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Services

We are your partner in creating more impact.

Our services are designed for nonprofit organizations & social enterprises operating across the globe in a wide array of issue areas & various life stages.

Smarter Good is a global professional services firm for social sector organizations. Our diverse team is well experienced in all things non-profit and we’re here to be your partner in achieving your true bottom line: greater social impact.

Fundraising & Prospect Research

In addition to assisting you throughout the entire fundraising process — from research to drafting proposals to reporting — we make sure you build long-term, impactful partnerships with funders along the way.

In fact, we believe in strategic partnerships so much that we even wrote a book about it!

Learn more about Unicorns Unite >>

Together, we create a strategic approach to funder cultivation and engagement. Our team manages the activity and deadlines through a Moves Action Plan (MAP).

Market map: We map how other organizations in your issue area are funded.

Qualification and Prioritization: We develop a rubric to help qualify and prioritize potential funders that best fit your mission and your needs today and tomorrow.

Disqualification: We save you (and funders) precious time by taking no and low-fit funders off your pipeline.

Connectivity: We map connections and use your network to connect to funders.

Cultivation: We make sure cultivation happens like clockwork. We craft meeting talking points, conference prep notes, and tee up content to keep in touch.

Fundraising Content: We draft proposals, concept notes, LOIs, and emails. You do the last yard to incorporate your voice and style.

Success Stories: We do first person interviews with those who benefit from your work and write success stories that bring your mission to life.

Deadlines and Details: We craft and manage production schedules, prep attachments, do proposal uploads and never miss a deadline.

Reports and Updates: We draft content used to maintain and deepen relationships with funders.

Finance & Accounting

We combine years of social sector accounting and bookkeeping experience with personal attention and responsiveness, allowing you to better manage and plan your organization’s finances. We are knowledgeable about the accounting and reporting demands of restricted funding, and can help organizations at all stages of development to improve their accounting and finance systems.

We establish systems for managing accounts payable, accounts receivable, monthly bank reconciliation, and general ledger maintenance.
We prepare financial reporting documents in various formats such as financial statements, reports, analyses for management and board meetings, and donor-related reporting.
We set up and manage payroll systems. In addition, we communicate with employees for payroll queries and distribute W2s to employees at the end of the calendar year.
  • Annual budget process and tools support
  • Audit preparation and audit support
  • 990 Prep and annual tax compliance
  • New accounting system implementation/systems migration

Marketing & Communications

We can help you design marketing assets that will help you reach your target audience and inspire them to action.

Define your strategy to captivate target audiences and funders alike with a unified brand voice.

  • Needs Assessment
  • Communications Strategy
  • Message Toolkit (key messages, FAQs, cheat sheet, etc)

We get to know your organization and create a branding toolkit that speaks your truth.

  • Logo Design
  • Brand Styleguide

Extend your brand identity with creative assets designed for both print and digital platforms including:

  • Business Cards
  • Brochures
  • Stationery
  • Print and Web Banners
  • Infographics
  • Email Templates
  • Social Media Graphics
  • Powerpoint/Keynote Presentations
  • Annual Reports
We bring your organization online with a mobile responsive website or landing page.

Editorial & Design Support

Social change means frequently and strategically communicating to donors, program participants and prospective and current team and board members. Let us help you make your content shine through our editorial and design services, including: 

  • Proofreading and copy-editing documents of all kinds: Proposals, two-pagers, presentations, toolkits, program materials, employee manuals, board reports, etc.
  • Editing content for clarity, persuasiveness and conciseness. We are experts at editing proposals to highlight strong alignment and to meet tight character and word counts.
  • Formatting content into an attractive piece through thoughtful editing and light graphic design. We can take your final draft and make it look and feel truly ready to go.
  • Editing with instructive comments that helps your team to upgrade their writing, fundraising and communication skills and knowledge.

Ask us about our monthly Editorial & Design Support retainer service that provides you with a dedicated editorial and design team and ensures that all of your content and communications are sharp, professional and effective. 

Strategic Planning

Entrepreneurial organizations need strong strategies that will lead to greater impact and sustainability. The challenge is to create a strategic plan that is realistic, flexible enough to adapt to an ever-changing world, including one affected by COVID-19, and that doesn’t take months to create at significant cost. We have supported nearly 100 organizations to raise funds to execute on their strategic plans and we have written countless reports about the results—and misses—against the goals in strategic plans. We know the core scale strategies that work, and that don’t.

Our senior team members who have led nonprofit organizations and businesses are available to work with your organization, leadership, and board to create a nimble, agile, inspiring, and achievable strategic plan, at affordable rates.

Grantmaking Services

We believe that impact happens best when nonprofits and funders build long-term partnerships rooted in equality, low power dynamics, and respect. 

In fact, we believe so strongly that equal partnerships make for epic impact that we wrote a book about it!

Learn more about Unicorns Unite: How Nonprofits and Foundations can build EPIC  Partnerships >>

We offer services to foundations to help them achieve more inclusive and equitable grantmaking and partnerships, including:

  • Screening grant applications from the nonprofit operating perspective to be sure good organizations are not passed over. 
  • Auditing and editing grant application processes to be more equitable and inclusive for all applicants and to take less time and effort for both nonprofits and grantmakers.
  • Delivering direct, honest, respectful feedback on grant requests to nonprofits in a way that helps them strengthen their programs and fundraising efforts.
  • Interviewing applicants to get their feedback to make processes more efficient and inclusive.
  • Reviewing and evaluating strategic initiatives, program areas and guidelines for inclusiveness. 
  • Reviewing and editing communications, policies and practices of the foundation to weed out high power dynamics, and build in inclusiveness, respect and equal partnership.

Customized Research

Smarter Good’s customized research projects pair your goals with our specialized research teams. Past research projects included mapping expansion landscapes and locations, issue area research and deep dives, and research for talent searches.

Let us know your research needs and we’ll craft a project for you.

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