We help you create a data driven annual plan, we write & design your direct mail and email Fundraising that keeps your donors giving all year long – and we build the major donor systems that lift your major donors to new height of giving. You stay in control. We do the work.
FOR NONPROFITS RAISING $300K-$3M FROM INDIVIDUAL DONORS
A whole fundraising department. For less than the cost of one fundraiser
All the capability of a department. None of the commitment of a hire
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Helping small- and medium-sized nonprofits raise more money
Across the U.S. and Canada, since 2011
Across the U.S. and Canada, since 2011
WHAT YOU GET
You've written 4 appeals this year.
We've written 200
We've written 200
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You've built 1 major donor system.
We build about 7 a year
We build about 7 a year
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You'd wait 3–6 months to hire.
We start this month
We start this month
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Writers, designers, strategists, and major gift specialists — working on your fundraising, together.
FOR NONPROFITS RAISING $300K-$3M FROM INDIVIDUAL DONORS
A whole fundraising department. For less than the cost of one fundraiser
We help you create a data driven annual plan, we write & design your direct mail and email Fundraising that keeps your donors giving all year long – and we build the major donor systems that lift your major donors to new height of giving. You stay in control. We do the work.
All the capability of a department. None of the commitment of a hire
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Helping small- and medium-sized nonprofits raise more money
Across the U.S. and Canada, since 2011
Across the U.S. and Canada, since 2011
WHAT YOU GET
You've written 4 appeals this year.
We've written 200
We've written 200
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You've built 1 major donor system.
We build about 7 a year
We build about 7 a year
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You'd wait 3–6 months to hire.
We start this month
We start this month
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Writers, designers, strategists, and major gift specialists — working on your fundraising, together.
MOST OF OUR CLIENTS START HERE
Sound familiar?
Sound familiar?
MAYBE
Someone on your team just left.
Someone on your team just left.
MAYBE
You've just been given a new fundraising goal or project
You've just been given a new fundraising goal or project
MAYBE
You're not getting to everything, and you're buried.
You're not getting to everything, and you're buried.
All three mean the same thing: your organization is between sizes
All three mean the same thing: your organization is between sizes
You've grown enough to see how much more money you could be raising. You're not yet big enough to hire the team of specialists it would take.
That isn't a failure — it's a stage, and nearly every growing nonprofit goes through it.
Your nonprofit is like a restaurant with a line out the door... but not enough cooks in the kitchen
Your nonprofit is like a restaurant with a line out the door... but not enough cooks in the kitchen
Right now, you are unable to take advantage of all the opportunities you have with major donors, in the mail, and email.
Why not have an expert help you do each of those things, for less than the cost of an employee?
Why not have an expert help you do each of those things, for less than the cost of an employee?
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Talk to someone who has seen this a hundred times
Talk to someone who has seen this a hundred times
THE MATH
A whole department for less than one hire
A whole department for less than one hire
You don’t have the budget for an expert in every Fundraising function, so hire a team of experts only for as much as you need them.
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We'll run these numbers for your organization
We'll run these numbers for your organization
WHO WE WORK WITH
The two things we hear most
The two things we hear most
Almost everyone who calls us cares deeply about doing this well. Somewhere along the way the fundraising landed on their plate in a way they hadn't planned for — someone left, or the organization grew faster than its systems did.
WHAT WE HEAR
"We need help with the actual writing and design — we just don't have the people or the time."
"We need help with the actual writing and design — we just don't have the people or the time."
So we build your fundraising communications for you: the appeals, the thank you letters, the newsletters, the emails. You never start from a blank page again.
WHAT WE HEAR
"We know we could be raising more from our major donors — we just don't have the expertise or the systems."
"We know we could be raising more from our major donors — we just don't have the expertise or the systems."
So we work alongside you to build a major gifts engine customized to your organization: the strategy, the calendar, the approach, the systems.
check_boxYou're a fit if
You're a fit if
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You raise roughly $300K–$3M from individual donors
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check
One to three people are responsible for all of fundraising
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check
You're down a person — or about to be
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check
Someone announced a goal and you thought "I'm not sure how we get there from here"
We're probably not right if
We're probably not right if
clear
You already have a full development team with specialists
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clear
You raise almost everything from grants or events
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clear
You want a vendor to take instructions, not bring a system
Most organizations are closer to a fundraising breakthrough than they think.
Most organizations are closer to a fundraising breakthrough than they think.
You have donors who trust you. You have a cause people care about. What's usually missing is a clear map of the best way forward — and someone to help execute it. We call it pent-up giving, and after 30 years we've learned it's almost always there.
STEVEN SCREEN, CO-FOUNDER
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You don't have to figure this out alone
You don't have to figure this out alone
HOW IT WORKS
You stay in control. We carry the load
You stay in control. We carry the load
You keep your donors and the final say on everything that goes out. We bring the specialists and run the rhythm that keeps donors giving year after year:
Think of us as your sherpa. We've been up this mountain hundreds of times — we know the route, where the weather turns, and where people usually quit.
With Consulting, we walk it beside you. With Done For You, we carry the bags too.
JIM SHAPIRO, CO-FOUNDER
01
Ask
Ask
Appeals and emails that move donors to act.
02
Thank
Thank
Gratitude that makes donors feel it.
03
Report
Report
Proof their gift made a difference.
04
Repeat
Repeat
A steady cadence that compounds.
For Done For You clients, over a year we brainstorm, write and design up to 10 pieces of Fundraising.
You brainstorm with us, provide information, approve our work, and hit “send.” We handle the other 90%
You brainstorm with us, provide information, approve our work, and hit “send.” We handle the other 90%
THE FAIR QUESTIONS
Why not just handle it another way?
Why not just handle it another way?
"Couldn't we hire a fundraiser instead?"
"Couldn't we hire a fundraiser instead?"
You could — and the search takes three to six months, during which you're losing ground. Then the person you hire will be a specialist in 2 of the 5 areas you need, and will likely move on in two years. You'd start the search again, and much of your fundraising program needs to be rebuilt.
"What about a fractional fundraiser?"
"What about a fractional fundraiser?"
A fractional fundraiser is still one person — just less of them. It solves the cost problem but still doesn't give you all the expertise you need: writing and design and major donor strategy and data and segmentation and events. You need a fractional department, not a fraction of a person.
"Couldn't we just handle it ourselves?"
"Couldn't we just handle it ourselves?"
Most organizations do, because it usually doesn’t feel like a crisis. But it shows up when the appeal goes out two months late, the newsletter doesn’t go out at all, and the major donors relationships that don’t get built. Reassigning someone usually moves the problem instead of solving it: now two jobs are being half-done. Nothing breaks, but not as much money comes in. No one sees the fundraising that didn’t get done, but it holds you back.
PROOF
What fifteen years of doing only this adds up to
What fifteen years of doing only this adds up to
Every year, across the organizations we serve:
200
200
appeals written and designed
600
600
e-appeals written
100
100
money-raising newsletters produced
7
7
major donor systems built
Multiply all that by 15 years of learning from results and seeing what works best.
Nobody gets great fundraising doing it four times a year
Nobody gets great fundraising doing it four times a year
That isn’t a knock on your team – it’s just reps. Thousands of reps, plus feedback, is what separates work that’s fine from work that retains and upgrades a LOT of donors.
Direct response writers
Direct response writers
Appeals and emails, written by people who write them every week.
Designers
Designers
Packages built to be opened, read, and responded to.
Major gift strategists
Major gift strategists
Portfolios, plans, and a system your team can actually run.
Data & segmentation
Data & segmentation
The right message to the right donors, with the right ask amount.
Fundraising strategy
Fundraising strategy
A data-driven plan, for all your segments.
At a large organization, those are five different jobs. You get all five.
CLIENT STORIES
Organizations like yours, raising more
Organizations like yours, raising more
Same size. Same constraints. Different results.
+500%
+500%
Vine Maple Place
Year-over-year growth over five years, supporting moms and kids facing homelessness — and still climbing.
Read story →
Mass + Major
Mass + Major
Holt International
We guided both their mass-donor and major-donor fundraising. What happened next was extraordinary.
Read story →
<12 mo
<12 mo
Fort Wayne Children's Zoo
Short-staffed, then raising more, acquiring new donors, and growing the donor file inside a year.
Read story →
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You don't have to figure this out alone
You don't have to figure this out alone
MEET OUR FOUNDERS
The two people who built this
The two people who built this
Better Fundraising was founded by two fundraisers who spent the first half of their careers inside large national organizations — and the second half helping small nonprofits save years of time and grow faster.
Jim Shapiro
Jim Shapiro
CO-FOUNDER
Jim is the fundraising coach you've always wanted — the proven sherpa who can get you to the top of the mountain. He has 30 years of experience raising money, including serving as VP of Development for a global $100 million nonprofit.
He co-founded Better Fundraising to bring that level of expertise to small- and medium-sized organizations that could never hire it full time.
He co-founded Better Fundraising to bring that level of expertise to small- and medium-sized organizations that could never hire it full time.
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— Former VP of Development, $100M global nonprofit
— 30 years raising money for organizations of every size
— High school football coach in his community
— Married, three kids, three grandkids, and a dog named Jovi
Steven Screen
Steven Screen
CO-FOUNDER
Steven has been fundraising for more than 30 years. He spent the first half of his career helping large national nonprofits grow their donor files through direct mail, TV, and radio — and has spent the second half bringing those practices to small- and medium-sized charities across the U.S. and Canada.
His goal is to radically increase the fundraising capacity of small nonprofits. He shares what he's learning twice a week on the Better Fundraising blog.
His goal is to radically increase the fundraising capacity of small nonprofits. He shares what he's learning twice a week on the Better Fundraising blog.
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— Past winner, "Direct Mail Package of the Year"
— Inventor of the Ask, Thank, Report, Repeat rhythm
— Co-host, the "Fundraising Is Beautiful" podcast
— Lives on an island outside Seattle with his wife and three kids
60
60
Sixty years of fundraising between them — and neither one is going anywhere.
Sixty years of fundraising between them — and neither one is going anywhere.
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Get 30 minutes with Jim, free
Get 30 minutes with Jim, free
WHAT WE DO
Ways to work with us
Ways to work with us
Most organizations make us “part of their fundraising department” and then grow from there. And when bigger projects come across your desk, we have specialists for that, too.
MOST POPULAR
Done For You
We write and design your letters, newsletters and email, plus build you a killer annual plan, plus help with your major donor fundraising.
Fundraising Consulting
Already have a writer and designer in-house? We coach your team and review the work instead of doing it.
Major Gifts Engine
A six-month program to install a proven major donor system: portfolios, goals, and a plan for every donor
Capital Campaign
We guide your team through a campaign start to finish — from assessing donor potential to funding the project.
QUESTIONS
Before you book
Do you take over our donor relationships?
No. Your donors are yours, and you have the final say on everything that goes out. We do the work behind the scenes; you approve every step.
What do we still have to do?
Pull mailing lists, share stories and information from your programs, and approve the work. We handle the other 90% — writing, design, ask amounts, and print-ready files.
We already have someone who writes our appeals.
Most of our clients do. The question usually isn't whether she can write — it's whether writing appeals is the best use of her week. When we take the production work, her time goes back to major donors, events, and the things only she can do.
We're not sure we're big enough for this.
If one or two people are responsible for all of your fundraising, and you raise roughly $300K–$3M from individual donors, you're exactly who this is built for.
What if we want to bring it in-house later?
Good. We teach as we go, and plenty of clients eventually run the system themselves. We want the growth that makes sense for you.
How fast can you start?
This month. A hire takes three to six months to find and six more to ramp up.
What if we just keep doing what we're doing?
Then nothing breaks — which is exactly why this is easy to put off. The cost shows up quietly: the appeal that never got sent, the newsletter that went out late, the major donors nobody called. There's no line item for the fundraising you didn't do.
START HERE
See how a fundraising department could take your nonprofit to the next level
See how a fundraising department could take your nonprofit to the next level
Spend 30 minutes with Jim mapping your fundraising and where the gaps are. You’ll leave with advice from an expert, and knowing whether hiring us is a good idea for your nonprofit.
No cost, no obligation — and you'll talk to a founder, not a salesperson.
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Helping small- and medium-sized nonprofits raise more money — and build the fundraising department they can't yet hire.
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PO Box 1563, Edmonds WA 98020 · 206-799-4762 · info@betterfundraising.com
© 2026 The Better Fundraising Co.