We serve as thought partners to new and established executives in nonprofit and advancement leadership, drawing on decades of experience in top leadership roles

Our senior consultants offer a confidential sounding board to discuss a wide range of issues facing CEOs, CDOs, and emerging executives. We work with leaders to foster inclusive cultures and strengthen their talent management programs in order to maximize fundraising and organizational effectiveness. Our consulting services often are natural extensions of executive search but also exist as standalone engagements.

ALG offers confidential advising for CEOs and CDOs of all experience levels and backgrounds. Whether you need responsive short-term guidance to navigate change, or a comprehensive long-term strategy, our strategic counsel is tailored to your organization and can include:

  • Audit/assessment of the fundraising program, structure, and staff;
  • Assessment of the viability of an internal promotion to CDO and assistance in transitioning an internal candidate into the role;
  • Supporting the successful launch of a new CDO—providing thought partnership in the CDO’s first 6-12 months, providing counsel and training around issues such as working with boards, serving as a cabinet member, organizing teams for maximum return on investment, building consensus across the organization, etc.;
  • Discussion of board size, expectations, and roles in fundraising;
  • Discussion of appropriate levels and phasing of investments in the fundraising program; and
  • Discussion of any number of topics related to philanthropy and nonprofit leadership, where the availability of a confidential sounding board and an additional perspective—for CEO and/or CDO—would prove valuable.

ALG’s experienced executive coaches, all who have also served in multiple C-suite roles, deliver a focused program of mentoring, counsel, and confidential feedback that enables the new leader to move fully and quickly into their new role. They bring to the table decades of experience working with boards, institutional leadership, volunteers, and professional staff. A major objective of the executive coaching program is to strengthen a new fundraising leader’s capability and confidence in the range of roles required for success—including, but well beyond, success in working with donors.

Beginning with a review of current competencies, and drawing on lessons from over 100 successful fundraising leaders included in Ron Schiller’s book, The Chief Development Officer: Beyond Fundraising, ALG and the new fundraising leader will create a set of objectives for the coaching period. As they arise, specific challenges can also be addressed in a timely, confidential setting. Clients can expect the following benefits:

  • Faster and more complete transition into a new leadership role
  • Assistance in identifying and focusing on early wins in a new role
  • Ability to call upon experienced fundraising leaders and respond to challenges as they arise

Your organization’s fundraising performance depends on the strength of your strategy and your team’s ability to execute – as well as an inclusive culture that supports and advances both.

With decades of experience leading large teams in a variety of complex structures and successfully executing campaigns ranging from $30 million to $2.3 billion, Aspen Leadership Group consultants are uniquely suited to counsel nonprofit and advancement leaders on talent management and organizational effectiveness. ALG also advises leaders on diversity, equity, and inclusion as applied to talent management in order to recruit and retain staff and successfully engage supporters from all backgrounds.

ALG offers services for:

  • Strategic thought partnership for leaders on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as it relates to recruitment and talent management
  • Operational and strategic planning
  • Program appraisals and evaluation of organizational structure

Aspen Leadership Group partners with The Inclusion Firm and Angelique Grant (ALG Associate) to support teams in moving from awareness of DEI to action and changed behavior. Services include training and workshops, audits and assessments, and building a DEI strategy; inquire with ALG to discuss your needs.

Raising an organization’s largest gifts requires an intense focus and discipline that must be embraced and sustained by leadership across an organization. The effort also requires a diverse team of staff and stakeholders operating in an inclusive culture in order to foster innovative ideas and ultimately raise transformational gifts. Aspen Leadership Group offers support in the following areas:

  • Principal Gifts: We also can advise on how to develop a sophisticated principal gifts program to help your organization significantly increase the total amount of your top ten gifts, whether you seek to raise six-figure or multi-million dollar gifts. We offer strategies to strengthen your culture of philanthropy, improve confidence levels, and inspire ambitious planning throughout your organization to achieve fundraising growth.
  • Strengthening Fundraising and Engagement Through Inclusion: We help advancement leaders apply DEI principles to foster successful philanthropic partnerships by collaborating with nationally regarded affiliates.
    • DEI in Advancement: ALG partners with The Inclusion Firm and Angelique Grant (ALG Associate) to support nonprofit teams with developing better practices that engage diverse stakeholders from a variety of backgrounds.
    • Women’s Philanthropy: ALG partners with the country’s foremost expert on women’s philanthropy, Kathleen Loehr (ALG Associate), to equip advancement teams with research on the unique ways that women give, tools to to assess their own donor database and practices, and guidance to reshape their strategies to increase support from women.

Our services in this area draw on our consultants’ firsthand experience as well as expertise compiled in their various books on diversity, equity, and inclusion; women’s philanthropy; principal gifts; and successful philanthropic partnership as described by major donors.

What Our Partners Are Saying

With the support of the ALG team, we are now able to build on our strong history by approaching conversations with more confidence and with a long-term partnership building mindset. We are creating a cohesive sense of belief and confidence in our organization, its leaders and practices, and fostering greater connectivity between leading donors. And collectively our team is becoming more effective at closing more – and larger— gifts. This is directly as a result of our strategic work with ALG.Christopher Street, Vice President of Development, All Stars Project
With Aspen Leadership Group, we have gained more than the expertise expected from a consultant with years of personal and professional experience—we have gained a thoughtful conversation partner, strategist, and—most importantly—a person who quickly invested in our interests and goals. Our ALG consultant is truly unique in this regard. Consultants in every industry would benefit in myriad ways by understanding and modeling his approach to his work.Mathew Pinson, Chief of Staff for Advancement, Emory University
Aspen Leadership Group provided expert direction and execution of a retreat of college presidents. The preparation before the meeting was superior and the facilitation of our retreat was as near to perfection as possible – knowing when to insert a comment or question to get the group focused and back on track as well as knowing when to the let the discussion evolve and grow. I look forward to working with ALG in the future for this type of work as well as other assignments. James Gandre, President, Manhattan School of Music
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The Aspen Leadership Group logo in white

Aspen Leadership Group (ALG) supports exceptional careers in philanthropy, recruiting presidents, executive directors, and chief advancement officers and helping them recruit, train, and inspire diverse, inclusive, and high-performing teams. Our search services and leader-to-leader consulting focus on building a team and a culture that enable an organization to engage all of its potential donors and volunteers and to drive unprecedented fundraising results.