We Understand Your World

GG+A understands the distinctive philanthropic challenges that cultural institutions face. Our experts have worked in leadership and consulting capacities for arts and culture organizations in the U.S. and around the world: museums, libraries, theater companies, dance companies, symphony orchestras, opera houses, botanical gardens, zoos and aquariums, historic homes and sites.

We recognize the complex relationships among members, ticket buyers, and donors. We realize that—more than some other types of institutions—you must build your prospect pool one member at a time. And, crucially, we know how to create an aspirational but realistic roadmap for raising the funds you need to achieve your goals.

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Challenges & Solutions

Our arts and culture clients vary significantly in size and need. Some want help building their programs from the ground up. Many rely on annual giving and principal gifts from trustees for the majority of their philanthropy, and need help fleshing out the middle of the “gift pyramid.” Others run complex operations and come to us specifically for our expertise in developing campaign strategies.

Whatever the case, we possess the most sophisticated analytical tools in the business to reveal the dynamics underlying your situation, which enable us to develop insightful solutions and practical plans.

GG+A’s New Playbook: European Arts and Culture Donor Discovery

Rethink the discovery process: Strategies to unlock support from your donors and prospects
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Our Services

GG+A’s extensive experience in the arts and culture sector and across all advancement disciplines enables us to provide the specific services you need in any combination that works for you. These include:

Campaign operating plans

A strategic and tactical plan that addresses all components of campaign planning and management, including core strategies to realize goals and a table of gifts needed to meet those goals; cash flow projections and operating budgets; timeline for all phases of the campaign; roles and responsibilities for leadership and volunteers; naming, crediting, and acceptance policies; and prospect management strategies. Serves to guide a wide range of campaign activities and can help avoid delays at key junctures in the campaign or at critical points of a gift negotiation. Can also be designed as mid-campaign operating plans, or overall fundraising plans for smaller institutions.

Campaign planning studies

Provides the insights and data needed to make critical decisions about a proposed campaign’s structure, objectives, and implementation, offering an objective review of strengths and weaknesses relevant to the proposed campaign. Fundamental activities include briefing lead prospects and volunteers on the campaign’s goals, soliciting feedback on the case for support, and face-to-face conversations that explore the perceptions and gift potential of key constituents. Includes an analysis of internal resources available to support the effort and evidence-based recommendations for strategies, investments, and reallocations that will help support an ambitious and achievable campaign.

Development communications

We understand that communications tactics must flow from strategic goals and objectives. Learn more.

Development program reviews and expansion strategies

An assessment of the development operation that provides recommendations on the optimal organizational structure and deployment of staff and resources, as well as an evaluation of overall culture, environment, and level of readiness to support sustainable increases in fundraising. Typically focuses on management and organization, resources and budgets, prospect management, communications, and constituent engagement.

Philanthropic analytics

With more than 50 years of full-service philanthropic consulting experience and an unparalleled suite of analytical tools and resources, we can help you turn “We think” into “We know.” Learn more.

Teaching and coaching

At GG+A, consultants with extensive development-leadership experience coach clients in the core competencies of major-gift fundraising: qualifying and planning, cultivating, asking, negotiating, and stewardship. Learn more.

The California Academy of Sciences (the Academy)—an aquarium, planetarium, rainforest, and natural history museum located in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park—was founded in 1883 with a mission to explore, explain, and sustain life. The Academy is a powerful voice for biodiversity research and exploration, environmental education, and sustainability across the globe.

California Academy of Sciences
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Our Clients

Over the years, GG+A has consulted with more than 100 arts and culture institutions in North America, Europe, and Australia, with fundraising staff sizes ranging from three to three dozen and campaign goals as modest as $10 million and as ambitious as $700 million. Here is a sampling:

  • The Art Institute of Chicago
  • Atlanta Ballet
  • Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
  • Chicago Symphony Orchestra
  • Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
  • Curtis Institute of Music
  • Folger Shakespeare Library
  • The Frick Collection
  • Los Angeles Philharmonic
  • The National Gallery
  • New Jersey Performing Arts Center
  • New York Philharmonic
  • Philadelphia Museum of Art
  • The Phillips Collection
  • San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
  • Smithsonian Institution