How we work together
Services
Two ways to work together. An audit to see where your growth is really coming from, and coaching to make the change actually stick. Most start with the first and stay for the second.
The Creative Growth Audit
Where your growth is really coming from.
This is where we start. I come in, spend time with you and your team, look at the work you're putting out, and read enough of your numbers to see where your growth is really coming from. Then I tell you what I find: what's working, what isn't, and the few things worth changing first.
The whole audit comes back to one question. Is your creative bringing in people who don't know you yet, or is it mostly working on the people who already give? A lot of organizations have drifted toward the second without meaning to, and it's hard to see from the inside. For the people you're reaching, giving is an act of faith, not a transaction, and the creative should treat it that way.
Here's what I look at
- 01
The work itself. Your ads, your content, your campaigns, and whether it's the kind of thing that reaches and moves new people or really only lands with people who already know you.
- 02
Your brand. Whether there's a clear idea behind everything you make, or whether each campaign starts over from scratch.
- 03
The balance between brand and performance. How much you're spending to convert people right now versus building the awareness that brings people in later.
- 04
How the work gets made. How you brief it, who makes it, how you decide whether it's any good, and whether good creative survives a tight quarter.
- 05
Your growth, as evidence. Where new donors are actually coming from, just enough to back up what I'm seeing in the work.
What this isn’t
I'm not a data analyst, and this isn't an audit of your CRM or your donor database. I won't be in spreadsheets telling you who lapsed and who to send a thank-you card. If we do need to go deeper on the numbers, I'll work alongside someone who does that for a living. My job is the creative and the growth it drives, not the database.
What you walk away with
A working session where we go through it together, a written summary you can share, and a short list of the most important things to change. You'll also have something you can take to your board, which usually matters most, since the board is often the real hurdle.
I scope each audit to the organization, since no two are sitting in the same place.
Coaching
How the change actually sticks.
Most people don't want a report and a handshake. They want help actually doing the thing. So the audit usually leads here.
Coaching is the ongoing version of the work. I stay on and help you put the changes into practice. I give direction on the creative, look at the work as your team or your agency makes it, help you write briefs that get you something better than generic, and put the standards and habits in place that let you keep making good work after I'm gone. And I'm someone to think out loud with, including when you have to go back to the board and defend the budget.
What I do here
- 01
Give direction on the creative without making it myself. You and your team still own the work.
- 02
Review what's being produced, so you can tell the difference between work that's building something and work that's just filling the calendar.
- 03
Help you brief the people doing the work, so you get back what you actually asked for.
- 04
Put a simple system in place: a clear bar for the work, and a way of making it, so the quality holds when you're busy or someone moves on.
- 05
Be a sounding board for the calls only you can make.
What this isn’t
I'm not coming in to run your team or take it over, I'm not your production studio, and I'm not your analyst. I help you lead the work better. I don't replace you or do it for you.
This is ongoing, and like the audit, it's scoped to what you need and where you are.
The two fit together on purpose. The audit tells you where you stand, and coaching is how it actually changes. Most people start with the audit and stay on from there, and that's the version I'd point you toward. But you can do the audit on its own if that's all you need right now.
Tell me whereyou're stuck.
If growth has stalled and you can't quite say why, start here. No pitch, no deck. I'll read it myself and tell you honestly whether I can help.
Not for a quick fundraising bump this quarter, and not for a pair of hands to execute someone else's brief.