As a fundraising consultant, I often sit across from nonprofit leaders, staff, and board members, who are struggling to determine whether to hire Capital Campaign Pro (my capital campaign consulting firm), another consultant, or no one (i.e., do it themselves).
Luckily, sitting on a nonprofit board enables me to get a sneak peek at the process from the other side of the table.
With that in mind, let me walk you through some key decisions you’ll need to make in order to hire a great consultant — one that that’s the best fit for your nonprofit.
Top Considerations When Hiring a Consultant for Your Nonprofit
I’m currently serving as a volunteer on a committee to hire a strategic planning consultant. It has been an interesting exercise to be the one hiring, rather than the one being hired. Here are the most important things we considered as a group.
Whether to develop a Request for Proposal (RFP)
I made the case for no RFP. We decided to let consultants know we were looking for help developing our goals and priorities, and therefore wanted a strategic plan for the next three to five years. That’s it. How they decide to help us get there is up to them.
What type of project / process are you looking for
Based on some quick, initial research (calls to a few consultants recommended by colleagues), I reported to the group that strategic planning help can come in a wide variety of formats.
If we want to go deep and be thorough, it will take six to twelve months, starting with a series of interviews with key stakeholders followed by a series of discussions among the committee and full board. If we’re looking for a real shortcut, a one-day session is on the other end of the spectrum. As another board member eloquently pointed out, “That’s just a retreat.”
We decided we will let each consultant we interview share their range of services and make recommendations for how they would work with us based on our needs.
Narrowing your search to the consultants you’ll interview
Our committee gathered six names based on people we knew or recommendations we requested from our networks. The committee chair will share websites and LinkedIn profiles of all six consultants with the rest of us. Then we’ll vote on our top three choices to interview, along with input and recommendations from the staff.
Interviewing the Top Three Consultants
The committee and key staff will interview the top three candidates. We will prepare questions as a group (via email). After the interviews, we will schedule follow up meetings to determine our selection and make recommendations to the full board.
Timing of the hiring process/when to start the project
We don’t have funds budgeted for this project in this calendar year, so we will take the fall to hire and add the fees to next year’s budget. We will plan to start the project in January in our new fiscal year.
How to Evaluate Fees and Select a Consultant
Although price is one factor to consider, it shouldn’t be the prevailing one. Select the consultant you most want to work with based on their:
- service model
- personality
- responsiveness
- how they present themselves
- how they communicate
Remember — people are consistent. If they don’t get back to you right away or are late for meetings or send emails that don’t make sense, pay attention. Those characteristics are not likely to improve once you hire them.
Note: At Capital Campaign Pro, we use our first meeting to learn about the prospective client and their needs. We request a second meeting to make recommendations and share our fee structure. If requested, we share ballpark fees in the first meeting. Then we prepare a proposal as a follow-up document once we’ve considered the client’s specific needs.
From my perspective serving on the committee, it will be interesting to see who is prepared to share fees in a first meeting, who requests a second meeting, and who shares fees in writing after the first meeting.
Final Tips: Hiring a Consultant for Your Nonprofit
Regardless of your process, please let consultant’s you’ve considered know when you’re going in another direction. It’s considerate and the right thing to do. It’s worse to leave them hanging than to let them know you haven’t selected them.
Bottom line — it’s appropriate and necessary for nonprofits to invest in outside expertise from time to time. There’s no right single consultant for every organization. It’s up to you to find the best consultant for you and your project. Happy hiring!
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