The fundraising consultant you should never hire

Consultants are good for nonprofits. (You can trust me for unbiased opinion on consultants; I am one.)

A good consultant brings you breadth and depth of experience that you’d ever be able to muster within the organization. But more important, a consultant doesn’t wear your organizational blinders. They don’t have the Curse of Knowledge (about your issues, anyway). They can see things you can’t.

But not all consultants are good. There’s one type you should not hire: The consultant who already knows the answers before you ask the questions.

Maybe you’ve met them. They start every conversation with their sure-fire winning tactic. Sometimes it’s a data trick that will squeeze new revenue from your donor file. Or a creative execution that is guaranteed to work. Or some exciting new social media opportunity.

Any of these things might be just the ticket for your organization. But until a consultant knows your situation well, nobody knows.

Any time a consultant knows the answer before asking the question, there are three likely reasons:

1. They know only one thing. To the man with a hammer, every problem is a nail. The consultant will be hammering your dirty windows and your weedy garden.
2. It worked somewhere else. It may or may not work for you. Not all organizations are the same. Any consultant who doesn’t admit that is a charlatan.
3. There’s a hidden agenda. They may need volume for their tactic to pan out. Maybe they own a certain kind of printing press that they needs to keep running. In other words, they need you to use their tactic for their sake, not yours.

So next time a consultant comes to you with ready-made answers, hang up the phone. Delete the email. Politely look the other way. Then look for a consultant that’s willing to learn about you and be your partner on the journey.