Fair Budget Coalition hired Spark Point to help us build our foundation grants pipeline and do grant writing. I was optimistic, but realistic, in my expectations of what we would achieve. Once the pandemic hit, we like many other small organizations feared the financial repercussions to our organization and our ability to secure new funding in the midst of a global crisis. However, Spark Point went above and beyond for us. The results we got blew our expectations out of the water. Not only did Spark Point help Fair Budget Coalition raise more than $165,000 in six months, their team guided me through a number of conversations with new foundation funders that gave me much greater confidence in my fundraising skills and ability to ask for the funding the organization needs for its work. The project had a high return on investment - both financially and operationally. We are now on the precipice of onboarding a second new hire within the past six months, doubling our staff size and capacity!

When Safe Shores was experiencing staffing changes in our development team, I reached out to Spark Point for support navigating the transition. Their thoughtful and systematic approach helped keep us on-track during our hiring search, and they helped us consolidate and organize all of our foundation deadlines and materials to set us up for continued success. They took time to listen respectfully, quickly understood Safe Shores’ mission, and worked seamlessly and calmly to manage deadlines. Just as importantly, we were able to build a strong rapport in a short period of time, making our work together productive and even enjoyable!

At a time when we are in most need to diversify our donors, Spark Point did a great job at understanding the specific needs, values and priorities of CHANGE. We are incredibly appreciative of the professionalism and dedication shown by Spark Point's team- from developing a list of prospects, to writing letters of interests and proposals for CHANGE to pursue with prospect donors, to thorough follow up on tasks.

I love Spark Point. They are nimble and results-oriented. They were able to look at the whole picture—the people, the programming, and the day to day cycle of having multiple people come through the doors -- and see where we had opportunities to make even more of a difference. They made me feel emboldened, renewed, and that I could do more for the community.

In working with Spark Point, we gained a relationship with a team that understands our mission and wanted to use their skills and expertise to further that mission. I felt that Spark Point was invested in our work, even though they weren't here full time, and they are approachable, enthusiastic, and professional. Ultimately, we didn't just win a big grant, we gained a partner that we could run things by and a new level of knowledge.

Whitney Brimfield is an excellent proposal writer, prospector, and strategist for approaches to institutional funders, and I know that many clients love and value her work. She undertook a complex diagnostic project for NYU's engineering school—identifying academic and programmatic areas where we might have potential fundraising success with foundations and corporations, and developing approaches for each field. I recommend her highly, and just this week gave her name to someone looking for a great consultant!