Fundraising Operations for Nonprofits
Your fundraising
sous chef.
Good Soup handles the behind-the-scenes fundraising operations: the CRM, the data, the systems. So your team can get back to building relationships and raising money.
Meet Dena
I've been in your shoes.
I spent years as a fundraiser, working my way from development associate to director. I've been the person staring at a CRM that doesn't make sense, manually pulling revenue data from multiple places, and building workarounds because nobody had time to fix the real problem.
Strategy is the recipe. Operations is the kitchen. Most teams are great cooks working in a kitchen nobody ever set up properly.
Along the way, I started building solutions for my team. I got deep into systems design, built out reporting, connected platforms that weren't talking to each other, and learned how to turn messy data into something a fundraising team could actually use.
That's what Good Soup is. Because I've sat in the same seat as your team, I speak the language. I know what fundraisers need from their systems, and I know how to build it so it actually gets used. Whether you're on Salesforce, Bloomerang, Little Green Light, or something else entirely, I'll meet you where you are.
Where are you right now?
Every organization is in a different place. Start with what sounds most like you.
"We have a system, but something's off and we can't figure out where to start."
You need an outside expert to look under the hood, tell you honestly what's wrong, and hand you a clear plan for what to fix first.
The Pantry Audit"We don't have a real system yet. Donor relationships live in spreadsheets and people's heads."
You need the whole foundation built: the right tools chosen, set up around how you actually fundraise, with your team trained and ready to use it.
The Mise en Place"We have a system. It's not doing what we need it to do."
You need a defined project to fix it, whether that's rebuilding one piece or overhauling the whole thing. Scoped, priced, and done.
The Recipe"Our team is good at fundraising. The behind-the-scenes systems work keeps falling to people who shouldn't have to own it."
When operations work lands on your fundraisers' desks, something gives. The Sous Chef takes it off their plate, permanently.
The Sous ChefShe brought clarity and structure to our fundraising operations, training our staff and improving our workflow to build stronger systems that will serve us well beyond a single campaign.
Free in 3 minutes
Not sure what's actually holding your team back? This will help.
Answer a few questions about how your team works day to day. You'll get a clear read on what's working, what isn't, and where to focus first.
The Pantry Audit
Get an honest look at what's really going on inside your CRM and a clear, prioritized path forward.
$2,750
One-time · 2–3 weeks
What you get
- A plain-language findings report, organized by priority
- A recorded Loom walkthrough of findings and recommendations
- Step-by-step DIY guides for your top three recommendations
- Two weeks of implementation support through your preferred communication channel so you're not figuring it out alone
What I look at
- Data quality: duplicates, incomplete records, inconsistent formatting, unused fields
- Revenue streams: how donations, grants, and other income are tracked and connected across platforms
- Integrations: what's connected, what's broken, what's silently not syncing
- Reports and dashboards: do they exist, are they used, do they show the right things
- Workflows and moves management: how gifts, donors, and prospects move through your system
- Team usage: how your staff actually interacts with the system day to day
I take on a limited number of audits each month to give each one the attention it deserves.
Start the conversationThe Mise en Place
You're fundraising without a system. There's no CRM, no pipeline, no shared way to track who's been contacted or what the next step is. You need the foundation built from scratch so your team can start operating with real structure.
$6,500
4–8 week sprint, plus 8 weeks of adoption support. Includes CRM selection, system build, up to 2 integrations, knowledge capture, workflows, documentation, and training. Payment at signing.
Discovery & design
Clarify your funding strategy, map roles and ownership, and define the right data model for where you are right now.
Platform selection & system build
Help you choose the right CRM and donation platforms for your size and strategy. Designed for smaller teams: Bloomerang, Little Green Light, or similar. I configure your pipelines, custom fields, activity tracking, and reporting dashboards.
Knowledge capture
Working sessions to get every relationship and prospect out of people's heads and into a shared, trackable system.
Training & handoff
Live training, recorded walkthroughs, workflow docs, and 8 weeks of check-ins. The goal is your team owning the system confidently. Not depending on me to run it.
This is a good fit if…
- You don't currently have a CRM or fundraising database in place
- You're a new or growing nonprofit without fundraising infrastructure
- Your prospect relationships live in people's heads and nowhere else
- You're ready to move from informal fundraising to a structured operation
- You need help choosing the right tools, not just configuring them
What you walk away with
- A configured system built around how you actually fundraise
- Your priority prospects and relationships in the system from day one
- Documented workflows your team can follow without asking for help
- Recorded walkthroughs and a reference guide that stays useful long after we wrap up
- A close-out summary with recommended next priorities
What to expect
This is a build engagement with a clear end. I set up your system, capture your team's knowledge, and train everyone so they can use it confidently without me. The 8-week support phase is about making sure that actually happens. If you want someone in the system every month after that, The Sous Chef is the natural next step.
The Recipe
You have a CRM that needs work. Maybe it's a focused fix, maybe it's a full infrastructure rebuild. Either way, it's a defined project with a beginning, an end, and a fixed price you know before we start.
Starts at $5,000
Pantry Audit engagement fee is credited toward your first month of The Sous Chef.
Always a fixed project fee. We have a free scoping conversation first, I quote the full project, and you know the number before signing. 50% at signing, 50% on completion.
How we get started
- We have a conversation about what's going on, what your team looks like, and what you're hoping to accomplish
- I put together a proposal with a clear scope, timeline, and fixed price
- Once we're aligned, we sign an agreement, and I get to work
This is a good fit if…
- You have a CRM that's underperforming, whether it's the setup, the data, or just that your needs have grown
- You have internal expertise and want a collaborative partner
- You need someone to come in and lead the build for your team
- Your team is stretched thin and can't dedicate full attention to a systems project
- You want a clear plan and a fixed cost before any work begins
What the engagement covers
Every Recipe is scoped to what you actually need. The engagement flexes based on your systems, your team, and how much of the work your people can take on. Here's what it can include:
- Discovery, Pantry Audit, and hands-on review of your current CRM setup
- Pipeline design, field restructuring, reporting, and dashboards
- Integrations with donation platforms, accounting, email, and other tools
- Data cleanup and restructuring
- Training, documentation, and handoff
- Post-project support
The Sous Chef
Your development team should be focused on donors, relationships, and revenue. Not pulling reports, cleaning data, or wondering if the integration is still working. The Sous Chef is a dedicated fractional operations partner. Someone whose whole job is the infrastructure behind your fundraising, so your team's whole job can be the fundraising itself.
$4,000/month
6-month minimum · Month-to-month after · 30 days' notice
Pantry Audit engagement fee is credited toward your first month of The Sous Chef.
Getting to Know Your World
Months 1–2
- Support starts right away: if you need reports pulled, data cleaned, or questions answered, I'm on it from day one
- Audit your CRM to understand what's working, what's broken, and what's missing
- Clean up data and connect systems so information flows where it should
- Design and document workflows for gift processing, stewardship, and pipeline tracking
- Train your team with live sessions, recorded walkthroughs, and a knowledge base
Keeping It Running
Month 3 and beyond
- Monthly strategy call to review progress, look ahead, and align on priorities
- Pipeline management and accountability: making sure follow-ups happen and nothing falls through the cracks
- Weekly async check-ins so you always know where things stand
- Ongoing data hygiene, dashboard updates, and integration monitoring
- Documentation that grows with you as your team and processes evolve
Working Together
What it's actually like
I've been a frontline fundraiser and I know the technical side. That means I understand what your team needs and how to build it so it actually gets used. Here's what working together looks like.
You'll hear from me every week
A short async update covers what I worked on, what's in progress, and anything I need from you.
Direct communication access
Whether it's Slack, Google Chat, or whatever your team uses. Quick questions get quick answers. You're not waiting for a meeting to get unstuck.
Everything is documented
Every workflow, every change gets captured in recorded walkthroughs and a knowledge base.
I leave you better than I found you
If we ever part ways, you get a full transition guide, updated docs, and clean systems.
What this looks like in practice
The same patterns show up in almost every engagement. Here's what before and after actually looks like.
for every relationship
in minutes
| Area | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Contact records | Scattered across spreadsheets with no consistent format. Hard to find, easy to lose. | Set up so the team can find anyone in a few clicks — with relationship context, history, and next steps in one place. |
| Tracking gifts and prospects | Who'd been asked, what was likely to close — all in someone's head or an informal spreadsheet. | A shared system with clear stages and next steps. The whole team can see where things stand without asking around. |
| Grant deadlines | Tracked manually across inboxes and sticky notes. Easy to miss when things get busy. | Deadlines visible in one place, with funder history attached. Much less likely to fall through the cracks. |
| Building from scratch | No system at all. Relationships live in people's heads, and bringing someone new up to speed takes weeks. | A configured system built around how your team actually fundraises — with documentation so knowledge doesn't walk out the door. |
| Board reporting | Someone spent hours pulling numbers before every meeting. Still felt incomplete. | Reports and dashboards that can be run without manual data pulls — so meetings start from the same picture. |
Every engagement is scoped to your specific situation. What changes, and how much, depends on where you're starting from.
Kind Words
What people say about working with Dena
"Dena has an exceptional ability to quickly pick up information about our organization. She brought clarity and structure to our fundraising operations, training our staff and improving our workflow to build stronger systems that will serve us well beyond a single campaign."
"Before working with Dena, I was intimidated by complex CRM systems. She made Salesforce easy to navigate, teaching me how to pull reports, streamline donor touchpoints, and manage grants effectively. Thanks to her guidance, I now feel empowered and more confident as a data-driven fundraiser."
"Her curiosity and interest in learning how to improve our organization were invaluable. She instituted new procedures, software, and standards, guiding the organization toward respecting the importance of information: its gathering, its safety, its timeliness, its organization."
Is Good Soup Right for You?
You might be a good fit if...
- You're a nonprofit with a CRM that's underperforming, or no CRM at all
- Your team has found ways to get by, but the system isn't really helping them
- You don't have a dedicated operations person keeping things running behind the scenes
- You have internal expertise and want a collaborative partner or a second set of eyes
- You want someone who shows up consistently and makes your infrastructure work for your team
What I don't do
I'm the behind-the-scenes operations person for your fundraising team. I make sure your systems, data, and processes run smoothly so the people doing the frontline work can do it well. That means there are a few things that fall outside my scope:
- Write appeals or donor communications
- Run events, campaigns, or grants
- Gift processing
- General IT, custom coding, or graphic design
- Vendor contract negotiations
Let's Connect
Find me in the wild
Let's talk
Ready to get your systems working?
Fill out a short form and I'll take a look. I read every submission personally and get back to you within 48 hours, whether that's to set up a call, ask a question, or let you know honestly if it's not quite the right fit.
If we're not a fit, I'll be straight with you.
Just exploring for now?
That's completely fine. Here are two ways to stay connected until the timing is right.