Our Story
The first strings of today’s firm were tied together in 2008, when founder Loree Lipstein was working as a development team member at a large, national health organization. Working for a well-resourced organization with sophisticated fundraising strategies and a large staff, Loree became acutely aware of how often smaller nonprofits struggled to pull together all the elements of a highly functioning development department in order to maximize their revenue. And yet, she also knew that nothing about the strategies of that large nonprofit were out of reach for all organizations, if all the pieces were set up well.
What started as a simple observation to a colleague about options small nonprofits have for support and training to elevate their fundraising strategies quickly became a serious conversation. As more fundraising friends joined the conversation, the group observed a number of examples from everyday life where nonprofits they interacted with weren’t maximizing their fundraising potential.
Fueled by conversations with colleagues, and the ongoing observation of need for more development support for small to mid-sized, often local, nonprofits, Loree pursued a graduate degree in business to pursue the idea of starting a business that would help level the field between large and small nonprofits.
As a CASE Scholar at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, Loree focused her coursework on nonprofit revenue generation and growth as well as studying the nonprofit consulting landscape. As she dove deeper into the options for support that are available to nonprofits, she identified a gap between the needs of small organizations and the services offered by large consulting firms. Loree realized that, along with needing a tailored development strategy, many organizations need help with the next step of implementing that strategy, as small staffs often already wear many hats and are stretched thin. Small organizations are further disadvantaged by the shortage of development professionals in the marketplace. Talent comes at a premium, and it is difficult for smaller nonprofits to attract, and retain, development staff members.
As research built on years of conversation, Thread Strategies was born in 2015. Our firm was built by bringing together seasoned professionals to create a team that can work across various fundraising function areas to help our nonprofit partners build their development departments. Our partnership approach allows us to work closely with nonprofits, so strategies are rooted in reality and represent the combination of fundraising methods that are the best fit for who they are and who they serve. Beyond simply writing a strategy, our team of development experts addresses all aspects of the nonprofit’s revenue function, including the operations and staffing structure that support the strategy. We help our partners bring their strategy to life by building the systems to support it, hiring the staff to lead it, and assisting in execution until processes are up and running.
The Thread vision is that great ideas and practices for solving social issues will never be held back by a lack of the necessary funds to realize their full potential. And we fully believe that nonprofits of all sizes are equally capable of building systems and strategies to fundraise using industry best practices. The Thread team works day in and day out to do what we’re good at – fundraising – so that our partners can do what they’re good at – changing the world.