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FUNDRAISING SERVICES
Growing strong, sustainable giving

With a deep understanding of philanthropy, our consultants bring a wide array of field experience from across sectors.

We work shoulder-to-shoulder with you and your staff, tailoring our approach to your capacity, needs, and goals for the future.

ASSESSMENT
& PLANNING

Re-envision your fundraising approach with expert insights

GRANT WRITING
& RESEARCH

Hire professional, scalable grant management to unlock institutional funding

ANNUAL FUND & COMMUNICATIONS

Build a cohesive donor comms strategy with effective, realistic tools

MAJOR & PLANNED GIFTS

Sharpen your approach to major donor management and transformational gifts

Development Assessment & Planning

Need a review and strategic refresh of your fundraising efforts? Our team provides expert analysis and recommendations covering:

Advanced data analytics and donor wealth screening
Donor communications and annual giving
Major donor portfolio and planned giving
Grants program, plus research
Development operations & database use

Development-Assessment

Grant Writing & Research

Do you need help from professional researchers and writers? Ostara's grants team delivers with our unique approach:

Research of funding opportunities using best-in-class tools
Grants pipeline tool to manage cultivation moves and deadlines
Sharpen your impact metrics and case for support
An efficient process for LOIs, proposals and reports
Scalable services, whether for a single grant or a monthly retainer to suit your needs

Grant-Writing

Annual Fund & Donor Comms

Is your ongoing donor communications strategy built to perform?Ostara can help you:

Create a donor journey to inspire, acquire, and retain donors
Sharpen your case for support messaging framework
Ensure social media, email and ad strategy work in harmony
Build a schedule and templates to gain efficiency
Ensure your website and donation forms drive frictionless, inspired giving

Annual-Fund

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Major & Planned Gifts

Have you broken through to your highest capacity donors? Our career experts will:

Coach you in best practices to build relationships
Attune your case for major gifts and legacy giving
Wealth screen and research your prospects
Create a portfolio and moves management process
Involve your board and others to map relationships
Fill gaps in Planned Giving knowledge to increase estate, stock, and complex gifts

Major-Gifts

Case Studies

Washington Family Engagement

Washington Family Engagement (WAFE) is a nonprofit dedicated to teaching parents and children of all ages how to become leaders in their schools and communities. When WAFE approached Ostara, the organization was almost entirely volunteer-run, with one full-time paid employee and very little time to dedicate to fundraising. While their community greatly needed more of their impactful services, they did not know where or how to start raising new funds.

In December 2018, Ostara analyzed WAFE’s list of grant prospects and then conducted a thorough search to expand the list and prioritize those that were well-aligned with WAFE’s work. Afterward, we created an action-oriented and realistic grant work plan for the year that was linked to concrete revenue targets.

Over the next year, Ostara managed grants according to the work plan and helped the WAFE team refine their language and strategy along the way. As they sought grants, they worked together to build an organizational budget for the board to approve, design new projects, and approach new funders. Through this process, they identified ways to clearly communicate WAFE’s programs and facilitate effective relationship-building with funders.

This work led to strong fundraising results. Between 2018 and 2019, WAFE more than tripled their grant revenue, exceeded their revenue target, and secured five new funders. With this growth, WAFE was able to begin paying its formerly-volunteer Executive Director for the first time, moved into its first office space, and began to think about programmatic growth goals for the next several years. More importantly, they now have a sustainable fundraising mechanism in place to fuel that growth.

Bloedel Reserve

Located on Bainbridge Island in Puget Sound, Bloedel Reserve is a 140-acre preserve dedicated to enriching people’s lives through a premier public garden of natural land and designed Pacific Northwest landscapes.

In 2018, The Reserve had recently developed a Master Plan, was midway through a $25M campaign, and without a full development team. Ostara was engaged to provide a development assessment, interim development leadership and campaign management, as well as development hiring counsel. Then in 2021 after the pandemic and another leadership transition, Ostara was invited back to engage in a similar capacity to advance a refreshed vision for the future.

Ostara took a holistic approach to Bloedel Reserve’s multiple goals and evolving needs. We updated our assessment of their development program and campaign plans, including a community survey, a facilitated retreat, and refreshing the campaign case for support. We also partnered to recruit, select and onboard a new Director of Development, while stepping-in with grant writing, interim Development program leadership and development planning during the vacancy.

Because of Ostara’s long relationship with the Bloedel Reserve community and our deep bench of varied expertise, we seamlessly partnered with the board and staff, leveraging 4 different consultants to advance multiple objectives as the project evolved. As a promising new Director of Development was placed, they were able to inherit a refreshed and in-tact team, annual plan, and grants program. Since then, Ostara has shifted to leadership coaching and grants services, and is committed to supporting The Reserve’s future success in whatever capacity is needed next.

Edmonds Food Bank

The Edmonds Food Bank is dedicated to alleviating food insecurity in the Edmonds community by providing food assistance through their mobile food distributions, home delivery and online order programs. In 2022, the Edmonds Food Bank engaged Ostara to provide capital campaign feasibility and planning services to assist with their plan to construct a new facility to meet the growing need for food assistance.

During the feasibility assessment, it was determined that the food bank needed to build out their fundraising program infrastructure prior to embarking on a capital campaign and in 2023, Ostara was invited back to engage in an interim development leadership role to shape the food bank’s fundraising program and strategy.

After conducting a development assessment, Ostara determined that we needed to lead and support the food bank through several areas of direct fundraising work to lay the foundation for future program and campaign success. Ostara partnered with the food bank to develop the fundraising program and program infrastructure, provided leadership and ground support for creating and implementing the fund development plan and managed donor cultivation and solicitation activities.

Throughout our time serving as interim program leadership, Ostara successfully created and launched a fully functional development program with the SOPs and tools necessary to set the incoming team up for success. Ostara led the recruitment, hiring, and onboarding processes for the newly created Marketing and Communications Manager, Director of Development, and Individual Giving Manager positions. Ostara managed the strategy, content creation, and the execution for multiple fundraising campaigns as well as the food bank’s first annual impact report.

FamilyWorks Seattle

FamilyWorks operates a food bank and family resource center in North Seattle. They partner with families to alleviate food insecurity and ensure they have resources and support to overcome systemic barriers to equity, build stable communities, and thrive.

In 2022, FamilyWorks was beginning work on a new strategic plan, which included a vision for a new Family Resource Center facility and renovations to their existing foodbank. At the time, they needed both campaign planning support as part of this process, as well as interim Development leadership.

Ostara had an existing relationship with FamilyWorks from some prior planning and facilitation work. With our expertise in annual fundraising, capital campaigns and the food security sector, we customized a team and approach that met their needs for both launching their vision and sustaining their fundraising program and team. Together, we soon transitioned to campaign counsel as they embarked on their most ambitious capital campaign ever, which included new and renovated facilities, expanding critical programming and boosting their investment in staff.

The vision is becoming a reality in phases under excellent leadership as the new Family Resource Center opened its doors in 2023 and fundraising accelerated from public, foundation and private funders. Food Bank renovations are underway in 2024, and the momentum of the campaign has delivered new opportunities to grow their goal and impact in the community. As is always Ostara’s goal, the staff and volunteer team’s capacity to fundraise has also increased, which will ensure financial success through the campaign and well beyond.

West Seattle Helpline

Established in 1989, West Seattle Helpline’s (WSH’s) mission is to stop homelessness before it starts by supporting our neighbors who are facing an emergency or unexpected hardship.

In 2016, West Seattle Helpline (WSH) came to Ostara with a need to better define their fundraising strategy through grants. Ostara began work to identify grant prospects, create a tailored grant strategy, and compose compelling narratives that aligned with the organization’s mission, programs, and staff capacity.

From 2016 to 2019, West Seattle Helpline increased their number of secured grants by 500%. With the help of this additional funding, WSH was able to increase their staff from 0.75 to 3.5 full-time employees, double their pool of volunteers, and most importantly, help prevent homelessness for over 1,000 additional people and children each year.

In early 2019, Ostara facilitated conversations between West Seattle Helpline and their long-time partner West Seattle Food Bank; the two organizations came together to actively explore how to better utilize resources and programs to best serve their shared community. Through this process they identified a significant service crossover, a strong community focus, and a desire to increase capacity, leading to the decision to merge the two organizations.

In 2020, Ostara continues to shepherd the success of WSH’s grant program by solidifying a narrative and grant strategy that encompasses both organization’s histories, newly-merged mission, and ongoing programs.

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