Fundraising counsel for nonprofits
The trail is yours.
We mark the way.
Candid fundraising counsel for nonprofit leaders: we help you test big goals before you commit to them, then walk beside your team until the money is raised. Senior-level work only, from a consultant who has run development shops, not just studied them.
Why a cairn
Why we're named for a stack of stones.
On a mountain trail, a cairn is a stack of stones left by those who have walked the route before. It does not move your feet. It marks the way, and the walk stays yours.
That is how we treat both our clients and their donors. Donors give most, and most joyfully, when they are treated as partners walking their own path, not prospects being pushed through a pipeline. Our job is to read the terrain honestly, mark the route clearly, and respect whose journey this is. Yours.
Services
Seven ways we help, one standard of candor.
Every engagement is led personally by our principal. No junior staff, no handoffs, no boilerplate.
Feasibility Studies
Before you announce a campaign, know what your donors will actually support. A minimum of 40 confidential interviews, a readiness review against 15 development benchmarks, and goal scenarios you can defend to your board.
How a study works →Campaign Counsel
A monthly retainer that puts a seasoned campaign strategist beside your team from quiet phase through celebration. Counsel and project management, with your staff doing work they'll keep.
What counsel includes →EFos Training
Install the Engagement Fundraising Operating System, created by Greg Warner of MarketSmart, with a signed EFos consultant. A donor-driven discipline for qualifying, engaging, and advancing your best supporters.
About the training →MarketSmart Consulting
Already using MarketSmart, or considering it? As an approved MarketSmart consultant, we help your team turn the platform's donor signals into qualified caseloads, well-timed outreach, and gifts.
How we help →Development Plans
A comprehensive, numbers-first plan for your whole fundraising program: goals by revenue stream, calendar, staffing, and the metrics that tell you it's working.
See the deliverable →Board Assessment
An honest read on how your board governs, gives, and opens doors, using a leading assessment framework. Comes with a facilitated session and a practical improvement roadmap.
What we assess →Strategic Planning
Strategy your team will actually execute: clear priorities, a scorecard, and a meeting rhythm that keeps them moving. Includes merger and partnership exploration for organizations weighing that path.
Our approach →Why Cairn
What you get here that you won't get from a big firm.
We've held your seat.
Our principal has been a nonprofit CEO, chief development officer, and vice president of philanthropy. He has built shops, carried goals, and answered to boards. Advice here comes from the chair you sit in, not from a slide library.
Findings you can act on, even when they sting.
A study that always says "yes, launch now" isn't a study, it's a sales pitch for the next contract. If your campaign needs six more months of groundwork, we will say so, and show you exactly what to build.
Senior counsel, small footprint.
You work directly with the principal on every engagement. No bench of juniors learning on your dime, no big-firm markup, and pricing that reflects the overhead we don't carry.
Is your organization campaign-ready?
Our free 15-point Campaign Readiness Checklist covers the same benchmarks we test in a full study. Walk through it with your leadership team before you spend a dollar on consultants, including us.