Help me use my powers for good. I've had enough evil for now.

March 29, 2008 4:09 AM

What are the best places to work as a consultant for nonprofit and/or charitable organizations?

I work as a management consultant at what I can only vaguely refer to as a major global firm. I’m a few years out of business school, but still young enough to have a long career ahead of me. I’ve worked hard, made good contacts and am really happy with the income and accomplishments I’ve amassed since I’ve been here. But I’ve recently been feeling disappointed that I’m not doing something more “meaningful” (for want of a better word) with my skills, my training, and my job. So I’ve decided to look into moving jobs, and try to find a new position doing consulting for the nonprofit world. I love the kind of work I do; I’d just really like to work for clients who are doing valuable things for the world.

But the problem is that, for all of my experience in the private sector, I really don’t know anything about the biggest and best firms that offer nonprofit consulting services. Google helped me find
http://www.putnamcic.com/
and
http://www.groundspring.org/
...but that’s about it.

Does anyone out there know who the major players are in the world of nonprofit consulting? Any advice about where I ought to start making connections before I begin firing out resumes?

Looking forward to hearing what you guys think - and thanks for helping me keep my identity, my city, and my firm confidential. No one knows I'm planning to leave, and I'd really love to avoid getting "outed" before it's absolutely necessary!

posted by anonymous to work & money (9 comments total)

I've worked for 2 major non-profits in NYC for a total of 7 years. All of the consultants I've worked with (and it's been quite a few), have been independent or worked for very small firms. Even when is was working on a 300 million dollar campaign, the primary company we worked with was a 4 person office out of MA.

I'm not saying that there aren't major firms out there, but it seems that they aren't necessarily to go-to non-profits need help. Usually organizations will network with their peers to find consultants that have a familiarity with their type of work. Also the majority of consultants that I've worked with have started out in the non-profit world.

And if you've never worked for a non-profit, I think you'll be surprised by how different they are run from the corporate world.
posted by kimdog at 5:54 AM on March 29, 2008

Look at The Bridgespan Group, which was founded by Bain for exactly the reasons you're talking about.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 7:44 AM on March 29, 2008

I am a consultant for nonprofits, primarily in the realm of affordable housing, although the rest of the company works with folks who do everything from the environment to the arts. As kimdog said, most of the other firms in the field are pretty small. Our office is 15 people, and I've gotten the sense that we're bigger than most other company's that do this. Nonprofit consultants also tend to be local, since building a knowledge base of foundations (and contacts within them) is crucial to resource development and most foundations have a geographic focus. So, where you are (if staying where you are is important) may impact your choices.

I have to go to little league practice now, but will try to check back on this thread later to see if I can add more.
posted by qldaddy at 9:25 AM on March 29, 2008

Nonprofit consultants tend to specialize in certain areas: fundraising, marketing/branding, student recruitment, diversity are a few examples. Most nonprofits don't have the resources to bring in consultants to fix everything; they often rely on their volunteer leadership board members to provide overall strategic direction and hire outsiders to target specific areas of weakness or opportunity. If you can identify a particular area of expertise that you can bring to a nonprofit, that may help your search. Also agree that nonprofits tend to hire local - if for no other reason than to not have to cover the cost of travel for the consultant.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 9:44 AM on March 29, 2008

In contrast to the smaller groups mentioned above, you might look at what PA Consulting side is doing (linking to their industry profiles; you may be particularly interested in International development or Sustainable tourism, but a lot of the other themes will also run into the non-profit/social circles). Though clearly their clients are generally bigger and have deeper pockets, PA does a lot of work on program evaluation at the international scale (e.g. in Central Asia) and with more domestic proejcts (e.g. education policy or housing policy in low-income US neighborhoods).

The people I know who work there are happy, and even at an upper level, they are, I would venture to say, aware of the world in which they're working. I thought it was pretty cool that they did a full carbon footprint and improvement strategy for their headquarters building in London.
posted by whatzit at 9:33 PM on March 29, 2008

Are you asking what part of the country, which part of nfp, or specific companies?

This is an idea I have toyed with as well, but after working in the not for profit sector for decades-- is there any reason not to seek employment actually in a not-for-profit organization? I'm a little put off by the idea of a 20-30something "consultant" who has apparently never worked in this industry. Educate me-- are consultants basically project-managers for understaffed organizations, or are you actually looking to provide advice? I've never really understood this (I work in small and mid-sized arts groups, where outsiders coming in to tell us how to do things right is one of the crosses we bear--they drop in, tell us a bunch of stuff that we already know and might actually be doing, and then trip on their merry way). Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is, what about looking for work in a not-for-profit field that you are interested in, which might also have the effect of putting you in contact with the kind of consulting firms you are seeking. This puts off that consulting gig a few years, but would also give you actual background knowledge in the field. (Not trying to snark here, just offering a view from the other side.)

In Chicago, the best consultanting firm I've worked with is TerMolen, Watkins and Brandt. You might also try resources at the Donors' Forum (online) or its equilvalent in your city.
posted by nax at 6:06 AM on March 30, 2008

You can swing on by this place--they have the bonus of actually doing something worthy and worthwhile for humanity/society while also being a for-profit company (although on the lower side of the paying scale, if you know what I mean...)

They actually do the data/research for the "100 Best Companies to Work for" article...

posted by Ham_On_Rye at 6:04 PM on April 2, 2008

Oops...the link would help:


posted by Ham_On_Rye at 6:06 PM on April 2, 2008

Ok...it's www.greatplacetowork.com

Sheesh.
posted by Ham_On_Rye at 6:06 PM on April 2, 2008