SWLC is at an important stage of growth. We have successfully launched our programming, built a growing community, established partnerships, and recently launched our Social Work Empowerment Fund. However, our fundraising has primarily been connected to individual events and specific initiatives, and we need a more intentional development strategy to support sustainable organizational growth.
Our 2027 goal is to diversify beyond event-based fundraising and build a funding model that can support programming, general operations, and eventually paid staffing. We currently have team members beginning work on individual giving, sponsorships, and grant research, but we need an overarching strategy to ensure these efforts are coordinated, prioritized, and aligned with realistic organizational goals.
What is currently getting in the way is the absence of a clear 2027 fundraising roadmap: defined revenue goals, funding priorities, a coordinated development calendar, and metrics for measuring progress.
We are seeking a pro bono consultant with nonprofit development experience to help us step back, assess our current approach, and establish a practical strategy that our team can implement.
We would like the consultant to create a focused 2027 Fundraising Strategy and Roadmap for SWLC.
The deliverable should include:
- Recommended 2027 fundraising goals and revenue targets
- Priority funding streams and recommended allocation of effort across grants, corporate sponsorships, individual giving, events, and other opportunities
- A 12-month fundraising/development calendar
- Recommended fundraising KPIs and tracking metrics
- A prioritized list of development activities and milestones
- Recommendations for strengthening our fundraising infrastructure as we grow
- A simple framework for tracking prospects, cultivation, outreach, revenue, and progress toward goals
The strategy should be practical and appropriately scaled for a growing nonprofit with a small leadership team. Success would be a clear roadmap that tells us what to prioritize, when to do it, what goals to work toward, and how to measure whether our fundraising efforts are working.
SWLC is prepared to actively lead and support this project. I will serve as the primary project lead and will work directly with the Taproot volunteer throughout the engagement.
We have already established our core organizational structure, programming priorities, fundraising goals, and 2027 planning framework. We can provide our mission and organizational materials, program descriptions, event calendar, current fundraising information, sponsorship materials, impact metrics, website/social media information, and existing outreach trackers.
SWLC also has team members currently supporting different areas of development. Our Development & Partnerships Manager is actively working on individual giving, Empowerment Fund fundraising, sponsorships, and partnerships, while another volunteer is supporting grant research during Fall 2026. This Taproot project will help us build the larger strategy, systems, and infrastructure that these team members can use and implement.
With this strategy in place, SWLC will have a clear and realistic roadmap for building sustainable revenue in 2027. Rather than approaching fundraising primarily around individual events, our team will have coordinated priorities across grants, sponsorships, individual giving, and other funding opportunities, with clear goals and metrics to track progress. This will strengthen our ability to fund our wellness and professional development programs, expand the Social Work Empowerment Fund, support core operations, and move toward sustainable staffing as the organization grows.
