What John Kearns & Associates does

John Kearns & Associates, Inc. is a privately held, U.S.-based fundraising consulting firm founded in 1980 and headquartered in Orchard Park, New York. The firm specializes in Catholic philanthropy and provides professional fundraising consulting services to Roman Catholic parishes, high schools, colleges, hospitals, and affiliated community organizations. Service lines include campaign planning, capital campaigns, feasibility and planning studies, stewardship and offertory programs, and strategic planning. The firm does not operate a proprietary technology platform; its offering is delivered by executive consultants, resident campaign directors, planned giving experts, and campaign support personnel.

The business model is project-based professional services: each engagement is a custom-scoped capital campaign or feasibility/stewardship project, priced per engagement (specific fees are not publicly disclosed). The go-to-market is sales-led, driven primarily by direct consultation with parish leadership and reinforced by word-of-mouth referrals from Catholic pastors and visibility through professional associations such as the Association of Fundraising Professionals and the International Catholic Stewardship Council. The firm markets its outcomes rather than its technology, with a published sample of nine campaigns showing $29.3 million raised against $20.7 million in goals, an average of 142% of target.

The firm has been operating for 35+ years and serves clients throughout the United States. All revenue and customer activity is concentrated within the Catholic institutional vertical, with no disclosed revenue, no external funding, and no productized or technology-enabled components to the service offering.

Name

John Kearns & Associates

Legal name

John Kearns & Associates, Inc.

Website

https://kearnsassociates.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1980

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Orchard Park

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Capital Campaign Consulting: Professional consulting services for capital fundraising campaigns, including campaign planning, feasibility studies, strategic planning, and stewardship programs for Catholic institutions.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

John Kearns & Associates is a full-service fundraising consulting firm that provides professional consulting for capital campaigns, campaign planning and management, feasibility studies, stewardship and offertory programs, and strategic planning. The firm specializes in Catholic philanthropy and serves Roman Catholic parishes, high schools, colleges, hospitals, and community organizations across the United States.

Product overview

John Kearns & Associates is a full-service fundraising consulting firm specializing in Catholic philanthropy. The company offers a unified suite of consulting services including Campaign Planning, Capital Campaigns, Feasibility and Planning Studies, Stewardship and Offertory Programs, and Strategic Planning. Rather than a software product, the firm provides professional consulting expertise delivered through executive consultants, resident campaign directors, and planned giving specialists to help Catholic churches, high schools, colleges, hospitals, and community organizations achieve record-setting capital fundraising campaigns.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Campaign Planning, Organization and Management

Quantifiable outcome

• 142% of campaign goals achieved on average across sample campaigns
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• CCS Fundraising: One of the largest fundraising consulting firms in the U.S., serving nonprofit, healthcare, education, and faith-based clients with capital campaign and development services. Directly comparable to Kearns in service offering, with broader scale and multiple verticals including Catholic institutions.
• Ruffalo: Fundraising consulting firm formed from the merger of RuffaloCODY and Noel-Levitz, focused on higher education and nonprofit fundraising campaigns. Comparable service model to Kearns with a primary emphasis on educational institutions but overlapping faith-based work.
• Graham-Pelton: Fundraising and campaign management consultancy serving nonprofits, healthcare, and education clients. Directly comparable in offering capital campaign, feasibility study, and advancement services similar to Kearns's portfolio.
• Marts & Lundy: Long-established fundraising consulting firm specializing in campaigns for healthcare, higher education, and cultural institutions. Comparable to Kearns as a similarly specialized professional services competitor with deep vertical expertise.
• The Stelter Company: Fundraising and planned giving consultancy serving nonprofits across faith-based, healthcare, and education sectors. Comparable to Kearns particularly in planned giving and stewardship advisory offerings.
• BWF (Bentz Whaley Flessner): Fundraising consulting firm providing campaign management, development counsel, and analytics for nonprofits, education, and healthcare clients. Direct peer offering similar campaign planning and feasibility study services as Kearns.
• Johnson, Grossnickle and Associates: Capital campaign and fundraising consulting firm serving faith-based institutions, education, and nonprofits. Directly comparable to Kearns in vertical focus (faith-based) and service mix (campaigns, feasibility, planning studies).
• Hartsook Companies: Fundraising consulting and research firm with extensive faith-based and education client experience. Comparable to Kearns as a similarly specialized consultancy serving religious institutions and capital campaigns.
• Alexander Haas: Fundraising and campaign consulting firm focused on faith-based, education, healthcare, and arts/cultural nonprofits. Directly comparable to Kearns in the faith-based vertical and campaign planning/feasibility study offerings.

Broad incumbents

• Ketchum: Global communications and public relations firm with a fundraising and philanthropy practice serving large nonprofits and institutions. Broader incumbent with overlapping capabilities in nonprofit campaign communications but not specializing in capital campaign consulting like Kearns.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/john-kearns-&-associates-inc-?trk=top_nav_home

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 John Kearns & Associates