Donorly

What Donorly does

Donorly is a privately held, founder-led professional services firm founded in 2013 and headquartered in New York that provides fundraising consulting exclusively to arts and culture nonprofit organizations across the United States. The firm is led by CEO and founder Sandra Davis, whose prior in-house development experience at major cultural institutions — The Public Theater, Metropolitan Opera, Seattle Opera, and the New York Philharmonic — anchors the firm's positioning within the arts & culture vertical. Donorly operates remotely with a small named team of roughly six professionals, against a stated 11–50 employee range, and serves what the founder describes as "hundreds of clients" cumulatively.

The company's service portfolio is centered on individual giving and major donor cultivation. Its foundational offering is prospect research — identifying and qualifying potential major donors by analyzing capacity, affinity, and propensity — wrapped inside three productized, multi-month engagement programs: Jumpstart (3-month foundational program), Major Gifts Momentum Builder (12-month sustained engagement), and Capital Campaign Accelerator (6-month structured campaign). Donorly is a people-based consulting practice, not a software platform; the technology footprint consists of standard productivity tools and a Squarespace-hosted marketing site/blog, with no proprietary AI/ML systems, APIs, integrations, or software products. Documented outcomes include campaigns that raised 75% of goal within the planned timeframe, an influential NYC theater company raising three times its goal, a faith-based client raising $7 million through research that surfaced 32 lead donors out of 150 prospects, individual gifts of $100,000 and six-figure grants, and a 12% increase in individual giving revenue for a grassroots artist collective.

Revenue is generated entirely through professional services billings paid by nonprofit clients on a per-engagement basis. Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed, with structured programs priced as multi-month retainers. Go-to-market relies on content marketing — an educational blog, downloadable resources such as a Donation Page Optimization Checklist, 30-Minute Fundraising Strategy Audit, and Capital Campaign Readiness Quiz, plus LinkedIn thought leadership and recurring Hot Seat Coaching Sessions — feeding consultative enterprise sales that begin with free 30-minute discovery calls. Distribution is direct (national scope, no third-party resellers). Customers are predominantly small to mid-sized arts and culture nonprofits (museums, performing arts organizations, theaters, libraries, botanical gardens) with secondary adjacencies in faith-based services and healthcare foundations; engagement economics are anchored to multi-month retainers, which raises the importance of referral-driven pipeline given the firm's limited delivery capacity.

Name

Donorly

Legal name

Donorly

Website

https://donorly.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Donorly is a founder-led nonprofit fundraising consulting firm founded in 2013 that delivers prospect research and productized engagement programs (Jumpstart, Major Gifts Momentum Builder, Capital Campaign Accelerator) exclusively to US arts and culture organizations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Nonprofit Fundraising Consulting

NAICS

Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813), Business, Professional, Labor, Political, and Similar Organizations (8139)

SIC

Services-Help Supply Services (7363)

akta.pro primary industry

Fundraising & Annual Giving (EDALAOAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Grantmaking & Philanthropic Funds (Institutional Donors) (BPADAOAB)

Keywords

• Nonprofit fundraising consulting
• Arts and culture nonprofit
• Capital campaign consulting
• Major gifts strategy
• Prospect research services

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

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, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Consulting Services: Donorly generates revenue through professional consulting engagements with arts and culture nonprofit organizations. Services include fundraising strategy development, prospect research, major donor cultivation programs, capital campaign planning and execution, and ongoing advisory support. The company offers structured programs like Jumpstart (3-month engagement), Major Gifts Momentum Builder (12-month engagement), and Capital Campaign Accelerator.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Donorly is a nonprofit fundraising consulting firm that helps arts and culture organizations strengthen individual giving, identify and qualify major donors, and plan or execute capital campaigns. The firm sells structured, time-bound advisory engagements — including Prospect Research, a 12-month Major Gifts Momentum Builder program, a 6-month Capital Campaign Accelerator, and a 3-month Jumpstart diagnostic — delivered by a small team of senior consultants to nonprofit development leaders.

Product overview

Donorly is a nonprofit fundraising consulting firm offering a portfolio of advisory services focused on individual giving and major donor cultivation. The company's service offerings include Prospect Research (core analytical service), Major Gifts Momentum Builder (12-month engagement program), Capital Campaign Accelerator (6-month structured program), and Jumpstart (3-month foundational program). These services are designed to help arts and culture nonprofit organizations strengthen their fundraising efforts through donor research, strategy development, campaign execution, and team coaching. Donorly operates as a people-focused consulting practice rather than a software product platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Prospect Research A donor identification and qualification service in which Donorly's consultants research and screen prospective major donors for nonprofit clients, providing the data foundation needed to build a major-gift pipeline.
• Major Gifts Momentum Builder A 12-month consulting engagement in which Donorly helps nonprofit organizations build and accelerate an individual-giving program, identifying major donors, developing cultivation strategies, and creating sustainable major-gift fundraising capacity.
• Capital Campaign Accelerator A 6-month consulting engagement that guides nonprofits through the planning and execution of a capital campaign, including feasibility, campaign structure, prospect strategy, and campaign operations.
• Jumpstart A 3-month consulting engagement that delivers a rapid diagnostic and planning foundation for nonprofits preparing to launch or refocus a fundraising effort.

Quantifiable outcome

• Successfully raised 75% of campaign goal within planned timeframe for a renowned summer festival
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Association of Midwest Museums (AMM)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 7 November 2025Donorly announced a new partnership with the Association of Midwest Museums (AMM) designed to help museum professionals across the Midwest grow stronger, more sustainable fundraising programs. This collaboration focuses on advancing fundraising strategies specifically for museum organizations within the AMM network.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• DonorSearch: Wealth screening and prospect research software platform widely used by nonprofits for major gift identification. Adjacent to Donorly's Prospect Research service — a software alternative to the firm's manual research methodology.

Direct peers

• Heller Consulting: Nonprofit CRM and technology consulting firm helping organizations select and implement fundraising CRMs (Salesforce NPSP, etc.). Comparable to Donorly in CRM implementation and donor stewardship workflow design for nonprofits.
• Alexander Haas: Mid-sized fundraising and campaign consulting firm serving nonprofits, with particular depth in arts, education, and social service organizations. Comparable to Donorly in service mix (campaigns, major gifts, prospect research) and mid-market client profile.
• Hartsook Companies: Fundraising consulting firm specializing in capital campaigns and major gift strategy across nonprofit verticals including arts and culture. Comparable to Donorly in campaign methodology and arts sector focus.
• The Alford Group: Nonprofit consulting firm providing fundraising strategy, executive search, and campaign planning for community-based and cultural organizations. Comparable to Donorly in client size profile and arts/community focus.

Broad incumbents

• BWF (formerly Bentz Whaley Flessner): Consulting firm focused on fundraising and advancement for higher education, healthcare, and arts organizations. Comparable to Donorly in prospect research, campaign planning, and major gifts strategy, but with significantly broader institutional reach.
• Bridgespan Group (Nonprofit Practice): Strategy consulting firm with a dedicated nonprofit practice advising on fundraising strategy, growth, and capacity building. Overlaps with Donorly on strategy-level advisory for arts & culture and nonprofit clients at the upper end.
• Grenzebach Glier and Associates: One of the largest fundraising and advancement consulting firms in the U.S., serving higher education, healthcare, and arts & culture organizations. Comparable to Donorly in advisory scope (campaign strategy, prospect research) but materially larger and more diversified across verticals.
• Campbell & Company: Consulting firm providing fundraising strategy, campaign management, and executive search for nonprofits, with a strong arts & culture and higher education practice. Direct overlap with Donorly in capital campaign planning and major gifts advisory.
• Pursuant (a TrueSense Marketing company): Full-service fundraising agency offering direct response, major gifts consulting, and campaign strategy for nonprofits. Comparable to Donorly in major gifts advisory and capital campaign work, with a heavier direct-response and digital fundraising capability.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/donorly
• Xx.com/_donorly
• Facebookfacebook.com/BeDonorly

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 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 Donorly