For nonprofits

Build the organization underneath the mission.

The program, the budget, the fundraising plan, the measurement, and the weekly operating rhythm should tell the same story. We build them together, then stay close enough to make the system run.

The nonprofit build

Six pieces that have to agree with each other.

The spine of the work. Not every engagement runs all six, and the order rarely changes.

01

Organization brain

Gather the truth first. Programs, history, language, numbers, decisions, funding, people, constraints. One place the rest of the work draws from.

GatheredPrograms · History · Language · Numbers · Decisions · Funding · People · Constraints
02

Program plan

Who is served, what is delivered, how, by whom, at what depth, and what success means. Written so a funder, a board member, and a new hire read the same thing.

The program plan is the bank. Everything else is a withdrawal.

Program planStructure shown
Who we serve
What we deliver
Depth and dosage
Who delivers it
What success means
03

Three-year budget

The financial model is built from the program plan, priced across three years, so you can build for three years of runway and donors can commit beyond one.

The budget is the program plan with prices on it.

Three-year budgetStructure shown
LineY1Y2Y3
Program delivery
People
Tools and space
Cost of fundraising
Revenue needed
04

Fundraising build

Every revenue number needs a build behind it. We turn the target into a gift table, real names, a cultivation plan, the ask, the follow-up, and stewardship.

Gift tableStructure shown
LevelGiftsProspects
Lead gift
Major gifts
Mid level
Grants
Community and events
Revenue goalGift tableNamesCultivationAskFollow-upStewardship
05

Operations and measurement

A weekly operating rhythm, finance visibility, named ownership, and a measurement framework that produces evidence instead of adjectives. Kendra leads the measurement. Shannon holds the finance and compliance side.

06

Reps and handoff

Practice the conversations. Run the pipeline. Hold the meetings. Adjust the workflow where it catches. Then the organization owns the system, the files, and the rhythm.

The thesis

The people inside a struggling nonprofit care deeply. What breaks is the infrastructure around that care: the plan, the money, the follow-up, the reporting. Build those well and the mission gets the energy back.

Engagement shapes

Sized to the work in front of you.

We scope against the problem in front of you.

Focused buildOne defined piece: a program plan, a funding model, a measurement system, or the fundraising architecture.
Full organization buildProgram, budget, fundraising, measurement, operations, and the implementation to make all of it run.
Embedded leadershipWe step into the work for a defined season, build the system while it is being used, develop the leader beside us, and hand it back.
Funder-sponsored capacityA funder pays for the build, and the grantee owns the system at the end of it. More on that below.

Measurement

Make the impact visible.

Kendra leads this, so the program model, the budget, and the evidence line up. Five or six indicators you can gather inside the work you are already doing, on a reporting rhythm your team can keep.

Impact frameworkStructure shown
01Program logicWhat changes, and how
02OutcomesThe change worth naming
03IndicatorsHow you know
04CollectionWho gathers it, and when
05Reporting rhythmWhat a funder reads, and how often

More capacity for a small team

Build more capacity around the core.

Once the program, the budget, and the fundraising system are clear, we can build the digital work around them. Internal tools, the public site and the back end behind it, grant workflows, donor briefs, and reporting that draws on your own context.

Knowledge workProgram context to a grant first draft. Donor history to a meeting brief. A board update from the week's notes.
Public site and back endProgram pages, registrations, and applications on the front. Submissions, records, content, and reporting on the side your team uses.
Where judgment staysA person reads it, edits it, and decides. Nobody has to become a prompt engineer, and nothing goes out unread.

We build it. Your team can run it.

For funders

Fund a stronger organization.

Sometimes the grantee knows what it needs and does not have the operating budget to build it. Funders can sponsor Sobo Consulting directly to strengthen the program model, fundraising system, measurement, finance, or operating infrastructure around an organization they already believe in.

Funders can pay for capacity building. Every organization we work with also leaves with a proposal it can send to its own biggest supporter, and we help build the ask.

Talk with us
Funder
Capacity buildProgram plan · Budget · Fundraising · Measurement · Operating system · Leadership support
The grantee owns the systemFiles, tools, and rhythm stay with them

Looking for a cohort format?

The Greenhouse

Several organizations running the same build alongside each other, with reps every week.

See The Greenhouse

Work with us

Tell us what you are trying to make work.

How the fundraising runs today, what the plan says, and what your team is carrying. A few sentences are enough.