Better fundraising
starts with
understanding people.
Not more tactics. Not more pressure. We use research into human behavior to turn insight into action — improving the quality of every interaction between fundraisers and donors.
Three Ways to Work Together
Each engagement is built around one goal: improving the quality of the interaction between your fundraisers and donors — so your results improve, and so does the experience of doing the work.
The Donor Psychology Audit
Focused engagements for specific challenges. Each one applies behavioral and psychological insight to a defined problem — and leaves your team with something they can act on immediately.
Examples include:
Donor Relationship Accelerator Workshop
A half-day or full-day workshop for development teams — translating behavioral psychology research into practical shifts in how they approach donor conversations, asks, and stewardship. Immediately actionable.
Major Gifts Strategy Sprint
A focused 2–3 week engagement to assess and sharpen your major gifts approach — prospect prioritization, relationship strategy, and ask sequencing — through a philanthropic psychology lens.
Case for Support Development
A psychology-informed case for support that speaks to donor identity and motivation — not just organizational need. Built on an interview process with leadership, donors, and staff.
Board Giving & Engagement Training
A workshop for boards on the psychology of generosity — why people give, what gets in the way, and how to have better donor conversations. Shifts board culture from obligation to genuine engagement.
Ideal for teams with a specific challenge they need to solve now — a campaign, a stalled major gifts program, a board that isn't engaged.
A research-grounded diagnostic of the psychological dynamics shaping your donor relationships — scored, synthesized, and translated into a clear action roadmap.
What’s included:
Stakeholder interviews
Data & materials review
Full scored audit report on six peer-reviewed research frameworks to evaluate every dimension of your donor relationships
Prioritized action roadmap
Executive debrief session
30-day follow-up call
Timeline: 4 - 6 weeks
Focused Engagements
Ongoing Strategic Partnership
Clarus takes on a limited number of advisory clients each year. For those organizations, it's an ongoing strategic partnership — not a retainer in name only, but a real working relationship that gets sharper the longer it runs.
What’s included:
Ongoing access to Deanna as a strategic thought partner
Monthly advisory calls
Asynchronous support
Real-time guidance as fundraising challenges evolve
Ideal for leaders who want more than occasional consulting — a trusted strategic partner who knows their organization deeply and stays invested in what happens next.
Clarus is honored to work with…
