Marketing strategy and systems

What it is

CRM selection and implementation, donor and constituent journey mapping, grant-side infrastructure, workflow automation, and the strategic marketing work that connects all of it to mission outcomes. This is the work for organizations that have technology they're not using well, funder relationships that need stronger digital credibility, or manual processes that should be running automatically.

The right entry point is usually an audit. Whether it's a HubSpot instance nobody knows how to operate, a digital presence that doesn't survive a program officer's review, or a manual intake process burning staff hours - the diagnostic surfaces what to fix first. Implementation follows from there.

CRM work is tech-stack-agnostic. HubSpot is the primary tool, informed by director-level operator experience at a global company - not partner certification. Salesforce NPSP is available for donor-heavy organizations with existing Salesforce. CiviCRM is the right answer when full ownership and no per-seat cost matter most. The recommendation follows the situation, not what the consultant is certified to sell.

I've also sat on the funding side. As an El Pomar Fellow, I evaluated grant applications and presented $1.2 million in funding recommendations to the board. That experience shapes everything here: I know what program officers actually weigh when they pull up your website, review your reporting, or assess whether your organization is as mature as your narrative claims.

For organizations handling sensitive constituent data - domestic violence services, immigration legal aid, health-adjacent programs - there's a self-hosted path. Workflow automation, local AI processing, and file management on private infrastructure, grounded in systems I run in production. Not a concept - a running stack.

Who it's for

Mid-size nonprofit marketing teams with real technology (HubSpot, Salesforce, Mailchimp with automation) that nobody on staff can configure or interpret. Organizations whose CRM was set up by someone who left. Executive Directors preparing for a major grant cycle who need their digital presence to survive funder scrutiny. Organizations spending staff hours on manual processes that should run automatically. Privacy-critical organizations evaluating self-hosted alternatives to standard SaaS.

What it produces

Depends on the engagement. Common outputs include:

• CRM audit: what you have, what's broken, what to fix first - with a 90-day plan
• HubSpot implementation: contact migration, lead scoring, workflows, reporting dashboards, team training
• Salesforce NPSP setup: Nonprofit Success Pack configuration, constituent migration, reports, training
• Donor and constituent journey mapping: cross-functional audit across development, program, and communications teams - surfaces the misalignments between intended and actual donor experience
• Funder-credibility audit: digital presence assessed through a program officer's lens - website, reporting infrastructure, metrics readiness, board-facing assets
• Grant reporting infrastructure: metrics tracking, dashboards, reporting templates aligned to common funder asks
• Seasonal fundraising campaign: year-end appeal or Giving Tuesday - email sequence, landing page, donor segmentation, post-campaign reporting
• Workflow automation: n8n or scripted automations for intake, follow-up, donor receipts, meeting-to-notes pipelines - deterministic first, AI where it genuinely fits
• Private server setup: on-premises or VPS build with automation, local AI processing, and collaboration tools - software scoped, hardware is yours
• Email program design: welcome sequences, newsletters, automated nurture flows
• Content strategy, paid media, and rebrand strategy when the situation calls for it

How it works

1. A diagnostic conversation. What you have, what it's doing, what you need it to do.
2. A written assessment with specific, prioritized recommendations. Not a list of upsells, not a 40-page slide deck.
3. Implementation support for what you decide to build: hands-on configuration, not documentation hand-off.
4. Ongoing advisory as needed. The relationship is more useful if it continues than if it ends at delivery.

Proof

Director-level HubSpot operation at TopSource Worldwide: lead scoring, attribution modeling, MQL-to-SQL workflows, $750K budget, 30% quarterly lead growth. El Pomar Foundation Fellow: evaluated grant applications, presented $1.2 million in funding recommendations, served as foundation liaison to grantees across rural Colorado. Email marketing at Dental Lifeline Network: 24,000-subscriber network, 24 state-specific campaigns. "Will You See One Veteran?" campaign across 38 states with three corporate sponsors generating $3.5 million in donated care. Live production homelab: Proxmox cluster, n8n automations, Jitsi Meet with custom recording modules, local AI models - the same infrastructure pattern a privacy-critical organization needs.