Blog Post: Should You Hire, Contract, or DIY Your Fundraising? A Framework for Small Nonprofits
Should You Hire, Contract, or DIY Your Fundraising? A Framework for Small Nonprofits
By Brown Catalyst Consulting
One of the most common questions we hear from Executive Directors at small creative nonprofits: "I know we need to do more fundraising — but who's supposed to be doing it?" There's no universal answer, but there is a useful framework, and it starts with a single question.
Is your fundraising need ongoing, or a one-time project? If it's ongoing (donor cultivation, grant cycles, an annual fund), you need sustained capacity: either a staff hire or a long-term fractional arrangement. If it's project-based (creating earned revenue, a specific grant, a campaign, a board training), a consultant or coach is usually the smarter, more cost-effective call. Getting this wrong is expensive, and it happens more often than you'd think.
If you've determined the need is ongoing, the next question is budget. A full-time Development Director is important, but not everyone is ready for that investment. Fractional or shared staffing is a growing and underused option: a part-time development professional, a retainer arrangement, or a shared staffing model that gives you continuity without the full overhead of a hire. And if the budget is genuinely tight, an ED-led model with a fundraising consultant coach can build real skills and systems over time in a way that outsourcing never fully does.
One thing worth noting: no consultant, no matter how skilled, can build donor relationships on your behalf. Fundraising depends on authentic human connection, and that has to live inside your organization.
Finally, if you're stuck in the "we can't afford to invest in fundraising until we raise more money" loop (one of the most common and frustrating catch-22s in this sector), know that there ARE foundations that fund capacity-building, including consultant support and fractional staffing.
We put this decision framework into a free one-page visual tool, along with a guide to key RI funders, a fundraising infrastructure checklist, and the 7 revenue streams every creative nonprofit should know.
