Philosophy
Fundraising is about bringing people together to do more than we could ever do alone.
Jessica’s holistic approach to fundraising centers on creating authentic, fulfilling, and lasting relationships for organizations and donors alike. She understands that each organization and donor has their own approach and builds her strategies to lift up their unique values.
Great fundraising practices drive great organizations. Jessica knows what an organization needs to succeed and expertly translates funder priorities into strong financial, infrastructure, and marketing practices.
Services
Jessica tailors each engagement to meet her clients’ needs, timeline and budget.
Services include:
Campaign Strategy and Implementation. Jessica assesses the feasibility of a fundraising campaign and creates the associated fundraising and marketing strategy.
Development Assessments and Plans. Jessica audits your programs, development, finance, and marketing capacities and creates a plan for how to best achieve revenue growth.
Executive Coaching and Staff Development. Jessica offers 1:1 support for executives and fundraising staff looking to up their development game or work through specific challenges.
Pipeline Development and Research. Jessica helps you research prospective donors and will build you a robust pipeline.
Program Planning. Jessica can help you design effective programs that further your mission and inspire donors.
Experience
Over the last 10+ years, Jessica has raised over $30M, clarified complex brands to reach new audiences, and led organizations to maximize their social impact.
Jessica has worked with organizations ranging from small start ups to mid-sized organizations looking to grow, to some of the world’s leading non-profits. She has a unique understanding of both east coast and west coast fundraising practices and has built up a wide range of issue area expertise from civic tech, to arts education, to criminal justice reform.
Most recently, she led the fundraising team at Code for America where she increased their annual revenue by 45%, raised seed funds to create new program areas, and ran targeted campaigns to grow the organization’s brand. Prior to that, she worked at Carnegie Hall where she led the expansion of Carnegie Hall’s community-based work and specialized in working with the public sector.
Jessica is a trained classical singer and she brings the sense of creativity and joy she learned from music to everything she does.
Testimonials
“Jessica transformed how I thought about fundraising. She took what I found intimidating and helped connect it to the mission I was driving towards. She regularly outstripped expectations for what’s possible while also being incredibly conscientious about when to decline funds that were offered, but not a mission match. Her discipline, success and strategic insights are unmatched.”
“Jessica is the most gifted development professional I’ve met. She invests deeply in the organizational culture and systems to unearth funding opportunities that sustain and advance the mission of the company. Jessica applies a rigor to this work I’ve rarely seen matched, and also tremendous charm and empathy that is enormously effective in donor facing work. I have witnessed how donors’ personal connection with her transfers to investment in the organization. ”
“Jessica is one of the most high-functioning, capable individuals I have ever worked with. In my time working with her on specific Code for America projects that my organization supports, she demonstrated a deep knowledge of the issue at hand, whether it was public benefits delivery or criminal justice reform. She’s a true problem solver, often bringing me possible solutions to issues unprompted and constantly brainstorming ways to help that went above and beyond the scope of her role. ”
“Jessica is the person I trust to read a room and know just the right thing to say to move things forward productively. If I were hiring a development leader, she would without question be my first call. ”
jessicarsilverman@gmail.com