What Douglas Shaw & Associates does

Douglas Shaw & Associates (DSA) is a privately held, founder-led fundraising consultancy founded in 1994 and headquartered at 1717 Park Street, Suite 300, Naperville, Illinois. The firm serves nonprofit and ministry clients across faith-based, social services, international, and health-related verticals, with a roster that includes organizations such as The Scott Mission, He Intends Victory, MAP International, SIM USA, Far East Broadcasting Company, AMG International, Wycliffe Associates, Revive Our Hearts, Star of Hope, Good Counsel Homes, CareNet, Moody Bible Institute, Christian Conservative Relief, and Project Generation Movement. DSA's stated model is to build multidecade partnerships — evidenced by clients with 7- to 20-year tenures — and reports having raised billions of dollars cumulatively for clients (a client outcome metric, not DSA's own revenue) and served hundreds of organizations over 30+ years.

The company delivers five integrated service lines: Custom Strategies (holistic fundraising planning), Multichannel Fundraising (coordinated direct mail, digital, email, and broadcast campaigns), Digital Innovation (digital acquisition, paid media, and online fundraising optimization), Data & Analytics (built around a proprietary AI-powered modeling workhorse for donor segmentation), and Creative Solutions (copywriting, design, and creative strategy). Supporting these service lines are thought-leadership resources including the Donor Focus newsletter (email and print), an annual Donor Experience Scorecard benchmarking study (the 2026 edition assessed 140+ organizations), free on-demand webinars, and published books such as 'Six Essentials of Rapidly Growing Nonprofits' by founder Doug Shaw.

DSA monetizes through professional services engagements scoped per client. Pricing is not publicly disclosed and quotes are negotiated based on engagement scope. The company is sales-led with go-to-market driven by content marketing, conference participation (NRB, DMA Nonprofit Federation, NCDC), industry association membership (Christian Leadership Alliance, Fundraising Non-Profit Council, National Religious Broadcasters), and direct consultative outreach to nonprofit decision-makers. DSA is 51-100 employees, has no disclosed external funding, no parent company, and no M&A activity in the available record. Leadership includes founder Doug Shaw (Chairman & CEO), Graham Shaw (COO, author of the Donor Experience Scorecard), Shane Norman (SVP & Chief Digital Officer), Keith Cleghorn (EVP Client Services), Amy Sewell (EVP Creative Services), Mindy Sherfy (SVP Partnership Development & Marketing), and multiple VPs of Client Services.

Name

Douglas Shaw & Associates

Legal name

Douglas Shaw & Associates

Website

https://douglasshaw.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1994

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Douglas Shaw & Associates is a privately held, Naperville, Illinois-based fundraising consultancy founded in 1994 that serves faith-based, social services, international, and health-related nonprofits through AI-powered donor analytics, multichannel direct response campaigns, and creative strategy.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Nonprofit Fundraising Consulting

NAICS

Other Management Consulting Services (541618), Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services (5418), Direct Mail Advertising (54186)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Services-Advertising Agencies (7311), Services-Direct Mail Advertising Services (7331)

akta.pro primary industry

Fundraising & Donor Acquisition Calling (Nonprofit) (BPAAADAJ)

Keywords

• Nonprofit fundraising consultancy
• Multichannel direct response
• Donor acquisition services
• Ministry fundraising agency
• Nonprofit marketing consulting

Headquarters

HQ city

Naperville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Fundraising Consulting Services: Douglas Shaw & Associates provides comprehensive fundraising consulting services to nonprofits and ministries, including custom strategies, multichannel fundraising, digital innovation, data analytics, and creative solutions. Revenue is generated through professional services engagements with client organizations.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

Douglas Shaw & Associates is a multichannel direct response fundraising consultancy that helps nonprofit and ministry organizations raise money by designing custom strategies and executing omnichannel campaigns across direct mail, digital, email, and broadcast. The firm pairs these consulting services with a proprietary AI-powered modeling workhorse used for donor analytics and audience segmentation. Engagements span discovery, strategy, creative implementation, and ongoing analytics-driven optimization.

Product overview

Douglas Shaw & Associates is a multichannel fundraising consultancy serving ministries and nonprofits. The company offers an integrated suite of five core services: Custom Strategies (holistic fundraising planning), Multichannel Fundraising (coordinating direct mail, digital, email, and broadcast channels), Digital Innovation (digital acquisition and optimization), Data & Analytics (AI-powered proprietary modeling for audience segmentation), and Creative Solutions (campaign execution). Supporting these core offerings are educational resources including the Donor Focus Newsletter (available in email and print formats), the annual Donor Experience Scorecard research tool, free webinars, and published books. The company was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Naperville, Illinois.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Custom Strategies Holistic, custom fundraising strategy services developed through decades of direct response testing, combining each client's unique story with strategic insights to drive long-term donor growth and mission impact for ministries and nonprofits.
• Multichannel Fundraising Data-inspired, targeted fundraising communications delivered across multiple channels (direct mail, digital, email, and broadcast) to surround donors and prospects with the right message, in the right place, at the right time, driving response and maximizing fundraising effectiveness for nonprofits and ministries.
• Digital Innovation Dynamic digital fundraising services covering digital acquisition, online fundraising optimization, and technology implementations designed to future-proof nonprofit fundraising programs; supported by a custom stack integrating Facebook, Google, programmatic, and retargeting capabilities.
• Data & Analytics AI-powered analytics and audience segmentation service delivered through a proprietary modeling workhorse built by the firm's data scientists, leveraging donor data to maximize fundraising ROI through predictive analytics and systematic project reporting.
• Creative Solutions Campaign creative execution services that blend proven direct response fundraising principles with pioneering creative tactics, covering copywriting, design, and creative strategy to produce measurable response and donor action for nonprofit clients.

Quantifiable outcome

• 320% growth in donor count for Scott Mission over 7 years
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers14 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability2 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• Christian Leadership AllianceminorOthersChristian Leadership Alliance is a membership organization that Douglas Shaw & Associates participates in, shown on their website footer alongside other organizational affiliations.
• Fundraising Non-Profit Council (FNPC)minorOthersFundraising Non-Profit Council membership displayed on the company website, indicating industry engagement and standards alignment.
• National Religious Broadcasters (NRB)minorOthersNRB member organization shown on the website footer, indicating engagement with the religious broadcasting industry association.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Merkle: Merkle is a large data-driven marketing agency with a dedicated nonprofit practice offering CRM, donor analytics, and multichannel fundraising services, representing a broader incumbent competitor with overlapping capabilities.

Direct peers

• Pursuant: Pursuant is a fundraising agency that combines strategic fundraising consulting, multichannel campaign execution, and data analytics for nonprofit clients, directly overlapping with DSA's full-service positioning.
• TrueSense Marketing: TrueSense Marketing is a direct response fundraising agency serving faith-based and nonprofit organizations with multichannel donor acquisition and stewardship services, directly comparable to DSA's core offering.
• Russ Reid: Russ Reid was a longstanding direct response fundraising agency for faith-based and nonprofit clients, historically the most direct competitor to DSA in ministry and Christian nonprofit fundraising (operations wound down but legacy comparability is strong).
• The Lukens Company: The Lukens Company is a multichannel direct response fundraising agency serving nonprofit and association clients with direct mail, digital, and data analytics capabilities, comparable to DSA's service portfolio.
• Campbell & Company: Campbell & Company is a fundraising consulting firm providing campaign counsel, development services, and direct response fundraising strategy to nonprofits, overlapping with DSA on consulting methodology and donor strategy work.
• Mal Warwick | Donordigital: Mal Warwick | Donordigital provides direct response fundraising and digital strategy services to nonprofits, with emphasis on email, online acquisition, and integrated campaigns similar to DSA's digital innovation practice.

Emerging players

• Classy (GoFundMe Pro): Classy is a digital-first online fundraising platform serving nonprofits with donation forms, peer-to-peer campaigns, and event fundraising; represents the platform-based disruption to traditional direct response agencies like DSA.
• Givebutter: Givebutter is a modern nonprofit fundraising platform offering donation pages, events, and CRM functionality, competing for digital fundraising budgets that historically flowed to agencies like DSA.
• Bloomerang: Bloomerang is a donor management and fundraising CRM with embedded reporting and retention analytics; competes with DSA's analytics offering as nonprofits increasingly bring these capabilities in-house.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/dougshawassoc
• Facebookfacebook.com/douglas-shaw-associates-307159404494
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/736441
• Instagraminstagram.com/douglasshawassociates

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Douglas Shaw & Associates