Johnson, Grossnickle & Associates

What Johnson, Grossnickle & Associates does

Johnson, Grossnickle & Associates (JGA), founded in 1994 and headquartered in Greenwood, Indiana, is a privately held national consulting firm that provides philanthropic and strategic advisory services to nonprofit organizations. The firm serves more than 500 cumulative clients across seven verticals — education, healthcare and research, community and social service, foundations, arts and culture, environment and animals, and faith-based organizations — with a service portfolio spanning campaign counsel, feasibility studies, development audits and assessments, major and planned giving program development, and strategic planning.

The firm's flagship differentiator is Acuity® Insights, a predictive analytics and AI-driven donor identification product built in partnership with DonorSearch AI. Acuity® analyzes billions of data points from hundreds of external sources combined with each client's own engagement data to surface high-capacity, high-affinity prospects, and is reported to identify approximately 60% more top prospects than traditional gift officer pools across more than 60 deployments. JGA complements Acuity® with traditional campaign counsel, feasibility studies, and strategic planning delivered by a team of approximately 20 consultants, including founder Ted Grossnickle, CEO Lee Ernst, and senior consultants with senior-level backgrounds at major nonprofit institutions.

JGA generates revenue through customized, quote-based professional services engagements typically structured as multi-year contracts, augmented by a productized subscription-style offering around Acuity® data solutions. The firm goes to market via a sales-led direct consulting model supported by a content-led funnel — blog, webinars, research tip sheets, a monthly newsletter ("The Connector"), and the annual Donor Engagement Summit — and operates nationally with no disclosed parent company, external investors, or M&A activity.

Name

Johnson, Grossnickle & Associates

Legal name

Johnson, Grossnickle & Associates

Website

https://jgacounsel.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1994

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Johnson, Grossnickle & Associates (JGA) is a privately held, national nonprofit consulting firm founded in 1994 that provides campaign counsel, feasibility studies, planned giving, strategic planning, and AI-driven donor identification via its Acuity® Insights platform to 500+ nonprofit clients across education, healthcare, arts, and other verticals.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Nonprofit Fundraising Consulting

NAICS

Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (541720)

SIC

Services-Management Services (8741)

akta.pro primary industry

Strategic Partnerships, Alliances & JVs Advisory (BPAHADAI)

Keywords

• Nonprofit fundraising consulting
• Capital campaign counsel
• Donor identification analytics
• Feasibility study services
• Major and planned giving

Headquarters

HQ city

Greenwood

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, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Consulting Services: Professional consulting services for nonprofit fundraising including campaign counsel, feasibility studies, strategic planning, audits and assessments, major and planned giving programs. Services are customized to each organization's mission, history, and culture.
2. Acuity® Data Solutions: Predictive analytics solutions for donor identification, sold as a productized service to nonprofits. The solution combines external data with organization-specific engagement data to identify prospects.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Johnson, Grossnickle & Associates (JGA) is a national nonprofit fundraising consulting firm that delivers campaign counsel, feasibility studies, development audits, major and planned giving programs, and strategic planning services to nonprofit organizations. Complementing its consulting practice, JGA sells Acuity® Insights and Acuity Donor Identification, a predictive analytics solution co-developed with DonorSearch AI that screens billions of data points to identify high-capacity, high-affinity donor prospects.

Product overview

Johnson, Grossnickle & Associates (JGA) is a nonprofit and philanthropy consulting firm offering a portfolio of services centered around its core Acuity® platform. The primary offerings include Acuity Donor Identification and Acuity Insights (a predictive analytics solution co-created with DonorSearch AI), supplemented by consulting services such as Feasibility Studies, Campaign Counsel, Audits & Assessments, Major & Planned Giving programs (including a Planned Giving Tune-Up), and Strategic Planning. JGA also provides knowledge resources including Research and Tip Sheets, webinars, and an annual Donor Engagement Summit. The firm serves diverse nonprofit sectors including education, healthcare, arts, environment, community services, foundations, and faith-based organizations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Acuity Donor Identification

Quantifiable outcome

• 60% more top prospects identified on average compared to traditional gift officer pools
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability1 record

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and key.

• DonorSearch AIcoreTechnology or IntegrationStrategic technology partnership to create Acuity® Insights, a unique predictive analytics solution combining DonorSearch AI's data capabilities with JGA's nonprofit fundraising expertise. This partnership enables JGA to offer AI-powered donor identification and prospect management to nonprofit clients.
• Giving Institute / Giving USAcoreOthersJGA is a proud member of the Giving Institute and annual sponsor of Giving USA, the crucial annual research publication on American philanthropy. This relationship positions JGA as a thought leader in the philanthropy sector.
• Indiana University Lilly Family School of PhilanthropykeyStrategic or Co-development PartnerStrategic partnership for co-presenting webinars and research dissemination. JGA's CEO Lee Ernst co-leads Giving USA webinar discussions with IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy representatives. The firm has deep ties to the premier philanthropy research institution.
• The Generosity CommissionkeyStrategic or Co-development PartnerJGA founder Ted Grossnickle chaired the Working Group that helped establish The Generosity Commission, a national initiative exploring American generosity in all forms. JGA continues to be involved in disseminating the Commission's research findings.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• iWave: Prospect research and wealth screening SaaS used by nonprofits for donor identification—direct alternative to Acuity® Insights as a standalone data tool that nonprofits can buy without JGA's consulting layer.
• Gravyty: AI-driven fundraising software that automates donor identification, gift officer prioritization, and stewardship workflows—competes with the predictive analytics thesis of JGA's Acuity® product.
• DonorSearch: Prospect research and AI-driven donor wealth screening provider that is both JGA's Acuity® data partner and a competitor as it increasingly offers direct predictive analytics to nonprofit clients.
• Virtuous: AI-powered nonprofit CRM and donor engagement platform that competes with Acuity® on donor identification and engagement automation; featured speaker at JGA's Donor Engagement Summit, signaling recognized category overlap.

Broad incumbents

• Russ Reid / Causeworx: Long-established nonprofit fundraising consultancy and now broader marketing services platform serving faith-based and nonprofit clients—competitive overlap on campaign counsel with deeper marketing services breadth.

Direct peers

• Bentz Whaley Flessner (BWF): Direct peer nonprofit fundraising consultancy offering campaign counsel, planned giving, and advancement services to higher education, healthcare, and faith-based organizations—the same verticals JGA prioritizes.
• CCS Fundraising: One of the largest U.S. nonprofit fundraising and campaign consulting firms, providing feasibility studies, campaign counsel, and major gift advisory to nonprofits—JGA's most direct competitor in core campaign counsel work.
• Graham-Pelton Consulting: Nonprofit fundraising and campaign consulting firm with comparable service lines (campaign counsel, feasibility studies, major gifts) and similar client base of universities, hospitals, and cultural institutions.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/jgacounsel
• Xx.com/jgacounsel
• Facebookfacebook.com/JGACounsel

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 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 Johnson, Grossnickle & Associates