How and Why Osa Philanthropy is here: 3 year celebration

In my experience, it takes about three years to truly understand how an organization works—how strategy, funding, and operations actually connect. What I didn’t expect is that the same would be true in building Osa Philanthropy. 

That insight has shaped how we support organizations today.

What Osa Philanthropy is here to do:

Osa was founded to be an honest and transparent partner to organizations working to make a positive impact on our people and planet. 

I built Osa Philanthropy to solve three problems I kept encountering as a fundraiser and nonprofit executive:

1) too narrow to see the full picture

2) too expensive to be accessible

3) too much sizzle, not enough substance 

Osa Philanthropy helps social impact organizations build the clarity, capacity, and strategy needed to achieve sustainable and growing revenue. 

How we do our work:

We move beyond traditional fundraising consulting by strengthening the internal systems, team alignment, and strategy required to generate and sustain revenue. Our team joins yours, providing customized support that meets you where you are now and strategically guides you to achieve your next milestone.

How I think about Osa Philanthropy’s offerings:

Think of Osa Philanthropy in layers, like Russian nesting dolls. We work across three interconnected layers:

1. The Ecosystem (Big Doll- Big Picture) Philanthropic advising, landscape assessments, sector insight

2. The Organization (Medium Doll- Capacity & Operations) Lifecycle assessment, capacity building, organizational alignment

3. Fund Development (Small Doll- Execution Engine) Strategy, prospecting, messaging, systems

We approach fundraising through four interconnected drivers—the 4Ps:”

• Purpose – clarity of mission and story
  

• People – who is responsible and how they are supported
  

• Process – systems and infrastructure
  

• Prospects – the right funding relationships

Here is a snapshot of what services could look like and why organizations need them:

Problem: The board is pressuring the development team to bring in money, but isn’t sure how to help. 

Potential Solution: Osa Philanthropy does a development strategy review and a strategy session to ensure the organizations revenue sources make sense and amounts to be raised are within realistic goals, in partnership with staff and board members. The 4Ps are reviewed heavily. Once aligned, Osa holds a workshop to educate board and staff members about how to leverage the board to bring in higher gift amounts and more gifts.     

Problem: The organization has decided to deepen its work with private philanthropy, yet does not have the staff, processes, or prospects in place. 

Potential Solution: Osa Philanthropy deeply understands this organization’s need to shift its funding attention, and does a complete intake process to understand the organization and its programs. A targeted list of high-alignment prospects are researched and presented, and Osa works with the staff to find as many warm connections as possible to get meetings. We develop messaging so when we reach out to funders the information is clear. We develop a visibility strategy so the organization can gain traction easier in this new space. Together, Osa and the organization conduct outreach to the funders, strategizing each one, and tracking any deadlines. Osa provides the process, prospects, people power, and purpose so this organization can run with this momentum after the engagement with Osa. 

Problem: The organization has shifted its programming and needs to build up internal capacity as well as develop a fundraising strategy. 

Potential Solution: Osa Philanthropy conducts a Nonprofit Lifecycles assessment to gauge the stage this organization is in so we have a clear starting point. Based on input from board, staff and key stakeholders, Osa and a small internal team develop a capacity building plan that covers all angles of the organization. From there, a fundraising strategy is developed that begins at a realistic point for the organization to grow to its next milestone. 

Problem: The organization keeps getting rejected from private philanthropy, corporate funders and individual donors and doesn’t know what the fix is. 

Potential Solution: Osa Philanthropy does a complete intake to understand the organization fully, including the past 2 years of information that was shared with potential funders. Osa does an audit of the prospects and the asks, and also gets to know the team members to learn about their styles, processes, and systems. Osa delivers a final report that includes recommendations that cover the 4Ps. 

If your organization is navigating growth, funding challenges, or internal capacity gaps, Osa Philanthropy may be a strong partner.

We work best with organizations ready to align strategy with action and build sustainable revenue systems.

Let’s start with a conversation. Email Lara at lara@osaphilanthropy.com to schedule a time to connect, or start with a free mini fundraising strategy audit to get back on track.