Fundraising consulting

Name the round or the campaign. Do not promise the money.

Fundraising consultants help founders prepare a raise, or help nonprofits run a campaign. The document should say which one, which materials will exist, and that you do not guarantee the people who write the cheques.

The round and the materials

If this is a company raise, name the round and the materials: a narrative, a model the founder can defend, a list of the meetings they already have, and the gaps in that list. You are not a broker who conjures investors. If this is a nonprofit campaign, name the goal, the circle of donors who already know them, and the ask each circle gets. Mixing the two trades in one proposal is how both clients feel misunderstood.

The timeline should include the founder or the director doing the asking. A consultant who takes the meetings alone is a different, rarer product, and most clients cannot afford the conflict it creates. Say you will sit in on a set number of meetings, or none, and stick to it.

No guaranteed investors

Write the negative promise in the investment section. The fee buys preparation and a disciplined process. It does not buy a closed round or a filled campaign. Anyone who needs a guarantee is shopping for something you should not sell.

Introductions you cannot honestly make are out. So is rewriting the product, running the data room as a full-time job, and negotiating the term sheet without their lawyer. Name the lawyer's role. Your last deliverable is a founder who can tell the story without you in the room.