Non-profit consulting is specialized professional support aimed at helping non-profits succeed in specific projects. Consultants bring together their expertise and a fresh perspective to these projects. “Consultants in the nonprofit sector...work to strengthen organizational capacity, provide information, build inter-organizational alliances, and bridge the nonprofit and other sectors.” (Reisman, 2025). For nonprofits operating with tighter budgets and smaller teams, consultants provide crucial by-the-need solutions.
Drawing from my experience as a consultant supporting nonprofits in strategic planning, fundraising optimization, and capacity building, I've observed firsthand the transformative impact effective consulting can have on mission-driven organizations. But it’s not just me.
Why Nonprofits Need Consultants
According to the Fundraising Effectiveness Project, “Q2 2024 saw a 3.7% increase in dollars raised, while both the number of donors and donor retention fell by -3.9% and -4.5%, respectively. These trends mirror those seen in Q1 2024, albeit the increase in dollars raised is smaller while the decrease in the number of donors and retention rates is larger” (Association of Fundraising Professionals, 2024). There has been a consistent decrease in donor retention over the past few years.
External consultants also bring objectivity, specialized expertise, and new perspectives. 20 Forbes Nonprofit Council members came together to share why nonprofits should consider hiring a consultant and they concluded that it “helps forge a path to scale up the team, delivers support in a defined timeframe, [and] ignites internal discussions” amongst other key benefits (Bostock, and Hobbs, 2024). Forbes Nonprofit Council is an invitation-only, fee-based organization for senior-level executives in successful nonprofit organizations.
“Many consultants refer to themselves and their organizations as ‘capacity builders’ in the nonprofit sector. Capacity comprises 'the skills and ability to make and execute decisions in a manner that achieves effective and efficient results. Capacity building is the process of developing those skills and abilities.” (Reisman, 2025).
Essential Skills Every Nonprofit Consultant Needs
To succeed as a consultant in nonprofit consulting, you need extra skills that you might not exercise as much in regular consulting. These include cultural competency, strategic alignment, communication, and empathy. You need to understand nonprofit values & missions, tailor consulting strategies to nonprofit goals, and effectively communicate recommendations.
Excellent nonprofit consultants must have sector experience, diagnostic listening, be collaborative and facilitative, be able to honor and acknowledge resistance, maintain objectivity, conduct extensive research support, think conceptually, value diversity, and be results-focused (Hooks, n.d.).
From my consulting projects with various nonprofits, I've learned that empathy and active listening were often the most critical skills, facilitating trust and open communication, which were essential for successful outcomes. It’s not just me. "Consultants to nonprofits engage in more facilitation work and rely more heavily on consensus-building skills than do corporate consultants, given the mission-oriented nature of nonprofit work." (Reisman, 2025).
How Consultants Can Successfully Approach Nonprofit Clients
Nonprofit consultants must clearly define and communicate their expertise and value. They should offer customizable solutions aligned with nonprofit budgets and showcase previous successful nonprofit engagements through case studies or testimonials. Having a portfolio is key.
Demonstrable experience does not only mean experience in x sector. It may mean experience in a local area, in a specific field, etc. The 2022 Nonprofit Consultant Salary revealed no link between years of nonprofit experience and the average hourly rate. This indicates that while experience holds value, factors like specialization, reputation, and networking have a greater impact on pricing (Mission Met, 2024).
In the nonprofit sector, consultants often employ empathic customization—adapting their advice and tools not just to organizational type, but to each client’s unique characteristics and context (Reisman, 2025).
Cost is a barrier for nonprofits because they try to keep their administrative costs low so that they can deliver to the communities they serve. As a nonprofit consultant, you must therefore have transparent, flexible pricing.
In my experience approaching nonprofit clients, providing a clearly structured yet flexible service package tailored specifically to nonprofit budgets and needs significantly increased my clients.
How Nonprofits Can Effectively Find and Evaluate Consultants
On the flip side, as a nonprofit looking to hire consultants, it is important to have a step-by-step checklist. You must:
Clearly define your needs and have measurable success criteria upfront
Research consultants thoroughly, ensuring to use high quality websites like Idealist and LinkedIn
Conduct formal reference checks
Conduct interviews
These steps should also be done with a quick turnaround so that you can quickly match your project needs.
The BridgeSpan Group, a global nonprofit that has worked with impactful organizations like the Anti-Defamation League., provides a helpful hiring toolkit for nonprofits. Part of this toolkit highlights how important reference checks are. They encourage contacting references to collect both hard and qualitative data to figure out how a candidate interacts with people at different levels within and outside the organization (Bridgespan Group, 2016).
Nonprofits must also evaluate consultant proposals effectively. “Nonprofits should be aware of the assumptions consultants bring to the table and these assumptions’ unanticipated consequences. For example, consultants often define best practices as common practices of similar organizations, which could limit innovation among nonprofits.” (Reisman, 2025).
Having served numerous nonprofits as a consultant, I've noticed that nonprofits that clearly articulate their goals and expected outcomes from the start tend to achieve more effective results, making the consulting partnership smoother and more impactful.
Common Mistakes to Avoid for Both Consultants and Nonprofits
Interviews, contracts, and further communications should be used to ensure the alignment of expectations. These include budget, timeline, and outcomes. Transparent and frequent communication should be encouraged. A failure to measure and communicate progress and impact can sour a consultant relationship. "Clients run the risk of disappointment when their chosen consultant’s approach does not match their expectations, and consultants become frustrated by unrealistic expectations from clients." (Reisman, 2025).
According to the Insight to Action: the future of the professional services industry, a report conducted by Deltek, a company specialized in powering project-based businesses like Amazon, consulting practices have five key challenges that they need to deal with. These include changing client behaviour, profitability, new competition, project complexity and cyber security (Consultancy UK, 2019).
Bernadette Mack, a communication professional with five years of experience consulting with small to medium nonprofits, identifies common mistakes: not enough strategy, underestimating the power of email, underutilization of budgers, and not enough attention to data (Mack, 2024).
One mistake I’ve seen often—and even experienced early in my consulting career—is assuming alignment without a thorough discussion of expectations. Clear, detailed conversations about deliverables and timelines early on greatly reduce the risk of dissatisfaction. I’ve often found that without clear measurables, clients cannot see progress being made and consultants feel that their work is being underappreciated.
Conclusion & Next Steps:
Through my nonprofit consulting journey, I've consistently seen the profound benefits that arise from strategic, collaborative relationships between consultants and nonprofit organizations. Proactive planning and an openness to reflect on your assumptions about what makes good practice are key. Nonprofits and consulting present an opportunity for genuine collaboration and dialogue that gets stuff done and makes the world a better place.
References
Association of Fundraising Professionals (2024). Fundraising Effectiveness Project: Year-to-Date Nonprofit Sector Trends Q2 2024. Available at: https://afpglobal.org/sites/default/files/attachments/resource/FEP_Report_Q2_2024.pdf
Bostock, C., Hobbs, C. (2024). Spotlight on illicit finance: Time for a coordinated response. Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/deloitte/2024/11/15/spotlight-on-illicit-finance-time-for-a-coordinated-response/
Bridgespan Group (2016). The nonprofit hiring toolkit: How to find and hire the best talent. Available at: https://www.bridgespan.org/getmedia/496f53e2-9a75-4dbe-9c0d-553fe009b4f0/Bridgespan-NonprofitHiringToolkit.pdf
Consultancy UK (2019). Five major challenges facing the global consulting industry. Available at: https://www.consultancy.uk/news/22032/five-major-challenges-facing-the-global-consulting-industry
Hooks, E. (n.d.) Ten characteristics of nonprofit consultants. Available at: https://www.501commons.org/engage/volunteer-resources/info/ten-characteristics-of-nonprofit-consultants
Mack, B. (2024). Five years in consulting: Top lessons from nonprofits and all. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/five-years-consulting-top-lessons-from-nonprofits-all-bernadette-mack-ordee/?trackingId=Q4ecOPYPQfG2s8L34Jg10w%3D%3D
Mission Met (2024). Understanding the cost of hiring a strategic planning consultant for your nonprofit. Available at: https://www.missionmet.com/blog/understanding-the-cost-of-hiring-a-strategic-planning-consultant-for-your-nonprofit
Reisman, L. M. G. (2025) How consultants shape nonprofits: shared values, unintended consequences. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
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