organizational dynamics and change management, I have supported my clients to build safe, loving, and forward-thinking containers in which to build on their internal strengths and successes and address persistent challenges. Together we clarify roles and values, change practices and structures, and navigate leadership or structural transitions. I provide organizational assessment, facilitation, and board and staff development from which your organization will emerge stronger and with more direction.
Another core piece of my work is in providing grassroots fundraising support so you can secure the resources that build capacity and ease the stress of how to find and secure funds to keep the doors open. I can work with your board and staff to develop strategic fundraising plans and build a culture of joyful and robust participation in fundraising, always rooted in and reflective of the values of all of your work. I can help you build successful individual donor campaigns, provide trainings in making effective asks, plan funder briefings, and build clear timelines and accountability structures for your fundraising efforts.
Over the course of 25 years in the nonprofit sector (and many more as a volunteer activist) I have held and excelled at many different roles—from Interim Executive Director and Deputy Director roles, to labor organizer, to National campaign and chapter organizer, to leadership fundraising staff. I’ve worked on many issues and with many different constituencies. My work is always rooted in joy, belief in change, liberatory practice, and the deepest love and respect for what you are trying to accomplish. This question has guided my work in all the roles I've held: how can we build organizations and movements that are effective, consistent in their values, creative, and sustainable?
Currently, I primarily work with membership and base building organizations and coalitions, but have also worked with many other forms of advocacy and social change organizations. Recent clients include: ALIGN NY, Astraea Lesbian Foundation, Defend Our Health, Florida Health Justice Project, Freedom Center for Social Justice, Grassroots Asians Rising, Hoosier Action, People’s Bail Out NYC, and Rethinking Schools. For a full list of clients and testimonials, go here.
Prior to consulting, I served as the Director of Development at Jews for Racial & Economic Justice, where I built a fundraising program that involved the full staff and board, as well as dozens of member leaders, in growing the budget from $275,000 in 2013 to $1.6 million in 2020. I served as the National Organizer and Interim Executive Director of Military Families Speak Out for six years, and worked with AFSCME, Jobs with Justice, 9 to 5: the National Association of Working Women, and Massachusetts Senior Action Council in a variety of fundraising and organizing roles.
And of course, we all find meaning and joy outside of our work! I am an obsessive baseball fan (Go Sox!), a summer beach bunny, a thrill-seeking city biker, a solo traveler, a collector of wigs and tall boots, an avid fiction reader and journaler, and a proud snarky Jewish queer femme. I live in Brooklyn, NY with my public defender partner, a blind, toothless, senior rescue Pekignese, and a tiny cat with enough energy to power the whole city.
“I had known Nikki as a professional in the field with a stellar reputation for years before finding myself in need of grassroots fundraising support. True to her reputation, as a consultant, Nikki had extremely dynamic approaches to every aspect of our fundraising operation. What truly stunned me was her ability to stay grounded in our values and her incredible responsiveness to our unique community. It was also helpful that she was a joy to see every time we met. I highly recommend Nikki as a thought partner who brings real results!”
— Bethany Basile, Boston Workers Circle
Join my quarterly newsletter
I publish a quarterly newsletter with updates on my clients as well as thoughts on fundraising and organizational issues and opportunities for social change organizations.
Check out past issues here.