One central question for many nonprofit organizations is, Why should I seek fundraising counsel in the first place? Couldn’t our funds be better spent meeting the needs of our constituents than on paying a consultant for a few fundraising ideas?

The answer to that question lies at the core of an understanding of stewardship and what to look for in stewardship counsel.

• First things first; experience. True experience comes from successes and failures. Finding counsel with comprehensive experience and proven methods means that you have access to an arsenal of options for your organization.

• The best stewardship tools will provide you with clear strategies for debt reduction that will decreases the financial burden on your organization and unleash its effectiveness for reaching its potential.

• One of the best-kept secrets about investing stewardship dollars is the proportionate potential for return on investment. The national average for dollar amounts raised with the assistance of professional counsel is 2.5 times an organization’s annual budget. With project management that amount increases to 5 times their annual budget.

• In addition to this, statistics show that hiring professional development counsel produces cost savings in that the cost of counsel is typically less than the cost of paying interest on debt over time.

• One of the greatest indirect benefits of hiring professional counsel is increased accountability for your organization. Counsel can bring accountability to a fundraising effort that’s hard to attain when you’re stretching the commitment of volunteers and staff.